Golden Tate Make Americ Great Again
Leon Halip/Getty Images
It sounds like a cleaved record: A Detroit Lions wide receiver ranks amid league leaders in receptions and receiving yards at their halfway bespeak of the regular season.
However, to the surprise of everyone, that receiver is not Calvin Johnson—who has been express to two full games and parts of three others with an ankle injury—but Gold Tate, who was signed in free agency to give the Lions another legitimate playmaker and make full a big hole in the Lions law-breaking every bit a complementary No. ii receiver.
Tate ranks 4th among NFL wide receivers in both receptions (55) and yards (800), every bit the Lions were able to withstand an injury from their all-time receiver and enter Calendar week 10 alone in beginning place in the NFC North with a half-dozen-2 record—including 3-0 with Johnson on the sideline.
Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images
Most analysts agreed Tate would run into an uptick of production this season for the Lions, afterward leaving a run-first offense in the Seattle Seahawks and joining a pass-happy set on with the majority of attention focused on stopping Megatron. It was also expected Tate would give the Lions a reliable, sure-handed target in the event Johnson missed fourth dimension due to injury.
Non fifty-fifty the most optimistic Lions fans could accept expected him to brand the impact he has without Johnson in the lineup. Yet Tate has filled those shoes admirably and has developed a rapport with quarterback Matthew Stafford, making the prospect of Johnson's return this week rather intimidating for opposing defenses.
Stafford said as much earlier this week, co-ordinate to Lions beat reporter Tim Twentyman:
Tim Twentyman @ ttwentymanStafford said getting Calvin dorsum and having Aureate Tate playing as well as he has is going to make them pretty dangerous.
As mentioned, the Lions' receiving corps was merely at full forcefulness in their first ii full games this season, before Johnson suffered a high talocrural joint sprain the next week against the Dark-green Bay Packers and was used as a decoy over the Lions' next ii games. Despite the Week 3 injury, the duo of Johnson and Tate combined for 35 receptions and 530 yards over that span:
| Calvin Johnson | Golden Tate | |||||||||
| Wk. | Opp. | Rec. | Tgts. | Yds. | TD | Rec. | Tgts. | Yds. | TD | |
| 1 | NYG | 7 | 11 | 164 | ii | half dozen | vi | 93 | 0 | |
| ii | @Car | 6 | 13 | 83 | 0 | 5 | 8 | 57 | 0 | |
| three | GB | 6 | 10 | 82 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 51 | 0 | |
It was after the Week iii injury to Johnson when Tate did the lion's share of his work. In the 2 weeks Johnson was used equally a decoy—and aggravating his ankle injury in the latter, forcing the Lions to keep him out through their farewell—Tate recorded back-to-back 100-g receiving games for the first time in his career.
The Lions went iv-1 afterwards Johnson first suffered the injury, and Tate went off for 39 receptions, 599 yards and three touchdowns over that span.
Head double-decker Jim Caldwell alluded to the emergence of Tate earlier this calendar week, per Dave Birkett of the Detroit Costless Printing: "I do believe in, sometimes, the advantage of disadvantage. I think it adds something to your repertoire…and I think that's a plus because it makes y'all stronger overall, and I remember it does add maybe a little bit more remainder to what you lot're doing."
A healthy Johnson is still going to be the focal point of the Lions offense, just Stafford and Tate developed a chemical science which volition still be utilized prominently moving forward. And it gives the Lions a pair of options who are both capable of performing like a No. i receiver. Tate has every bit many 100-yard receiving games (four) this season as he did in 4 seasons (65 games) in Seattle (including postseason).
| Amt. | Rank | |
| 3rd Downwards Receptions | 21 | 1st |
| 3rd Down Receiving Yards | 390 | 1st |
| 4th Quarter Receptions | 14 | T-4th |
| 4th Quarter Receiving Yards | 248 | 3rd |
| Receiving Yards Afterward Catch | 391 | T-sixth |
| Receptions for 1st Down | 32 | T-8th |
| Receptions for 1st Down (on third Down) | xv | 1st |
| 20+ M Receptions | 10 | T-10th |
Source: STATS LLC
Tate is on step for 110 receptions and ane,600 yards—numbers reached merely twice before in Lions history: Johnson, in his tape-setting 2012 season, and Herman Moore in 1995.
Tate and Moore (three times) are the only Lions to reach 55 catches through the squad'south outset eight games of the flavor. The return of Johnson may foreclose Tate from reaching his current pace, but the impact the two of them can create together volition not be quantifiable with statistics.
Every bit Stafford told Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Printing: "The more experience and the better everybody else plays, the less you experience like you take to go 81 the ball."
Johnson's return will course ane of the best wide receiver duos in the NFL, but they would not sit in first place in their division at half dozen-2 without Tate. And an improved second-half criminal offence to pair with the NFL'south peak-ranked defense is a scary thought for divisional foes.
jonesgribetwouter.blogspot.com
Source: https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2260704-golden-tate-still-in-position-to-put-up-big-numbers-when-calvin-johnson-returns
0 Response to "Golden Tate Make Americ Great Again"
Post a Comment