With wide receiver Calvin Johnson not healthy enough to really contribute Sunday, the Detroit Lions leaned heavily on No. 2 receiver Golden Tate in Sunday's game. Tate responded with a huge game in the team's 17-14 loss to the Buffalo Bills.
Golden Tate has huge day for Lions, fantasy owners
The Detroit receiver had a career-best game in the Lions’ loss Sunday. We break down the fantasy implications.
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Tate caught seven passes on nine targets in the game, going for 134 yards. He scored the Lions’ lone offensive touchdown on a 9-yard catch at the end of the first quarter. After 116 yards in Week 4, Tate has now put up big back-to-back games. It was the biggest game of Tate’s career, besting 131 total yards and a score in Week 17 last year, when he was with Seattle.
Fantasy impact: The ankle injury Johnson has been dealing with has made Tate the de facto No. 1 target in Detroit, a role he has taken to quite well the last two weeks. We’ll see if he can continue putting up those types of numbers whenever Johnson is back on the field and healthy, but at this point, he has to be seen as a flex play at absolute minimum.
