Golden Tate Scoffs At Rodney Harrison's 'No Respect' Take On Stafford: 'I Wouldn't Pay Attention To All That BS'
By Ashley Scoby
@AshleyScoby
The Lions have plenty of problems at the moment, after starting the season 0-2. But one of those issues isn't a lack of respect for their quarterback, according to Golden Tate.
After the game Sunday, former Charger/Patriot and current NFL analyst for NBC, Rodney Harrison, made a comment about how hardly anyone on the Lions' sideline came to Stafford's defense when he took a late shot out of bounds from Anthony Barr. He said the team had "no respect" for Stafford because only "one rookie lineman" (Laken Tomlinson) came to Stafford's aid.
When looking at the video it appears as if several Lions involved themselves in the situation, including Brandon Pettigrew and DeAndre Levy in street clothes, Tomlinson and linebacker Stephen Tulloch. And if punches were thrown or an altercation started, the Lions would have run the risk of flags being thrown their way.
According to Tate, Harrison was just stirring the pot with his comments.
"That's one thing we don't listen to," he said. "People are always going to try to stir up something, try to start something. That's not the case at all. I think everyone in this building – I mean, hopefully everyone in this state – support Stafford and this team. … I wouldn't pay too much attention to all that BS. That's just someone trying to start something, give someone something to talk about."
Of course, when people aren't debating Stafford's status within the locker room, they're talking about his status in the training room. The quarterback took a beating Sunday, and went for X-rays after the game.
In the locker room on Monday, he was still wearing a bandage on his left arm, which was bleeding steadily throughout Sunday's game. He declined to comment about his status for this week's game against the Broncos.
Tate said that Stafford participated in the team's walk-through on Monday, and that he respected his willingness to keep playing through pain.
"That's one thing I'll never question about Stafford is he is very, very tough," he said. "Now that it's over with, there was a couple times where he got in the huddle and he could barely speak the play. That's how much pain he was in, and he just fought through it. He seems to be okay right now and in high spirits, ready to get back to work. That's what you've got to love about him."