Where have all the Brandon Tate haters gone?

Tate likely won’t be able to be a 4th or 5th WR like Cosby was, but he seems like an instant upgrade in the kick return game.

And I think as he starts returning punts more regularly, that will only get better.

I was, and am still skeptical of Tate. I think he’s fast, but I think he carries the ball too loosely and I am always in fear that he will fumble. Seems like a loose cannon in decision making. Earlier in the season on several kick-offs, he kept brining the ball out and getting us buried when he should have used better judgement and downed it. Decisions like that are likely to hurt us as we go into the tough part of our schedule in the AFCN where the defenses and special teams play is much better.

…is due to the new kickoff rules, but I’m not complaining.

When he first got here I was super excited. Thought that he was an upgrade in the both kick return and punt return game and might compete for the 4th WR spot with Caldwell. Without Stats… Shipley went out and he is still not getting any snaps with the O. Hawkins came from nowhere and is now the teams 4th WR. Tate at the beginning was scary to watch. bring the ball out from deep in the end zone on kick returns, faircatching balls at the 5 yd line, just making some bad decisions. However I will chop those up to growing pains. The last few games he has gotten better. The special team players had to get use to his speed too. He is Progressing and the TD hopefully is just the beginning. Pacman is going to compete for that spot too, even better!

though I admit I was extremely frustrated the one game he made the horrible play and let the ball bounce inside the 5 yard line.

The rest of the time I’ve said we need to give him a chance. As I said before, he still has to learn when to take the risk and when to play it safe. Seems like he’s made a lot of progress in that area recently.

but the Tater-Tot Trot last night was something special

I’ve defended him all along, partially because I knew he’s capable of doing what he did yesterday. I’ll live with a few questionable decisions in return for having a punt returner that can take it back all the way. A few years from now when Tate gets a little smarter (remember that this is his first full season returning punts) everyone in Cincy is going to love him.

He felt the pressure with Pacman starting off with a 60+ yd return to start off with. I think he realized that he needed to step his game up. The return for a TD was huge, but I did like what Pacman had to offer on his first play back from injury. The problem with Tate is that he’s not utilized as a slot WR. He was at his best when lined up in the slot with Hakeem Nicks on his outside at UNC. Tate needs to be utilized with a reverse. He excelled at this in college, but injury took him down at his peak. If he lost a step since the injury, then I understand why we haven’t seen him in the slot or a WR reverse. However, the return for a TD last night reminded my of the Tate who played at UNC with plenty of talent in the tank.

always said that people expecting any returner to average the TDs that hester does, are ill-informed. hester’s TD average per # of returns is almost 1/2 the amount of the all-time #2 guy in nfl history. the fact remains, a good returner, will on the the average nfl season, return only 1 or 2 for a TD.

tate is good.

And rightfully so. He didn’t show anything at all during the first few weeks he was here. Actually, if you look, it look like he was getting worse at returning. I guess he heard me say he sucked in that game thread when he actually did suck that game..
I’ll take the credit for his turn around… :) I hope he still continues to impress.

Here is why:

1. Although he returned the kick for a TD, it was against the worst kickoff defense in the league.
2. He still makes bad decisions and a majority of the time a bad decision on a return has greater negative consequences than the plus on a return (b/c unless you have Hester, the positive returns are not TDs).
3. He doesn’t do anything else. This is my main problem with Tate returning kicks. He doesn’t play any other special teams and he doesn’t play offense or defense. That means he takes up a roster spot to return 5-6 kicks a game. We have Hawkins, who plays offense and other special teams, who could return kicks and, when healthy, we have Adam Jones who can return kicks and also plays defense. Having someone who does something else along with returning kicks allows you to have an extra guy active on game days. That can pay huge dividends.