The Falcons and Lions don’t have a long history of animosity to use as a selling point for their October matchup in London, but something that happened last season during a Seahawks-Jaguars game may help ratchet things up a little bit.
Safety Dwight Lowery was with the Jaguars last season and he suffered a concussion during that loss to Seattle when he was blocked by then-Seahawks wide receiver Golden Tate. Lowery, who wound up on injured reserve as a result, is with Atlanta now and called Tate’s hit “more of a cheap shot” while discussing his interest in meeting up with Tate, who is now a member of the Lions.
“Don’t get me wrong: I’m not going to go out of control if I see him on the field and he has the ball. Then I’d mess around and miss a tackle. And I’m also not going to do anything where the ball is running the other way and I see him and I go after him,” Lowery said, via ESPN.com. “But if I have an opportunity and he’s trying to crack me and the ball is coming my way, we’ll just see what happens.”
Tate disputed that his block, which came well away from a two-yard run by Marshawn Lynch, was a cheap shot, but said he has no problem with Lowery looking for retribution within the flow of the game.
“Yeah, that’s fine,” Tate said. “We’ll see when that time comes. I’m excited to play ball so we’ll play ball (and) we’ll see what happens. I have no problem with him being competitive and wanting to have revenge. Just keep it within the rulebook. Hopefully it’s not a cheap shot that’s at my knees or my ankles or is after the whistle, but, hey, I’m all for it. Bring it on. Let’s go.”
It’s not the biggest beef in the world, but it does wet the whistle for the matchup a bit more than a debate over which team got more out of Joey Harrington during his brief NFL career.