New York Post, Saturday, November 14, 2020nypost.comBy Ryan DunleavyGolden Tate got carried away.
He wasn’t trying to get traded
away.
In his first interview since the
me-first comments that led to his
de facto one-game suspension last
week, a contrite Tate admitted he
made a mistake but debunked con-
spiracy theories he was trying to
force his way off the Giants roster
and onto a contender.
“My actions were unacceptable,
and I apologized to the team, the
GM, the coaches, the offense,”
Tate said after Friday’s practice.
“I’m excited to move forward.”
Tate screamed, “Throw me the
damn ball!” at the Giants sideline
early in the fourth quarter of a
Nov. 2 loss to the Buccaneers, on
the eve of the NFL trade dead-
line. After catching a late touch-
down pass, he repeated, “Throw
me the ball!” into the television
cameras. At other times through-
out the game, Tate threw his
hands in the air in frustration
after not being targeted.
“I wouldn’t say I was trying to
get traded,” Tate said.
So, what was his rationale?
“If you know me and you know
my game, I play with a lot of
emotion, a lot of passion, and I
just got caught up in the mo-
ment,” Tate said. “I was wrong to
draw attention to myself. I take
full responsibility for that.”
Tate’s social-media savvy wife,
Elise, stoked the fire further on In-
stagram when she criticized
the Giants for not properly
utilizing her husband and
quarterback Daniel Jones
for not throwing to him
when wide open.
The 32-year-
old veteran
said he was
in the dark
until his
wife’s later-
deleted words
went public.
“In my
wife’s de-
fense, she
is and will
always be
my biggest
fan,” Tate said.
“I disagree with
her taking it
public, but I
will always
have her back. Iknow that she was, in her mind,
protecting me, and she was calling
it how she saw it without having
spoken to me or understood what
had happened prior to that.
“It’s unfortunate that we drew
collectively this type of attention
to our organization when we’re
trying to win ball games. I felt the
need to apologize to this organi-
zation for drawing that negative
attention, and also my body lan-
guage on the field. From here on,
we don’t have to worry about
that ever again.”
The punishment doled out by
coach Joe Judge included a demo-
tion to the scout team last week
and being left home for the Giants’
win at Washington. Tate is ques-
tionable to play Sunday against the
Eagles because of a knee injury
suffered in Thursday’s practice
that left him limited on Friday.
Tate characterized his long
meeting with Judge last week as
“very productive.” He has a catch
in 122 straight games played and 22
receptions for 226 yards and two
touchdowns this season.
“We talked like men,” Tate
said, “and I think we came up
with solutions on how I can be
better to help us.”
The Giants are 3-15 with Tate in
the lineup and 3-4 without him
since he signed a four-year, $37.5
million contract. After finishing
the 2018 season with the Eagles,
Tate said he wanted to sign
somewhere to chase a second Su-
per Bowl ring but instead is one
of the oldest players on a re-
building team.
“I plan to honor my con-
tract the best I possibly
can,” Tate said. “I believe
in this organization. I be-
lieve in where
they’re head-
ing. I be-
lieve in the
people that
they’re
bringing in
to be a part
of this. I’m
excited to
be a part
of it now,
and hope-
fully that
I can do
my part
to get us
where we
want to
be.”‘Unacceptable’:
Tate apologetic
after benching
There’s no reason to think the
current Eagles don’t respect the
Giants. There’s also no reason to
think the Eagles are anything but
supremely confident after over-
coming double-digit deficits to
win in each of the last three sea-
sons — the Giants blew an 11-
point lead with five minutes to go
in a 22-21 loss on Oct. 22 — and
winning six of the last seven at
MetLife Stadium.
Sterling Shepard is the only
player on the roster with a win
over the Eagles in a Giants uni-
form. Giants coach Joe Judge said
he doesn’t believe a team can lose
a game before kickoff based on
intimidation — just on poor prep-
aration and focus.
“We need to win,” tight end
Evan Engram said. “We’ve been
on the losing end a lot of times re-
cently. We have an opportunity to
change that Sunday. That’s what
we’re really focused on. We’re
definitely really motivated to be
on the winning end this time.”
Jason Garrett played for the
Cowboys when they were kings
of the NFC East. As a head coach,
he steered Dallas to 11 wins in 14
meetings against the Giants from
2013-19, including six straight to
end his tenure.
If anyone has experienced how
dominance can become psycho-
logical, it’s Garrett — now the Gi-
ants’ offensive coordinator.
“Anything like this that comes
up [where] we’ve had a streak
where we’ve beaten a team six
games in a row or we’ve lost six
games in a row, the first part of
that equation is many of the play-
ers and coaches weren’t involved
in that success or adversity,” Gar-
rett said. “But the other way to
look at it is, ‘Hey, it’s like a new
play.’ Whatever we did before,
good, bad or indifferent, is really
irrelevant to what’s going to hap-
pen right now.”
The Giants just experienced
the other side, beating Washing-
ton last week for the fifth
straight time since Dec. 9, 2018.
They are 2-22 against the rest ofthe NFL during that span.
“I don’t think it [affects] any of
the confidence,” said linebacker
Blake Martinez, who is new to the
Giants but was part of the Pack-
ers’ recent dominance over the
Bears, “but it’s definitely some-
thing you think about throughout
the week, knowing that you can
either end that streak or continue
the streak type of thing.”
Westbrook, who is partnering
with Crown Royal to promote
the Water Break and the #Pur-
pleBagProject, said he thinks
the Giants and Eagles are rea-
sonably matched.
“If I’m on the Giants team, I’m
thinking, ‘We gave that last game
away,’ ” Westbrook said. “If I’m
on the Eagles team, I’m thinking,
‘We have a chance to take con-
trol of this division by winning
this week.’ Both teams are look-
ing at it a little bit differently, but
neither one of these teams
should be saying, ‘We are far and
away the better team.’ ”
[email protected]straight vs. NFC East rivals