Lions' Golden Tate: Opponents know our plays before we run them

The 0-3 Lions' offense ranks 27th in in the NFL in total yardage, 23rd in points, 24th in passer rating, and is dead-last in rushing yards, as Pride of Detroit points out, and former Seahawk Golden Tate thinks he might know why.

Tate was asked for a reaction to Denver CB Bradley Roby's comments after Sunday's game on Detroit Sports 105.1. Roby had said, "We pretty much knew what they were gonna do, and they did it." Tate responded:

I haven't heard that yet from that player. I didn't read anything about it but that's not the first time this year that another player has said that. I've had a couple occasions in literally each game, where they called out our play for one, then afterwards been like 'hey, we knew what you guys were doing.' I don't know how they know or what film they're watching that we're giving away...that's something we got to go back and watch our tendencies to figure out where we line up or how we line up or what formation or whatever it may be.

We've got to figure it out because we're clearly giving away. All three weeks, a player's come up to me and said 'we knew what you were going to do.' That's bad.

This predictability factor isn't a new issue for those in Detroit, and Drew Brees inadvertently opened Lions' OC Joe Lombardi to a lot of criticism about it last year. Drew Brees was quoted as saying he could recognize most of Detroit's impending plays simply by the formation.

"You could put a Detroit game from this year in front of me right now," Brees said, "and I could call 95 percent of the plays. And probably 70 percent before you even hit the play button. I'd just look at the formation and be like, 'All right, it's this.'"

Of course, Brees worked daily with Lombardi for seven years, including four as Brees' quarterback coach. Brees knows the offense better than probably anyone in the world outside of Sean Payton, but that doesn't mean others can't pick up on tendencies. If Brees can figure it out before even pushing play, that's concerning, and means there are clear tells and signals as to what is coming.

It will be interesting to see if the Lions change things up this week or carry on with what they've been doing, but the Seahawks are surely studying these tendencies and tells as we speak.