Golden Tate said his comments about opposing defensive players knowing what plays the Detroit Lions are running were not meant as veiled shots at offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi nor anyone else, and the Pro Bowl receiver insisted that he hasn’t lost faith in the struggling offense, despite the team’s 0-3 start.
“I think Joe’s a heck of a coach,” Tate told the Free Press Wednesday. “I can’t sit here and speak ill about a guy who helped take us to the playoffs and also a guy who helped me have a career year, who also put his tail on the line to get me here in this offense. He’s one of the first guys I met with when I came on my trip, so I have nothing but great things to say about him and I’m super, super appreciative for him.”
Tate told WMGC-FM (105.1) in his weekly interview Tuesday that the Lions’ offense had become predictable to that point that opposing defensive players “called out” plays during each of the season’s first three games.
“I’ve had a couple occasions in literally each game, where they called out our play, for one, and then afterwards been like, ‘Hey, we knew what you guys were doing,’ ” Tate told the station. “I don’t know how they know or which film they’re watching that we’re giving away. And that’s something we need to go back and watch our tendencies to figure out where we line up or how we line up or what formation — whatever it may be, we’ve got to figure it out, because we’re clearly giving away. I mean if three weeks, a player’s come up to me and said, ‘We knew what you were going to do,’ that’s bad.”
Denver Broncos safety David Bruton, who played two seasons with Tate at Notre Dame, told reporters Monday that he jumped a Matthew Stafford pass to Calvin Johnson for a game-clinching interception after he recognized which play the Lions were running by the formation they used.
The Lions lost to the Broncos on Sunday Night Football, 24-12.
Tate declined to identify which players told him that the Lions’ offense was tipping plays, but he said one of the exchanges happened after a game.
“I don’t want to open this box up anymore,” Tate said. “I just wanted to clear it up.”
The Lions are off to their worst start since 2010, and they have a difficult schedule ahead with games against two of the best teams in the NFC the next two weeks. They visit the defending NFC champion Seattle Seahawks on Monday night (8:30, ESPN, Channel 7) and host the undefeated Arizona Cardinals the following Sunday at Ford Field.
Despite having Tate, Matthew Stafford, Calvin Johnson, Eric Ebron and Ameer Abdullah — all first- or second-round picks — playing key roles on offense, the Lions rank 27th in the NFL in total offense, last in rushing offense and are averaging just 14 points per game the last two weeks.
They’ve been outscored, 80-35, since jumping out to a 21-3 lead at the start of a Week 1 loss to the San Diego Chargers.
“When I made that comment about other players (saying we’re) predictable, it was just me answering a question with no subtle punches at anyone,” Tate said. “I think we have a great offense, and this is the same offense that the Saints won a Super Bowl with, with Joe Lombardi there, so it definitely works.
“I think we all just need to be accountable. To get this problem fixed, we all need to be accountable. Coaches, players, scouting department, the people in the cafeteria making the food, our media, our fans. We all just need to be a little bit better, and I have no doubt, the personnel that we have, we will get on track.”
Tate said he did not realize his comments Tuesday caused a firestorm until he got a text message from receivers coach Robert Prince.
“I didn’t watch much TV yesterday and, all of a sudden, my position coach texts me and was like, ‘Hey, I talked to coach,’ ” Tate said. “And I’m trying to figure out, ‘OK, cool. So what happened? Did I do something?’ And he was like, ‘About your interview.’ And I had to, like, stop for a minute and think, ‘What did I say that could even be twisted?’ And I couldn’t think of anything.”
Tate said he called Prince and later phoned Lions coach Jim Caldwell, who told him “he knows who I am and he knows that I was not throwing any shots or throwing anyone under the bus, and he appreciated my call. And that was the end of that. It’s unfortunate that it’s made national news and it’s a huge deal.”
As for the comments other players made to him on the field, Tate said he did not tell Caldwell, Lombardi nor Prince about them before his radio interview Tuesday, and he hasn’t figured out what has caused the Lions’ offense to be so predictable.
“I’m going to go back and watch our games here when I have time here when I’m not studying Seattle,” Tate said. “I’m going to look, I’m going to see if there’s anything with our splits or maybe our stance, or maybe—I’m going to look at it in detail and, hopefully, I can find something and look at it, because it doesn’t matter whose fault it is if it’s anyone’s fault. We win together, we lose together. And if whatever it is can help us win, it needs to be done, needs to be said, needs to be acted on.”
As he did in his radio interview Tuesday, Tate said turnovers — the Lions have eight giveaways, tied for second-most in the league — and the constant duress Stafford is under have contributed to the offense’s struggles.
“I didn’t really think we were that predictable,” Tate said. “I think we have great plays. I think it’s just, when we run our plays, something always goes wrong. Think about it, there’s 11 players on the field at a time, and the coaches who call plays, but if, every play, just one person messes up, if one person has a mess-up every game, that’s 11 mistakes. And that’s 11 too many, in my mind. Just, we all got to be in sync every single play.”
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