Tate on Kick Off Returns

[MossWelkowski]

Tate has been absolutely atrocious on KO returns the past couple weeks. He has to be on the sidelines IMO during Kickoffs. Put sammy morris, edelman, or even woodhead back there. I cannot stand watching Tate run into guys at the 15 yard line anymore.

Did anyone notice where the Lions were starting yesterday and where the patriots were starting yesterday?

Patriots were probably averaging around the 17 yard line where the lions were averaging around the 35 yard line. Are the 2-9 Lions really that much better than the Patriots on special teams?

Tate brought back 2 KOs to the house early in the season. So what? He's terrible right now in all aspects of the game. Bench him.

Anyone else feel this way?

 

[shmessy]

How do you know it's not the blocking?

That being said, he hasn't been impressive as a WR the past two games either - - dropping passes the few times he's been targeted.

My view is you have to remember he was listed with the flu one week ago today - - he could simply be a bit weakened.

 

[Patspsycho]

I don't.

He's not atrocious. He's playing his 2nd game on 3 days rest, while recovering from the flu.

I am not worried about him. He will be fine.

 

[Armen Da Pats Fan]

Not to mention the drops...

If he is going to one day develop into our "deep threat", he cannot be dropping balls that hit him in the hands!

 

[Brettlax3434]

Yesterday it felt like the blocking just wasn't there. Detriots kicker did a great job with the "corner kicks" and Tate had little room to work with.

 

[DaBruinz]

As was mentioned, Tate is still recovering from the flu on 3 days rest.

Also, as was mentioned, the blocking was horrible. When there are 5 guys gang-tackling your return man, the blocking has failed.

That being said, Tate should spend the off-season married to the Jugs machine. Like Branch and Givens did after their rookie seasons.

 

[BradyBranch39]

Rayner is an excellent kickoff guy... was a specialist earlier in his career. That said,Tate did look bad yesterday.

 

[ALP]

i would give the props to that mostly to the kicker....i doubt its easy to consistently kick the ball at the 3 yd line, and 3 yds away from the sideline....and at that point the detroit coverage team knew EXACTLY where the ball was going to be every time....

Tate did as good as anyone would have been able to do in that situation

(now if they made it so that there was TWO returners deep, tate should have caught the ball, moved up 5 yds, and threw it/lateral it to the OTHER side of the field, to a person behind him closer to the endzone, and this person would have had an unabated path for a TD

 

[102 Pat]

Don't forget there's film of him from his TD kick returns so the opposing special teams coach can study it and break it down.

 

[aluminum seats]

i would give the props to that mostly to the kicker....i doubt its easy to consistently kick the ball at the 3 yd line, and 3 yds away from the sideline....and at that point the detroit coverage team knew EXACTLY where the ball was going to be every time....

Tate did as good as anyone would have been able to do in that situation

(now if they made it so that there was TWO returners deep, tate should have caught the ball, moved up 5 yds, and threw it/lateral it to the OTHER side of the field, to a person behind him closer to the endzone, and this person would have had an unabated path for a TD

Yeah, I agree w/this--can't say specifically what should have been done, but it didn't seem as though the special TEAMS adjusted well yesterday. Can't put too much of it on Tate, who as others noted, has been ill.

And as someone else said, offseason work on his catching like Givens would be smart.

 

[WhiZa]

Tate will hit the hole faster then anyone in the league, but he's not going to make anyone miss. I blamed yesterday mostly on the blocking. The Lions knew to kick every ball to the left and flood that side. That Pats were not able to open a hole for him. There were consistently 4 Lions unblocked within the 20 as Tate caught the ball. It's just a great ST play by the Lions

 

[blackglass3]

Another negative thread after a win. I must be at PatsFans.com.

 

[blackcat54]

I've noticed that in the past few games he is not running aggressively like he was during the early season. Hole or not, you still have to go hard and take what his there, and I'm not seeing it. Happens with most KO guys, after a few too many hits they lose it and you throw another guy out there.

 

[PatsFan2]

Thread starter have a point...Tate look Alge Crumpler slow on KO's i mean take a knee please...I'll rather us starting at the 20 than at the 15.

 

[jaychamp]

Teams are now scheming just for Tate on KO's. Yeah, let's bench him so teams can have one less thing to prepare for instead of letting Tate and the ST's adjust. 2 weeks of a bad spell and bench him even if it's not all his fault. Wonderful

 

[scout]

Yesterday it felt like the blocking just wasn't there. Detriots kicker did a great job with the "corner kicks" and Tate had little room to work with.

That was pretty incredible, I was waiting for one to go Ob and get flagged. Not to much you can do but run straight ahead and get what you can unless your name is Hester.

 

[Mack Herron]

But over the last month or so, the return numbers have dipped rather precipitously. Prior to the Cleveland game on Nov. 7, Tate was averaging 28.9 yards per return. Since then, he’s had only one game where he’s averaged at least 23 yards a return and zero touchdowns. On Thursday, he had four kick returns for 69 yards, a rather pedestrian average of 17.3 yards per return, with his longest going for 26 yards. There was none of the burst we saw through the early stages of the 2010 season when he ran back kicks against the Bengals (97 yards) and the Dolphins (103 yards).

patriots - Ten Things We Learned Thursday: Devin McCourty is making the leap - WEEI | Christopher Price

No question Tate has been less productive on KO returns. But I think the drops, which are clearly a personal shortcoming, are the bigger problem. He is simply not giving much production for several weeks. If this trend continues, I would not be surprised to see Price get a shot. Butler can return kicks as well as Tate has for the last month.

 

[RayClay]

I don't.

He's not atrocious. He's playing his 2nd game on 3 days rest, while recovering from the flu.

I am not worried about him. He will be fine.

This...

He has been outstanding. He seems a little off. we're winning, let's not make a mountain out of a molehill.

 

[PatsFan2]

Heinsight is 20/20 but what if?

In Round 3 of the 2009 Draft look who the Pats picked just ahead of WR Mike Walace who's lightning it up in Pittsburgh fastest player in NFL.

Pick 19 (83) Round 3 Patriots (From Jets through Packers) Tate, Brandon WR 6'0" 183 North Carolina.

Pick 20 (84) Round 3 Steelers (From Bears through Broncos) Wallace, Mike WR 6'0" 199 Mississippi.

Seems like alot of Teams missed on WR Mike Wallace...he would have made up for the Chad Jackson and Bethel Johnson picks.

 

[PATSNUTme]

There's something wrong with your TV set.

If you cared to notice that teams are kicking to Tate more on the right side than in the middle. It's risky because the ball can go out of bounds. But it just so happens that the ball has been kicked just enough to the right so Tate does have to field the ball.

This means that all the coverage people can converge on one side of the field and their pursuit angles can be funneled that way.

Tate has had the droppies lately but that could be a temp thing. That concerns me a little more, not much, than the KO thing.

I guess we do have to have these "I'm not happy unless I'm unhappy about something, after my team with 23 rookies and 2nd year players go 9-2", threads.