12th Man Rising
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Golden Tate’s return to Seattle

By C.J. Tumbarello

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The Seattle Seahawks will be looking to clinch their division for the third consecutive season. If you haven’t noticed, the Seahawks have established themselves as one of the power teams of the NFL. They might have ended the 2014 season in heart breaking fashion, but the Seahawks are hungrier and could even be better coming into the 2015 season.

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However, the schedule is officially released and if the Seahawks want to win their third consecutive division it won’t come easy, especially with competition improving. As you know the Seahawks own the fourth toughest schedule in the league, but there’s a few things to be satisfied with compared to last years schedule.

In 2014 the Seahawks were designated four prime-time games with only one of them being at home. This year the Seahawks were given five prime-time games with two of them being at home. In 2014 their Bye Week came in Week 4, as of this year they have a later Bye coming in Week 9 with three straight home games to follow. In 2014, I personally did not like how the Seahawks didn’t play a division opponent until Week 7 of the season, this year they come out swinging, getting the season kicked off with the St. Louis Rams in Week 1.

Not having too many gripes about the Seahawks schedule, there’s one in particular game I would like to focus on right now. Before the schedule was released, I predicted the game between the Detroit Lions and the Seattle Seahawks would be one of Seattle’s national televised games. I am most intrigued by this game mostly because Golden Tate will return home where he was drafted in the 2nd round of the 2010 NFL draft.

Golden Tate was with the Seahawks for four years before joining the Detroit Lions. In Tate’s four years with Seattle he caught 165 passes for 2,195 receiving yards and 15 touchdowns with his breakout season coming in 2013. Tate has tremendous athleticism and special abilities when it comes to receiving or returning punts.

The Seahawks decided to let Tate walk rather than re-sign him, but later in 2014, fans were introduced to some reasons why. According to Lance Zierlein, a draft analyst for NFL.com, Percy Harvin got into an altercation with Golden Tate, then with the Seahawks, during Super Bowl week in 2013. Tate suffered a black eye in the fight, and the Seahawks were reportedly worried about more incidents with the talented but volatile Harvin going forward. The Seahawks later traded Harvin six weeks into the 2014 season to the New York Jets.

To add to the pot, there was no doubt Russell Wilson used to connect with wide receiver Golden Tate on the field, but there was speculation that Golden Tate connected to Wilson’s now ex-wife Ashton off the field. Russell Wilson’s estranged and ex-wife may have had an affair with the former teammate Golden Tate, leading to Tate being essentially dropped by the Seattle Seahawks and Wilson filing for divorce. Tate has repeatedly denied the affair, but Wilson has been completely silent on the matter.

Finally the “offer.” If you remember Tate saying at the time, “I’d rather take less to be happy and win ball games than to take way more and go to a crappy city where the fans don’t give a crap about the team.” Tate was willing to take a slight discount to stay in Seattle, but was offered according to him, a “laughable discount.”

“I didn’t mean a 40 percent discount” Tate said in an interview on 710 ESPN Seattle. “I’m going to earn in one year at Detroit what Seattle was going to pay me for two years. Seattle offered numbers that were laughable. I thought, ‘I’ve given you everything and this is what you give me?’

“Considering I was there for four years, and started two of those years. I missed one game in those two years. I did everything right and wasn’t a trouble maker. And what they offered, I was like, ‘Is this serious?’ The numbers the Seahawks shot at me were not first-priority, like they said they wanted to do for me to stay in Seattle.”

Golden Tate walked away from the Seahawks on bad terms to later accept a five-year 31 million deal to join the Detroit Lions on the second day of free agency in 2014. At the time, I can’t recall too many fans being upset about Tate’s departure. “We have Percy Harvin!” A lot of fans are thinking differently now.

To me, Golden Tate was a priority for the Seahawks, but they just didn’t know what they had until it was gone. His first year with the Lions, he set a career high in receptions with 99, sixth highest in the NFL, and receiving yards with 1,331, seventh highest in the NFL. Tate was selected to the 2015 Pro Bowl, his first Pro Bowl appearance. The Seahawks made a mistake and they owned up to it, but knowing back then what they know now, I’m positive they would’ve paid the man.

What makes this game even more intriguing? Golden Tate won’t be the only receiver the Seahawks will have to worry about. We’ll get a taste of Calvin Johnson, the best in the game at his position going head to head against the best corner in the game, Richard Sherman. That’s right, Megatron versus Optimus Prime: The Sequel is coming to your home on ESPN, October 5th. Back in Week 8 of the 2012 season, Sherman and the Seahawks traveled to Detroit to face the Lions where they lost 28-24. Like Sherman would say, Johnson was a non-factor and was held in check during the match-up, catching three passes, tied a season low, and his 46 receiving yards were his second-lowest total of that year.

The Detroit Lions are 1 of 9 teams the Seahawks haven’t beaten since 2012. This game probably won’t be hyped up as much as some other Seahawks games in 2015, but the headlines are there. Let’s just hope it doesn’t end in a fail mary with Golden Tate catching the game-winning score.

Next: John Schneider speaks before the draft

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