Win Probability Added: +21.02
NEP: +6.00
One of the big worries of the season for NFL fans so far has been “What happened to Golden Tate?” The Detroit Lions wide receiver -- who has averaged 135 targets and 1,072 receiving yards over the last two seasons -- was on pace for just 99 targets and 429 yards in 2016 coming into this week. It’s a huge slump, and a confusing one at that (the same way I feel at modern art museums). But Tate, like his namesake gallery in London, always has something new, bizarre, and -- for opposing defenses -- terrifying up his sleeve. He’s started to get back on track after a dominating Week 6 performance that saw him rack up 165 receiving yards on 10 targets, including one particular masterpiece.
Third-and-long is a statistically tough place to be in. The odds are very much against a team converting on third-and-long, and the expected points potential of a successful conversion, therefore, is fairly high. To offset this, some teams prefer to just try a draw run play when they’re deep in their own territory, to give their eventual punt slightly more impact. Others hope to pitch it short and let their receiver run it beyond the sticks.
When you’re the Lions and you have Matthew Stafford as your quarterback, however, you huck the ball as far downfield as it can go. Stafford used a hard count to draw Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald offside, then took the snap on the Lions’ own 38-yard line, dropped back with a free play in his pocket, and found Tate streaking down the left sideline completely unguarded. Tate snagged the ball in stride, sidestepped the free safety flying in, cut back to evade a cornerback, and was literally the brush of a finger away from his 61-yard reception becoming a 62-yard touchdown.