The New York Giants’ first touchdown Thursday against the Philadelphia Eagles came thanks to a nice catch-and-run from former Eagle Golden Tate III. With the Giants trailing 7-0 early, Tate caught a pass from Daniel Jones in tight coverage from Cre’Von LeBlanc. Tate then evaded LeBlanc and took the ball in for a 39-yard touchdown:
Tough grab for @ShowtimeTate on the 39-yard touchdown! #TogetherBlue
📺: #NYGvsPHI on NFLN/FOX/PRIME VIDEO
📱: https://t.co/W5bCPYgMfo pic.twitter.com/PEm3R0ZVuF— NFL (@NFL) October 23, 2020
The 16 yards after catch there even surprised the NFL’s statistical models:
Daniel Jones and Golden Tate connect for a 39-yard TD for the #Giants first score of the game.
Tate YAC: 16
Expected YAC: 5
YAC Over Expected: +11The pass had just a 1.6% TD probability according to our completion probability & xYAC models.#NYGvsPHI | Powered by @awscloud pic.twitter.com/5UkOoxv2EK
— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) October 23, 2020
Tate played for the Eagles in 2018 following a mid-season trade from the Detroit Lions, and he had 278 receiving yards on 30 catches across eight games with them that regular season. He also proved important in the playoffs, catching the game-winning touchdown against the Chicago Bears in the wild-card round.
Tate left for the Giants in free agency ahead of the 2019 season, and posted 49 catches for 676 yards in 11 games last year. Through five games this year, he had 19 catches for 156 yards and no touchdowns. This marked his first touchdown of the season, and it probably adds a little more to it still for it to come on a long play like this against a former team.
[NFL on Twitter]
About Andrew Bucholtz
Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.