Getty Golden Tate #15 of the New York Giants salutes after scoring a touchdown against the New York Jets.
The New York Giants were able to edge out The Washington Football Team this past Sunday en route to their second victory of the season. This, despite lacking the services of wide receiver Golden Tate, who was told to stay home as a disciplinary measure after publicly demanding more targets the week prior.
However, with Monday came a new week, a new impending divisional bout and a new outlook on Tate’s placement within the organization.
“He was back in there with us today [Monday], working,” head coach Joe Judge told members of the media of Tate. “We’re not going to have the players in the building tomorrow, but they’ll be able to come in to work out. Then Wednesday, we’ll be on the field for practice, so he’ll definitely be out there practicing with us. Like all of our players, we’re going to have plans for these guys within the game plan.”
“If you’re asking me specifically about him being active for the game, I would anticipate Golden being active,” Judge said. “I have no reason to believe he wouldn’t be active at this point. But we’re going to go through this week and kind of see how everything goes with everybody on the team and see where everything lays out.”
Judge declined to delve into details with the media regarding the decision to inactivate Tate against Washington.
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Tate’s Usage Unlikely to Change?
Not only is Tate expected to be active for Sunday’s matchup against the NFC East-leading Philadelphia Eagles, but it also appears that he will likely step right back into the previous role he had manned.
Wide receivers coach Tyke Tolbert said Tuesday that he expects Tate to reclaim the same role on offense he held prior to the incident that led to him being a healthy scratch this past Sunday, per ESPN’s Jordan Raanan.
While Tolbert didn’t exactly play down the situation that led to Tate’s benching, he appeared to at least somewhat go to bat for his disgruntled wideout.
“Show me a receiver that don’t want the ball, it would be the first one I’ve seen,” Tolbert proclaimed.
Tate has seen his usage disintegrate in his second season in New York. After leading all Giants pass catchers in targets a season ago with 85 in just 11 games, the 32-year-old has received only 29 targets over his seven games this year.
Despite what the staff has spewed to the media, it’s reasonable to question whether Tate will seed snaps to undrafted free-agent Austin Mack moving forward. The former Ohio State Buckeye stepped in for Tate a week ago, leading all Giants wideouts with four catches for 72 yards. In fact, Mack logged 38 snaps against Washington, a number that Tate hasn’t topped since Week 5.