Seattle Seahawks: The Last 2 Weeks Display Golden Tate's Immaturity

Seattle Seahawks’ wide receiver Golden Tate may only be in his third year, but the last two weeks may define his career.

Before Monday’s game against the Green Bay Packers, Golden Tate was the talk around the NFL for his crackback hit on Dallas Cowboys linebacker Sean Lee. Although there was no flag on the play, the league later fined Tate $21,000 for the cheap shot.

However, Lee was unimpressed. When asked about the hit, Lee stated “I don't really care. The part I don't like is the celebrating after the hit. ... To me a crackback block isn't tough. Anyone can do that. Toughness is about being able to take a hit and getting back up and doing it again."

Fast-forward to this past Monday night in which Golden Tate made headlines again after the “Replacement Ref Controversy”.  Not only did Tate push off on Green Bay Packers’ cornerback Sam Shields while the ball was up in the air, when asked about the push-off all Golden Tate could say was, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Tate even went on to say, "I know I had the ball in my hands the entire... from the moment that it was catchable. I had my hands on the ball, just fought for it and tried to come down with it.

Those simple words sparked the Twitter universe to explode.

First, a tweet from Josh Sitton; a starting guard for the Packers. Sitton posted, “Golden tate is full of s*** too. Saying he clearly caught that is embarrassing! F****** jokers!”

Even other athletes got involved from other leagues. Baltimore Orioles player Bill Hall commented by saying, “Did I just see Golden Tate's nose grow????”

Matt Miller was one of many media personnel to react to Golden Tate’s comment. “Golden Tate…really? You didn't push off and then thank God for the win? Get the eff out.” (via Twitter).

Other media personnel including Stephen A. Smith who posted, “Golden Tate with a Blatant pass interference on Sam Shields. Then Jennings had the ball, brings it to his chest. All Tate has on ball is arm”

The last two weeks for Golden Tate have shown everyone who watches football how immature he is. Yes, replacement refs played a huge factor in both plays involving Tate. But you can only blame the refs so much.

There was no need for Tate to celebrate after a hard hit on Sean Lee. If Lee was seriously injured Tate would be celebrating that he knocked someone out of the game. Remind anyone of “Bountygate” a bit? Also, there is no reason to play dumb when a reporter asks you if you pushed-off when clearly millions of people saw you do it.

Golden Tate has the potential to be a solid deep threat in this Seahawks offense; however his immaturity on the field can hurt that potential. Tate is only 24 years old, so I understand the immaturity.

But for the Seahawks sake, and for his own sake, he needs to mature fast before fans of the NFL, media members, and other players turn on him.