Many people, myself included, thought Golden Tate would be the Lions’ top receiving option in 2016, with Calvin Johnson hanging up his cleats in the offseason. Five weeks into the season though, newly acquired free agent Marvin Jones was leading the NFL in receiving yards. Jones had 519 yards and 3 touchdowns in the first five games.
Things got off to a rocky start for Golden Tate, who many thought would go back to his 2014 form, when he caught 99 balls for 1,331 yards, and 4 touchdowns. In 2015, Tate amassed a disappointing 813 yards and to be honest, he just hasn’t looked like the same player since 2014.
Something was just missing. Tate wasn’t making guys miss. He was dropping balls. Matthew Stafford was yelling at him like he was Riley Reiff during the infamous Dallas Cowboys comeback of 2013. So what happened?
This year, after the rocky start, Tate has 820 yards (more than all of last season) and the Lions still have three games to play. Through those 5 weeks where he struggled – getting benched in Chicago, he didn’t once crack 50 receiving yards. Something changed for Tate, and now he’s looking like a the dynamic weapon he looked like a few years ago.
Mlive’s Kyle Meinke wrote a piece about Tate and in it, Tate said he “wouldn’t change anything” in regards to the benching. It’s hard to agrue with Tate. He’s been outstanding since, leading the NFL in yards after catch. Read Kyle’s article to hear more Tate himself.
Marvin Jones, meanwhile, hit a wall and missed a game after his phenomenal start, amassing just 279 yards in the the past 8 games. After the league-high 519, he has just 797, second on the team to Tate. Now, it’s not that 797 yards is anything to sneeze at, but he was on pace for 1,600 at that time.
So what’s going on? Is Jones just playing more hurt than he’s letting on? Is Tate simply becoming more of a focal point? I think it’s really about Tate stepping his game up. Like I wrote earlier, something was just missing. He wasn’t making guys miss. He was dropping balls. Matthew Stafford was yelling at him like he was Riley Reiff during the infamous Dallas Cowboys comeback of 2013. (relive it: 59 seconds in – “Rileyyyyy”)
But quite simply, he wasn’t playing well. Maybe it was focus, maybe it was all of the losing at that point. It doesn’t matter now. Tate is playing his butt off and is a huge reason the Lions are 9-4. His countless catches during the eight comebacks. That play against Minnesota in overtime, flipping into the end zone for the game-winning TD. His monster TD catch and run that iced the game against the Saints. Golden Tate is back. And IF Stafford can get him the ball with his injured finger, the Lions are seriously dangerous.
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