Brandon Tate's hands

[larryo]

I've noticed Tate catch the ball above his head a few times on kickoffs compared with the basket catches most return men use. Is this confidence in his hands or bad positioning/technique?

 

[sbpatfan]

Not sure, but considering he broke return records in college and has already brought two to the house within four games, he can catch 'em however he wants for all I care.

 

[JFK]

I've noticed Tate catch the ball above his head a few times on kickoffs compared with the basket catches most return men use. Is this confidence in his hands or bad positioning/technique?

He told me it gives him an extra .10 seconds to run

 

[Bertil]

Maybe he's a baseball player, too. That's how they're taught to catch. If only Manny could've mastered it.

 

[blackglass3]

Maybe he's a baseball player, too. That's how they're taught to catch. If only Manny could've mastered it.

2 rings isn't enough?

 

[TheGodInAGreyHoodie]

He told me it gives him an extra .10 seconds to run

I assume you are being facetious....

However, in fact result in two things....

1) He is few yards further down field when he catches the ball over his head than had he caught it at chest height.

2) He catches the ball a fraction of a second sooner than he would have if he was further back.

 

[Dutchmaster617]

It probably does give him a boost or headstart, I know in Madden I run right before the catch which causes him to raise his arms and catch in motion adding an extra boost to the beginning of the return.

 

[Calciumee]

It probably does give him a boost or headstart, I know in Madden I run right before the catch which causes him to raise his arms and catch in motion adding an extra boost to the beginning of the return.

Which must be true, because I played against Cleveland earlier, and Ben Watson kept dropping balls

 

[mcsully]

Basket catches?? Unless over your shoulder.. You always want to catch with your hands and pull the ball in.. Catching with your body is probably the worst thing you can do. This applies to any athlete playing any sport..

 

[Kontradiction]

Not sure, but considering he broke return records in college and has already brought two to the house within four games, he can catch 'em however he wants for all I care.

This guy's got it right. If he wants, he can spread his legs, catch the ball in his grundle, then run with it as long as he keeps getting TD's.

 

[Joker]

so far he's shown hands of glue...in the return game and the passing game...not sure what the worry is here...

 

[shirtsleeve]

It's poor technique. Sure you always want to catch the ball with your hands, but should you miss, and you are at "basket" height, the ball will land right in front of you so you can fall on it and protect posession. If you catch the ball over your head and miss, its a live ball fumble behind you, with the opposition running full speed toward it.

 

[TheGodInAGreyHoodie]

so far he's shown hands of glue...in the return game and the passing game...not sure what the worry is here...

Exactly.

You know who else has extremely poor catching technique -- Randy Moss, one handed catches, catches without this eyes on the ball, etc. Tate has that rare catching ability that only comes around TWICE to a franchise.

 

[spacecrime]

It's poor technique. Sure you always want to catch the ball with your hands, but should you miss, and you are at "basket" height, the ball will land right in front of you so you can fall on it and protect posession. If you catch the ball over your head and miss, its a live ball fumble behind you, with the opposition running full speed toward it.

So far his TD to fumble ratio is pretty good, so until it is a problem, I'm okay with it.

Unrelated to this exact subject, but appropos to Tate, I think that between he and Hakeem Nicks, Tate was the better receiver.

 

[sbpatfan]

So far his TD to fumble ratio is pretty good, so until it is a problem, I'm okay with it.

Unrelated to this exact subject, but appropos to Tate, I think that between he and Hakeem Nicks, Tate was the better receiver.

I wouldn't say better, but I always thought he had more potential.

 

[shirtsleeve]

So far his TD to fumble ratio is pretty good, so until it is a problem, I'm okay with it.

Unrelated to this exact subject, but appropos to Tate, I think that between he and Hakeem Nicks, Tate was the better receiver.

People asked. Fundamentally, its wrong not to catch the ball with your torso as the backstop should you bobble. Has Tate pulled it off to date? Sure. But that wasn't the OP's question.

 

[Calciumee]

I wouldn't say better, but I always thought he had more potential.

But the knee injury scared some people!

 

[Fencer]

It's not wrong if the tradeoffs are worth it.

The obvious tradeoffs are:

1. He gets into the return earlier.
2. Dropping the ball is more costly.

A non-obvious tradeoff could be:

3. He HAS to focus more carefully on the ball so as to mitigate against dropping it, which might screw up his field awareness, speed getting into the play, etc. ...

... but he hasn't looked too bad in those respects so far, has he?

4. HAVING to focus can give good mental discipline -- sometimes your success rate is at least as good at the harder version of something than an easier one for just that reason.

 

[emoney_33]

Well I guess I'll be the one to throw it out there... catching the ball sooner or later has NOT been a factor in his 2 TDs, he's had to set up the blocking on both of them anyway.

However... if he keeps doing it then the coaches don't have a problem with it, and it's not a big deal to begin with. I'm sure technically Hobbs shouldn't be running kicks back from 9 yards in the endzone either.

 

[larryo]

The reason I asked the orginal question was to see what you guys thought about his hands. When I saw him do this during a game I was amazed. Catching a 70 yard kick like that has got to be a very hard catch. Love the kid and hope to see him using those hands to make some great catches from Brady.