By Kyle Meinke | kmeinke@mlive.com

ALLEN PARK -- Golden Tate suffered a shoulder injury against the Saints on Oct. 15. The injury was bad enough that he couldn't finish a game for the first time in his Lions career. It was reportedly bad enough to cost him multiple weeks.

Instead, not only did he never miss a game, he's racked up at least 85 receiving yards every week while playing through the injury. That's four straight weeks.

Nobody else in the league has done that -- four straight games of at least 85 yards receiving -- in the last two years. And Tate did it while playing just 59.2 percent of Detroit's offensive snaps because of the injury.

How's that for efficiency?

"He's been great," quarterback Matthew Stafford said. "He has a great feel for the middle of the field. He does a great job in man coverage and zone, and feeling his way through there."

The Lions wooed Tate to Detroit in 2014 with a five-year offer worth $31 million. It seemed like a lot of money at the time for a player who had never caught more than 64 passes or gained more than 898 yards receiving in any of his four seasons with Seattle. But that contract continues to be worth every penny.

The offense has had its ups and downs, though Tate has been one of its most reliable players. And it's difficult to imagine the Lions transitioning into the post-Calvin Johnson era any better than they have, thanks to the rise of Golden Tate. He's not built like a prototypical WR1, and doesn't run like one either. But when Matthew Stafford needs a big play, it is Tate he's relied on most. And so often, Tate has delivered.

Just consider the screen pass Stafford checked into late against Cleveland on Sunday. The Lions were nursing a 31-24 lead, with DeShone Kizer warming up for a return on the sideline. Then Stafford saw the Browns crowd the line with eight players, and knew Tate could run for days if he got him the ball.

Stafford audibled. He threw a quick pass to Tate. And 40 yards later, the Lions had a 14-point lead.

"It just kind of opened up like the Red Sea," Tate said. "And the next thing you know, I'm on my way to the end zone."

We've seen a lot of that from Tate over the years. Here's a look at some of the numbers.

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Photo by Mike Mulholland | MLive.com

Three straight 90-catch seasons

Tate caught at least 90 passes in his three full seasons since arriving in Detroit. Only Herman Moore has had three such seasons in a row for Detroit. Not even Calvin Johnson did it. In fact, Megatron never had three 90-catch seasons for his career. The list of players league wide to do it since 2014 is short and elite: Antonio, Odell and Demaryius.

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No. 1 in YAC

Tate hasn't let up in 2017, either. With 56 catches through nine games, he's tracking for the first 100-catch season of his career. He's currently fifth in the league in catches and ninth in yards (659), although where he's really done his damage is after the catch. No receiver in the league has more YAC than Tate since he signed with Detroit, and he's back atop that list in 2017 with 315 yards after the catch. Antonio Brown is next closest with 287 -- and he's making $10.8 million more per season to do it, no less.

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Photo by Mike Mulholland | MLive.com

Fastest to 50

It took Tate just eight games to catch 50 passes this year, something only two men had done previously in Detroit: Herman Moore and, well, Golden Tate. He also did it in 2014.

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Photo by Mike Mulholland | MLive.com

No. 2 in catch rate

Tate has just two drops on 58 catchable balls this year, and has caught 78.9 percent of Matthew Stafford's targets overall. That's the second-best catch rate of any receiver in the NFL. (Former Lion Jeremy Kerley, of all people, leads the way at 81.5 percent.)

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Photo by Mike Mulholland | MLive.com

Stafford-to-Tate is seventh-hottest connection

Stafford's QB rating skyrockets to 108.9 whenever he targets Tate, the seventh best rating for any QB targeting any receiver in the NFL.

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Advanced metrics like him too

Tate is ranked fifth among all receivers in the NFL, according to advanced metrics from ProFootballFocus. He's also added more routes out of the slot to his resume this year, and his work there ranks second.

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Historic pace

In September, Tate became the fastest receiver in Lions history to 300 catches. And he did it in just 51 games, which broke Calvin Johnson's record by a 15 games. In other words, he shattered the record by nearly a full season.

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Kyle Meinke | kmeinke@mlive.com

He'll be top five all-time by year's end

All told, Tate already has 336 catches in Detroit. That's tied with Charlie Sanders for sixth most in franchise history, and he's done it in just 57 games. If he maintains his current pace, he'll move into the top five this season by catching Barry Sanders (352). Calvin Johnson holds the franchise record with 731 catches, followed by Herman Moore (670) and Johnnie Morton (469).

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Yeah, he could catch Calvin

As crazy as it sounds, Tate's current pace sets him on course to threaten Johnson's franchise catches record, even though he didn't debut with the franchise until he had already turned 26 years old. He's averaging 5.9 receptions per game here, which means he's tracking to catch Johnson in Week 12 of the 2021 season. Of course that also hinges on a whole lot of variables, not the least of which is a new contract. Tate is currently signed through 2018. But GM Bob Quinn has shown he likes to lock guys up long term as they head into a contract year -- Matthew Stafford, Glover Quin, Theo Riddick, Darius Slay and Sam Martin have all signed such deals -- and you have to figure he'd have interest in re-upping with a guy who continues to be one of the best values in the game.

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