Wide receiver Golden Tate hasn’t played a game as a member of the Lions yet, but a couple of weeks of offseason work has led him to think that their offense will prove to be an excellent fit for his skills.
Tate said that he has been watching film of the Saints’ offense over the last few years to get a sense of what offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi, who joined the Lions after serving as the quarterbacks coach in New Orleans, is going to do in Detroit. Tate said he thinks it will be a better fit for his skills than the offense in Seattle and explained why he’s feeling that way.
“I watched some tape on the Saints over the last few years and just looking at that -- I haven’t talked to coach Lombardi that much -- I see myself being a Lance Moore type of player, but just more explosive and able to do a few more things,” Tate said, via the team’s website. “That’s exciting, because Lance Moore caught a lot of balls and he’s a terrific player that did a lot for the Saints. That’s kind of how I see myself having the best receiver in the league [Calvin Johnson], and one of the best to ever to play the game, opposite of me or sometimes on the same side.”
Tate averaged four catches a game for the Seahawks last season, the highest total of his career thus far, and Moore had at least that many in four of the six years that he played in the majority of the Saints’ regular season games. Tate figures to see more snaps than Moore did in New Orleans and see more advantageous matchups than he saw in Seattle with Johnson on the other side, which should add up to numbers as good or better than Moore put up in his best days with New Orleans.