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Golden Tate has something his Detroit Lions teammates want, and he's going to help them get it.

The 26-year-old wide receiver won a Super Bowl with the Seattle Seahawks in 2013, and that ring is something the Lions franchise has never earned. Only a handful of his teammates have one, and Tate knows that it's going to take improvement across the board for the Lions to challenge for a championship this upcoming season.

The Lions head into 2015 with minimal turnover on the roster, but some of the bigger names are gone, like defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh (now with the Miami Dolphins) and running back Reggie Bush (now with the San Francisco 49ers). Overall, however, this season represents a bit of stability for the Lions.

"I don’t know how different I expect things to be," Tate told Bleacher Report in an interview, "but I expect things to be better. We obviously need to win our division; get those home playoff games."

Tate took time out of his schedule after playing in the Call of Duty Championship Celebrity Pro-Am, which was eventually won by Denver Broncos wide receiver Demaryius Thomas. Tate said he picks up the game at 12:01 a.m. each night it's released and once dreamed of going pro at Call of Duty like many of the players he met at the tournament, but he now thinks he's gotten too old after meeting some of his competition.

The event raised $100,000 for the Call of Duty Endowment, which works to help military veterans find jobs.

Tate agrees with head coach Jim Caldwell, who recently said at NFL owners meetings, per The Detroit Free Press's Dave Birkett, that quarterback Matthew Stafford should improve this season:

It'd be different if we were talking about a guy who was deficient in terms of arm strength or didn't have the ability to carry out some things on the field that he can do. He can do a lot of it. He can buy time, he can make big plays for you. He does not flinch—does not flinch—in tough times. When those games are tight at the end, this guy is as calm, as direct, as focused as you can be. I've been impressed with that aspect of it. He does not shrink or shy away from big moments, and I think that's a huge important quality for a guy. All of those things wrapped up together, I think that he's going to continue to get better and his future's bright.

Tate said Stafford was, "an exceptional guy leading our squad...Later in the season, Stafford was rolling. He’s been through four or five quarterback coaches and offenses. He kind of figured it out last year, and now we get to build off of that."

Stafford needs to improve for the Lions to improve. Those two things are intrinsically connected not only in 2015, but also as long as the quarterback will be on the team. I recently wrote on the subject:

To succeed in 2015...the Lions need to hope in the continued maturation the of 27-year-old Stafford, who is entering the prime of his career. He took a huge leap under Caldwell and offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi in 2014 and will need to do so again to carry the Lions next season.

Tate can be a huge part of that, and he stepped up in a big way for the Lions last season, posting easily the best season of his career. With 99 receptions and 1,331 yards, Tate was not only a big part of the Lions offense, but he was also someone the team (and Stafford) could lean on while Calvin Johnson was either out or limited by injury for much of last season.

When speaking of improvement, Tate knows what it takes, and he's very upfront as to why he needed it once upon a time as well.

"I thought my athleticism alone would be enough," Tate said. "You gotta be disciplined. You have to be the guy the quarterback expects you to be." He said that if he could go back and give himself as a rookie one piece of advice, it would be to be more serious with the playbook.

The NFL is worlds different from college football; I think we all know that. Yet, there are also vastly different cultures, attitudes and expectations from team to team. Clearly, the Seahawks have been a team with higher expectations than the Lions over the past—well, just about always, but especially since Pete Carroll took over in Seattle.

Now, Tate is trying to continue those high standards as a huge part of a potentially prolific offense in Detroit.

The expectations are there, and the tools are as well.

Now, they just need the results.

Michael Schottey is an award-winning NFL National Lead Writer for Bleacher Report and a writer for Football Insiders. Follow him on Twitter. Unless otherwise noted, quotes were obtained by the author.