Do you think she has a point, or is she overstepping her bounds? (pun intended)
That was a beautiful, and an important TD that Golden Tate grabbed toward the end of the Giants Bucs game this past Monday night. But it was only the third ball thrown to Tate all night, who was 2 for 3 for 31 yards with that single TD. He also doesn’t have more than 7 targets in any game so far this season. Darius Slayton and Evan Engram both had 10 passes each thrown their way.
After the TD reception by Tate, it appeared as if he yelled “throw me the ball”. If he did, and it hasn’t been taken out of context, it certainly seems as if he isn’t happy with the reduction in targets per game that he’s getting.
So could it just simply be because Daniel Jones has more receivers to throw to? Well let’s look at the numbers. Disregarding check downs to running backs and the other non-spotlighted receivers, here are this year’s stats (as of 11-5-20) -
Golden Tate - Targets - 29 Receptions - 22 Percentage - 75.9% Yards - 226
Evan Engram - Targets - 54 Receptions - 31 Percentage - 57.4% Yards - 284
Darius Slayton - Targets - 56 Receptions - 32 Percentage - 57.1% Yards - 485
Sterling Shepard - Targets - 28 Receptions - 22 Percentage - 78.6% Yards - 209
Now looking at those numbers carefully you might think that Tate’s plight holds a bit of water. If he were to get the amount of targets that he seems to be looking for, it’s possible that offensive production could go up a bit. So why the reduction in potential touches per game?
This is the exact question that (Mrs.) Elise Tate was asking, quite adamantly, on Instagram after the game. She was quoted as saying -
“Getting so many texts throughout the game GT WIDE OPEN WIDE OPEN WIDE OPEN. I KNOWWWWW,” she wrote in-depth on an IG story. “I mean yeah given ONE chance in the fourth quarter of course he comes down with the ball! He’s @showtimetate!! SO UNDER UTILIZED. AS HIS WIFE I CANNOT EVEN WATCH WITH ONE EYE OPEN!!!!
“11yrs in the NFL I’ve never said something like this online,” she continued. “But it’s excruciating to watch and killing his stats this year but you can’t have yards on a few to no targets.”
So again, do you think she has a point? Well, maybe so. However, it’s more than likely a combination of several other key factors.
First and foremost, Darius Slayton, since last season, has emerged as a favorite target for Daniel Jones. The two looked to be in lock step with each other last year. You could only imagine that Offensive Coordinator Jason Garrett has taken this into consideration when setting up play calling.
Then there’s Evan Engram, who the Giants are still putting a ton of stock in at the Tight End position. He’s clearly going to get a good amount of throws coming his way.
Next up, Jones has been hurried more than anyone would like to see a QB be hurried. It seems as if he’s either forcing the ball to his primary targets Slayton and Engram (sometimes to the dismay of the interception police) or checking down to a back.
With Golden Tate being the YAC (yards after catch) beast that he is it’s highly unlikely that fact has escaped Garrett’s and Head Coach Joe Judge’s minds. More than likely this will change once Jones gets more time to throw the ball, and maybe learns to go through his progressions a bit better. That last one is a story for another article.
But one might still ponder, was it simply facts such as those, or did “The Missus” actually have something to do with it. Well, we’re all talking about it, aren’t we? Hmm…