DETROIT – Golden Tate was disappointed with the Detroit Lions fans who were at Ford Field Sunday.
The veteran receiver didn’t appear angry or sound as if he was blasting the fans after a 42-17 loss to the Arizona Cardinals. But he also didn’t like some of the things he saw and heard as the Lions’ record fell to 0-5.
Fans began booing when quarterback Matthew Stafford threw an interception on the fourth play of the game – Tate was his intended target – and by the time the game finally ended there were only a few thousand at the most still in the stands.
“You know, I’m the first one to say I love our fans and I think our fans are amazing and they’ve been patient for a long time,” Tate said. “But before the game got out of hand, you know before the game started, I looked up, there a lot of empty seats.
“Early on in the game, our team is getting booed. Later in the game, it sounded like the loudest they got was when Stafford was leaving the game and Dan (Orlovsky) was coming in and that’s not the support that we want.
“You know, when we win, we all win together – the city, as an organization, as a state. When we lose, we all lose together. Today, I felt like at times our fan base kind of turned their back on us.”
At that point, a reporter started to interrupt with another question and Tate said he wasn’t finished.
“But we have a lot of confidence in our fan base and we can’t do this without our fan base,” Tate continued. “And we expect them to be with us a little bit better next week. We got a chance to still be special. We got two more at home … and we’re expecting our fan base to be there for us and support us.
“I know we’re not playing the type of football that we want to play right now but we need our fans. We need them.”
Tate was asked if he realized his comments might not go over well with the long-suffering fans, many of whom have seen the Lions win one just one playoff game since 1957, when they won the city’s last NFL championship.
“I consider us family, though, and I think there’s going to be time where family go through trials and tribulations,” Tate said. “There’s going to be times where we don’t agree with each other as far as family but at the end of the day we still gotta find a way to come together is how I see it.
“I don’t see our fan base as just the Lions fans. I consider us family and what I mean by that is it’s more than football to me. It’s being out in the community trying to bring this city together. You know, helping whoever I can who is down. And right now we’re just down.
“But we need the continuous support of our family at the end of the day.”
