Golden Tate has become the most important offensive weapon the Lions have outside of quarterback Matthew Stafford.
Tate caught seven passes Sunday for 58 yards and a touchdown, coming a half yard short of a second touchdown.
In just over three seasons, Tate has already surpassed 300 receptions. He has 301 after Sunday. He reached 300 catches faster than any player in team history by accomplishing this feat in 51 games. He broke the previous best of 66 games to 300 catches by Calvin Johnson. That's beating it by nearly a season.
After back-to-back-back 90-plus-catch seasons, Tate is now tied with Brandon Pettigrew (301, 2009-16) for the eighth-most receptions in Lions history.
Those statistics are really amazing for a player who's been in a Lions uniform a little over three seasons. His reliability certainly hasn't gone unnoticed by his quarterback.
Stafford's passer rating when targeting Tate since he's been in Detroit is 100.8.
The Lions have surrounded Stafford with a lot of weapons over the years, but Tate continues to be one of the most reliable.
Here's a look at some other key stats – good and bad – after three weeks of football:
- Let's start by taking a look at the contributions Lions rookies have made through the first three weeks of the season:
- LB Jarrad Davis – 15 tackles, one sack, one fumble recovery in two games (missed Atlanta with concussion)
- CB Teez Tabor – Inactive first three games
- WR Kenny Golladay – Seven receptions for 102 yards (14.6 average) with two touchdowns
- LB Jalen Reeves-Maybin – Two tackles in 42 defensive snaps
- TE Michael Roberts – No receptions in 32 offensive snaps
- CB Jamal Agnew – Two tackles. Has a 24.8 punt return average with one touchdown (88 yards) on six punt returns, and a 14.7 kickoff return average on three kickoff returns
- DT Jeremiah Ledbetter – Four tackles, four quarterback hurries, two quarterback hits
- DE Jeremiah Valoaga – Two tackles, one sack, three quarterback hits, one tackle for loss
- RB Tion Green – Inactive first three games Matthew Stafford's current passer rating of 100.1 ranks eighth in the NFL.
- The Lions have been in the red zone seven times in three games, and have five touchdowns and one field goal. The one time they didn't score was Sunday's final play.
- Detroit's defense and special teams have certainly put the offense in some good situations early on this season. The Lions have started the most drives (7) in opponent territory in the NFL.
- Sunday marked only the third time in Ziggy Ansah's career that he didn't have a single quarterback pressure in a game he played at least 10 snaps.
- Detroit has three non-offensive touchdowns this season (1 PR, 2 INT). The only other team with more than one is the Los Angeles Rams (2 INT).
- Matt Prater is the first kicker in NFL history to make four 55-plus-yard field goals in a single season. The Lions are only three games into the season.
- Detroit leads the NFL in turnover differential through three weeks with a plus-six.
- Third and short (less than four yards) has been a problem area for the Lions' offense early on. The league average of converting in those situations is around 59 percent. The Lions are converting just 36 percent of the time (30th).
- Detroit is one of five teams who have played at least three games without recording a rushing touchdown.
