Opponents Have Apparently Told Golden Tate That They Know What Plays The Lions Are Going To Run

ABC- "You know, I haven't heard that yet from that player. I didn't read anything about it," Tate said. "But that's not the first time this year that another player said that. I've had a couple occasions in literally each game where they've called out our play, for one, and then afterwards been like, 'Hey, we knew what you guys were doing.'

"I don't know how they know or what film they're watching that we're giving away. That's something, we need to go back and watch our tendencies to figure out what, where we line up or how we line up or what formation, whatever it may be, we got to figure it out because we're clearly giving [our plays] away.

"All three weeks, a player has come up to me and said 'we knew what you're going to do.' That's bad."



Is this going to be the new thing? Every time a team sucks offensively they are just going to proclaim that the other team knows their plays? I guess if this is going to go mainstream and people are actually going to believe it then there are worse excuses as to why a team, that has more than a handful of highly capable offensive weapons, still can't produce. First it was Josh Huff saying that teams knew the Eagles plays, and now it's Golden Tate. Must just be a coincidence that they play for two teams that have struggled mightily to begin the year. I don't even doubt that some of his opponents have told Golden Tate that they know what plays the Lions are running, but I think what they really mean is that they have guessed right more often than usual. 

To break this down, teams have these things called defensive coordinators. Their job is to break down tendencies in the opposing offense. Generally, they never really KNOW what play the opposition is going to run, but with enough film study sometimes they can get a vague idea. There are also these things called audibles. You know when you see the defense shift and start frantically waving their hands in the air, Golden? They are actually calling a different play to adjust to what play they think you are going to run. I know, pretty crazy concept, but just out of sheer luck there are going to be a handful of times per game when the defense correctly predicts the exact play that is going to be run. A couple of predictable plays a game aren't exactly a valid reason for the Lions offense being so incredibly hard to watch. Especially when good offense always beats good defense and we are talking about an offense that features game breaking players like Calvin Johnson and Golden Tate.

Want to know what I think, Golden? Yeah, I know you don't, but I am going to tell you anyway. I think your team sucks because you have a wildly inconsistent and drastically overrated quarterback. I think your team sucks because it takes a very real exertion of energy for Matt Stafford to turn his fat head a couple of inches to the left or right while going through his progressions. I think your team sucks because your quarterback's offensive awareness pales in comparison to his physical tools. Hey, don't take my word for it. Maybe your opponents are using their telepathic powers to hack into your overly simplistic play sheet. Maybe they are reading them right off your offensive coordinator's iPad screen like they are playing you in Madden. Yeah, that's it. Everyone knows that the only reason that bad teams are bad is because the other teams are keenly aware of all the plays they are going to run. Can't possibly have anything to do with a subpar, turnover prone quarterback.