Defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz may have enjoyed his Rudy moment last Sunday, but not everyone on the field found it as entertaining. Not even close.
Schwartz had set the scene all the way back in OTAs, according to rookie linebacker Randell Johnson, proposing he be carried off the field after the game, just like in the movie portraying Notre Dame's infamous defensive end. After upsetting his former team on the road 17-14, two of his linebackers did just that, hoisting him up on their shoulders while he held his fist high in the air.
The scene didn't evoke any tears from Lions receiver Golden Tate, though.
"It's a terrible gesture," Tate said via NFL.com Tuesday. "Just being a spectator, that's not the first time he's done some things like that. And one thing I heard that -- I don't know how true it is -- but I heard it was planned. ... 'We'll do this if we win.' That's a total douche move.
"If I knew I wasn't gonna get fined, I would have snatched him right down off the shoulders and threw him on the ground, personally -- but, you know, obviously, I couldn't do that."
Tate was one of the only high points of Detroit's struggling offense Sunday, hauling in seven catches for 134 yards, the highest single-game tally of his five-year career. That was 60 percent of the team's total passing offense, as quarterback Matthew Stafford was sacked six times by Schwartz's defense and threw a touchdown and an interception on his way to a passer rating of 77.5.
Schwartz joined the Bills this season after five years with Detroit, where he went 29-51 as their head coach.
