The 2015 season was an extremely disappointing one for the Detroit Lions. They started the season with a record of 1-7 (finished at 7-9), benched presumed franchise quarterback Matthew Stafford for parts of games due to poor and inconsistent play, and saw their offensive line struggle tremendously to block for both Stafford and the Lions rushing attack. At the end of the season, superstar wide receiver Calvin Johnson announced that he would be retiring, thus marking the time for a new number one receiver in Detroit. That receiver is Golden Tate.
Golden Tate Ready to Take His Game to the Next Level
Being a top target is nothing new to Tate. When the former Notre Dame receiver was on the Seattle Seahawks he was Russell Wilson‘s top target. Wilson relied on Tate both when he was a rookie and a second year signal caller. In 2013, Tate racked up over 890 receiving yards and five touchdowns as Wilson’s number one receiver, and was one of the keys to the Seahawks victory in Super Bowl XLVIII.
After his success in Seattle, Tate signed a five-year contract with the Lions to be the number two receiver to play alongside Calvin Johnson. That year, Johnson was limited to only 13 games due to various nagging injuries. In Johnson’s absence Tate shined, racking up over 1,000 receiving yards for the first time in his career and was named to his first Pro Bowl.
Last season, Johnson was healthy and played all 16 games, which led to a slight decline in play by Tate. Tate returned back to producing numbers similar to his last season in Seattle; over 800 receiving yards with six touchdowns.
Life Without Megatron
As Tate proved in 2014, he has the ability to be a superstar receiver under the right circumstances. As long as he is the top target in his offense, he will play at an extremely high level and will display the big play ability that made him not only the Seahawks top receiver, but also their punt returner in 2013.
Tate is the type of player that strives to not only meet the high expectations set for him, but blow by and exceed them tremendously. This can be seen when he first came to Detroit; expectations were set for him to be a receiver that would rack up around 800 yards and play a role as reliable receiver who would gain first downs while Johnson dominated in the red zone. Tate went ahead and blew by those expectations, snagging 99 passes for 1,331 yards and four touchdowns.
Can Stafford Lead Tate to Greatness?
When it comes down to it, the only thing keeping Golden Tate from superstardom is the play of Matthew Stafford. Stafford was extremely inconsistent in the first half of 2015, and simply did not look as confident and comfortable as he did in his 2014 Pro Bowl season.
Towards the end of the season, however, Stafford’s play improved tremendously, as he led to Lions to win six of their final eight games. In the end, Stafford ended the season with almost all of his statistics being up from 2014, with the most notable being a seven percent increase in his completion percentage.
If the Matthew Stafford from the second half of the 2015 season shows up for 2016, Golden Tate is going to have a phenomenal season.
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