The Sports Xchange

Golden Tate believes it when cornerbacks tell him the secret is out — opponents are successfully identifying offensive plays before the Detroit Lions can run them.

Tate, a wide receiver in his second season with the team, said that for the third straight game — all losses — defensive backs from the winning team shared claimed the defense knew what plays were coming. The results give Tate reason to suspect they might be right.

Broncos cornerback Bradley Roby and safety David Bruton, both of whom recorded interceptions of Detroit’s Matthew Stafford, said after a win at Ford Field over the Lions on Sunday night that they knew exactly what was coming.

“I’ve had a couple occasions in literally each game where they called out our play, for one, then afterwards been like, ‘Hey, we knew what you guys were doing,'” Tate said Tuesday on 105.1 FM in Detroit. “I don’t know how they know, or what film they’re watching that we’re giving away. That’s something we got to go back and watch our tendencies to figure out where we line up or how we line up or what formation or whatever it may be.

“We’ve got to figure it out because we’re clearly giving it away. All three weeks, a player’s come up to me and said, ‘We knew where you were going to.’ That’s bad.”

The Lions could go from bad to worse in Week 4, with a “Monday Night Football” visit to the Seattle Seahawks.

“They’ve had a high tendency to show a particular play, especially a wrap-six, so usually the No. 2 receiver sits down about 5 or 6 yards with a guy running a dig route right behind it,” Bruton said Monday. “We were just alert, and once I saw the running back chip before his release, I knew what was coming. So I just read Stafford’s eyes, broke on the ball and was able to make a play.”