Tate's goal-line flip a matter of spontaneous elation

Justin Rogers, The Detroit News

Minneapolis — Golden Tate was caught up in the moment. He never saw Minnesota Vikings safety Andrew Sendejo charging across the field, attempting to stop the receiver from getting into the end zone on the game-clinching touchdown in overtime.

“I don’t know, it just happened so quickly,” Tate said. “I thought the only safety that was on my side was Harrison Smith. I got him off me and did not realize Sendejo was going to be flying over so quickly. I am just happy I held on to the ball.”

Tate left his feet a yard short of the goal line, twisting the air almost like a high jumper as Sendejo delivered the blow.

But not only did Tate manage to cross the plane, he somehow held on to the ball. The end of the play definitely put a scare into his teammates.

After losing two defenders, Lions wide receiver Golden Tate adds a punctuation mark to the game-winning overtime touchdown by flipping over the goal line and past Vikings defender Andrew Sendejo for the comeback victory.

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“That’s GT,” linebacker Tahir Whitehead said. “He enjoys the game. You know he’s going to give you his all. I was just worried about him holding on to it.”

Quarterback Matthew Stafford echoed those comments.

“It was sweet,” quarterback Matthew Stafford said. “Kind of scared me honestly. I was really scared.”

The 28-yard touchdown reception was reviewed by the officials, and the call on the field stood after it was confirmed Tate had stayed in bounds.

 jdrogers@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @justin_rogers