Spectacular touchdown highlights Tate’s career day

By Brady Henderson

Another Seahawks win was highlighted by another spectacular play by Golden Tate, though not one you might have expected.

Golden Tate had six catches for a career-high 106 yards and a touchdown he hauled in with one hand. (AP) | More photos

Normally at his best when he’s in the open field, Tate was running toward the corner of the end zone with a defender draped all over him when he reached out with his left hand to haul in a 6-yard touchdown reception that was one of the defining moments of the Seahawks’ 33-10 win over Atlanta Sunday.

“That one-handed catch was something special,” quarterback Russell Wilson told reporters.

So was the rest of the day for the fourth-year Seahawks receiver who is becoming the go-to guy in Seattle’s passing game while also making significant contributions on special teams.

“Golden had a fantastic game,” head coach Pete Carroll told reporters. “He had a lot of yards when you combine his kick-return yards.”

That would be 161 to be exact – a career-high 106 of them coming on six receptions and the other 55 coming on three punt returns. For all the talk about Percy Harvin’s impending return from offseason hip surgery, the Seahawks already have a player with plenty of big-play ability.

Tate had already caught passes covering 31 and 46 yards when he returned a punt 32 yards to set up his touchdown grab at the end of the first half. Earlier in the second quarter, he had a long, leaping reception overturned when replays showed he was pushed out of bounds before he could get his second foot down. That play might have been on Tate’s mind as he tracked Wilson’s pass and decided to attempt an improbable one-handed grab while falling out of bounds instead of leaping to snag the ball with both hands.

“I ran a decent route and Russ put it so it was either I was getting it or no one was getting it. I had to have some discipline,” Tate said when he joined the postgame show on 710 ESPN Seattle. “I knew if I jumped he would push me out of bounds, so what the heck? Why not?”

The touchdown was upheld after replays showed Tate’s second foot landed in bounds, though with no room to spare.

“The catch he made is a catch that he makes in practice all the time,” Carroll said. “I’m thrilled that the officials called it a catch. He caught it with one hand, stuck it with his left hand. He had it the whole time, and I was pleased that they could see that as well because that was a fantastic catch and throw and execution right there.”

Follow Brady Henderson on Twitter @BradyHenderson.