ALLEN PARK Amani Oruwariye Detroit Lions Jersey , Mich. (AP) — The Detroit Lions had a lot of possible factors to weigh before trading Golden Tate.The Lions are in last place, but only a game out of first. Tate is on pace for a third straight season with 1,000 yards receiving, but he’s on an expiring contract.“There are a lot of difficult decisions that are made in the NFL multiple times during the course of the year,” Detroit coach Matt Patricia said Wednesday.The Lions dealt Tate to Philadelphia on Tuesday for a third-round draft pick, parting with the veteran receiver right before a pair of crucial divisional road games. Detroit faces Minnesota this weekend and then heads to Chicago, but the trade — which didn’t bring the Lions anyone who can help this season — was clearly a move made with the long-term future in mind.“It’s a holistic picture of taking a look at what’s the best thing for us to do as a team,” Patricia said. “It’s not about one player. It’s about team. It’s about everybody. We have a lot of guys that are really good on this team that can produce and honestly, for me, we have confidence in everybody that’s on this team right now.”General manager Bob Quinn released a statement Tuesday thanking Tate for his contributions, but it was left to Patricia to take questions about the organization’s thinking. Tate is in the final season of his contract, so from that standpoint the Lions got decent value for a player who may have ended up elsewhere anyway.But it’s hard to say what this year’s team could have accomplished with Tate. Detroit fired coach Jim Caldwell after he went 9-7 last season, an indication the organization felt it was capable of more. Now the Lions have sent mixed signals about what they feel their potential is in 2018.Before last weekend’s game, Detroit sent a draft pick to the New York Giants for defensive tackle Damon Harrison Amani Oruwariye Jersey 2019 , a move that could help shore up the run defense. Then the Lions lost to Seattle last weekend and traded Tate.So Detroit was both a buyer and a seller at the deadline.“We have coaches, and I let those guys coach. We have managers, and I let those guys manage,” safety Glover Quin said. “We have players, and our job is to go out and play, so the guys who we have to go out and play with, that’s who we’ve got, and that’s all that we can control.”In trading Tate, the Lions seemed to move away from their approach of the past few years. Detroit has used draft picks and free agent signings to try to surround quarterback Matthew Stafford with plenty of help. The Lions have tried to upgrade their offensive line, and this year they appear to have made real progress with their running game.They also might have had more receiving targets than they needed. Marvin Jones is coming off his own 1,000-yard season, and second-year receiver Kenny Golladay looks like he could be a star.“If everybody’s just going to sit around here and mope, that’s just not going to help the team,” Marvin Jones said. “We’re on to the Vikings.”Still Color Rush Amani Oruwariye Jersey , Tate’s production won’t be easy to replace.“He’s had 90-plus catches I think every year he’s been here, so that’s a lot of touches, a lot of targets for everyone to pick up,” receiver TJ Jones said. “We’re all going to collectively do it.”NOTES: The Lions signed LB Kelvin Sheppard, signed DE Alex Barrett to the practice squad, and released TE Jerome Cunningham from the practice squad. … DE Ziggy Ansah (shoulder), T Taylor Decker (back), G T.J. Lang (hip) and RB Theo Riddick (knee) were limited at practice. Sunday’s performance was quite the spectacle from the Lions offense. Everyone from Kenny Golladay to Golden Tate to Michael Roberts had their highlights. To top it off, the Lions ran the ball the best they have in almost 30 years. Even the offensive line put on a show, as Miami media members noticed:Lost in all the fireworks from the offense was some solid defensive play. Not everything was pretty: there were missed assignments, some poor tackling angles, and plays where the coverage was a step behind. For every one of those, however, it seemed like there was an equal and opposite good play Cheap Amani Oruwariye Jersey , which brings us to our unsung hero of the week.Unsung hero of the week: DL Ricky Jean FrancoisFor this week’s winner, unsung may not be the right word—RJF made a lot of noise in the Dolphins’ backfield on Sunday. He gets this week’s award, however, for two reasons. The first is because of the massive amount of attention on the offense and the stellar performance of Kerryon Johnson. The second is that while RJF had an outstanding day, he did it in a way in which he wasn’t expected to do. Francois is a big bodied man, your typical run-stuffing nose tackle. His two vicious sacks were a pleasant surprise. Most defensive lineman of his build will have five or six sacks in a good season; for a man of his size and his age to put on that kind of a show is unheard of. His two sacks weren’t huge swings in momentum, but they ended up playing a very important role in the remainder of the game. While the Lions defense wasn’t giving Dolphins running back Frank Gore much room to operate, Gore was doing what he does best: making the most out of nothing. Coming off a stellar performance against the Bears, it was key that the Lions shut him down. Francois’ sacks aided in that tremendously, as it stalled the Dolphins on the early drives and allowed the Lions to jump out to a quick lead. With the Dolphins playing from down multiple scores as soon as the first quarter, the ball was in the hands of questionable decision-maker Brock Osweiler much more frequently than it was Frank Gore for the rest of the game.