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Golden Tate in Philly.
They call Golden Tate III “Showtime,” as if a man with a first name like Golden needs a nickname. Perhaps they should have given Tate a Golden Globe on Sunday night.
There he was on prime-time television, catching a clutch pass on fourth down under playoff pressure with less than a minute left in Chicago’s Soldier Field to give the Philadelphia Eagles a 16-15 victory over the favored Bears.
Yes, this is the same Golden Tate who was inexplicably traded at midseason by the Detroit Lions and their unaccountable general manager, Bob Quinn. You remember Golden Tate. The best receiver on the Lions. Their most exciting player. A slippery, smooth, old pro who knows how to get open and make tacklers miss. Yeah, that Golden Tate.
Think back. When the Lions traded Tate to the Super Bowl champions for a third-round draft choice, Tate was their leading receiver. The Lions were 3-4 and the Eagles were 4-4.
After Quinn traded Tate, the Eagles finished 5-3 and reached the postseason playoffs at 9-7. The Lions? They finished 3-6 and last in their division at 6-10.
It is not out of the question to wonder: If the Lions had kept Tate, might the Lions have made the playoffs and might Tate have caught that Sunday night pass from Stafford for the Lions instead of from Nick Foles for the Eagles?
Quinn Explains His Brilliance
Bob Quinn
The Tate trade has a negative, cascading effect. Before the deal, quarterback Matt Stafford of the Lions threw for more than 300 yards three times in seven games. After the trade, Stafford never reached that mark in nine games. No, that statistic doesn’t tell everything about a quarterback. But, without Tate, Stafford fell back into bad habits with no clutch veteran to turn to in tough times.
It is not out of the question to wonder if the Tate trade told his teammates that management had quit on the season before it was half over. Certainly, the deal probably sacrificed the job of Jim Bob Cooter, the offensive coordinator who was fired last week.
Quinn discussed some of these subjects, sort of, when he met with the news media last week in a rare public appearance.
“It was just an offer we couldn’t refuse,” Quinn said of the Tate trade. After all, Quinn would have had to bid for Tate as a free agent this offseason against other teams. You don’t really expect the Lions to actually compete, do you?
Quinn feels better off with a rookie draft choice next season instead of a veteran who can play – well -- now in the postseason and, perhaps, another several seasons beyond that. Did you see his game-winning catch Sunday?
Beautiful, Subtle Moves
From his slot position on the right side, Tate ran two yards to the goal line, looked left with an eye fake, spun clockwise to the right, blocked out the defender, leapt and snatched the short pass, tip-toed from left to right along the goal line and sliced into the front corner of the end zone and toppled over from a hard hit before rolling over and leaping to his feet and jumping into the arms of a teammate.
Imagine if he had been wearing Honolulu Blue and Silver. Imagine such a moment in Ford Field. The trade of the 30-year-old Tate is not the only mistake Quinn had made in his three seasons in Detroit after transferring over from the New England front office. He fired Jim Caldwell after two 9-7 seasons to hire a Patriot pal, Matt Patricia.
Jim Caldwell
He didn’t know that the haughty and blowzy Patricia – in college in 1996 – had been arrested and indicted for aggravated sexual assault. The case was dropped when the alleged victim chose not to testify.
What if Patricia’s accuser – in the #MeToo era -- had gone public last fall, the way Christine Blasey Ford did during the Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Judge (now Justice) Brett Kavanaugh?
It could have led to some difficult decisions for Martha Firestone Ford, the team owner, whose reign is starting to resemble the frustrating decades when this bedrock NFL franchise was run by her late husband, William Clay Ford, Sr., and then by his son, William Clay Ford, Jr.
Despite playing in a modern, indoor stadium in a thriving downtown, the Lions are valued by Forbes as the 31st. most valuable team in the National Football League at $1.8 billion, just ahead of 32nd.-place Buffalo at $1.6 billion. Dallas is the most valuable at $5 billion and the league average is $2.57 billion.
They aren’t the only local pro sports franchise making bad decisions.
The team across the street – the Tigers at Comerica Park – in recent seasons have seen fit to shed potential Hall-of-Fame pitchers like Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer and stars like pitcher Rick Porcello and outfielder J.D. Martinez.
J.D. Martinez and Justin Verlander
Instead, they held onto the rapidly declining Victor Martinez for far too long and they still have to pay the highly-salaried Miguel Cabrera for another 75 years. Cabrera may be old and surly, but at least he gets injured a lot.
As for those two winter teams up Woodward at Little Caesars Arena, the Red Wings and the Pistons will be lucky not to miss the playoffs – again. Yes, it is a sports recession amid boom times in downtown Detroit. Tate’s probably better off where he is.
Classy to the end of his time here, Tate left town with the tweet: “It’s been real, DETROIT. I’ll love ya forever.” Remember, before he came to the Lions, Tate won a Super Bowl ring with Seattle.
He might get another with Philly. Wouldn’t it be nice to see a Lion – even an ex-Lion – anywhere near the Super Bowl?
