Golden Tate responded to Barry Church’s trash talk and said the Cowboys safety made a mistake by opening his mouth ahead of Sunday’s NFC wild-card playoff game between Detroit and Dallas.
Church said in a radio interview with KRLD Wednesday that he was looking forward to getting revenge on Tate for delivering a hit that injured Cowboys linebacker Sean Lee in 2012 (Tate was a member of the Seahawks then).
“That was the dirtiest shot that I’ve ever seen,” Church told KRLD-FM. “We were talking about it on the way back from Washington, me and Sean. He was like, ‘Man I wish I could play so bad in this game just to give him a little payback to what he did in Seattle.’ Obviously he can’t play but we’re going to keep our radar out for him because that was a dirty shot. We’re looking forward to seeing him and we’ll definitely get him back for that, but it’ll be within the rules, within the rules.”
Lee is out for the season with a torn ACL suffered in late May, which is why he can’t avenge the hit.
Though Church wants revenge on Tate, the first-year Lions receiver says he is not worried.
“An old great football player told me one time that you can’t hit what you can’t catch,” Tate said of Church via the Dallas Morning News’ Jon Machota.
Tate also thinks Church’s focus on an old hit gives Detroit the advantage in the game.
“The game’s going to be played on Sunday,” Tate said via the Morning News. “The fact that he’s wasting energy worrying about revenge about something that’s two years ago that has nothing to do with him, I think is a little silly. And I don’t think it’s going to help his team win.
“I think we already have an advantage. That’s taking away from the game. I think that’s selfish that another man is trying to get revenge for another man’s problem, I guess. It’s kind of weird.”
Church does seem a little too focused on an old play, but this should not come as a huge surprise; this is the same guy who once missed practice for one of the odder reasons we’ve seen. He needs to get his mind right for Sunday’s game.
Photo: Twitter/Golden Tate
