Percy Harvin Tells Story of How He Fought Golden Tate Ahead of Super Bowl 48

Super Bowl XLVIII - Seattle Seahawks v Denver Broncos
Super Bowl XLVIII - Seattle Seahawks v Denver Broncos / Jamie Squire/Getty Images
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The Denver Broncos weren't the only ones to feel the wrath of Percy Harvin at Super Bowl XLVIII.

The retired NFL receiver recently opened up to Bleacher Report's Master Tesfatsion in latter's online series about his challenges with an anxiety disorder. Harvin opened the segment by remarking that there wasn't "a game that I played in that I wasn't high", revealing he used marijuana to cope with the disorder during games.

After four seasons with his original employers in Minnesota, Harvin joined the Seattle Seahawks via a trade in the spring of 2013. Plenty was going on in Seattle at the time: the fearsome secondary, known as the "Legion of Boom" was at the height of its powers, while the offense was led by Russell Wilson and Marshawn Lynch.

Harvin called his tenure in Seattle "the worst years of my life".

"It came with so much," Harvin told Tesfatsion. "My anxiety is at its worst when I go into unfamiliar situations."

It was, in fact, during Harvin's debut press conference in Seattle that he realized he had a disorder, sweating and in need of multiple bottles of water. It didn't compare to what Harvin called his "worst" example of acting out through anxiety.

With the Seahawks partaking in Super Bowl XLVIII in East Rutherford, NJ, Harvin was set to come back from a variety of injuries that had kept him out of the majority of Seattle's playoff run. A confrontation with fellow receiver Golden Tate, however, took center stage.

During press conferences leading up to the week, Harvin remembers Tate being asked about his return. According to Harvin, "The response was: ‘We made it here without him, so whether he play or don’t play, we going to be good."

The reply didn't sit well with Harvin, who confronted Tate in the East Rutherford practice facility's locker room. Harvin missed all but one regular season game with a hip injury before likewise sitting out the NFC Championship Game win over San Francisco with a concussion.

"“I asked him about it like, ‘Yo, bro, what’s going on? You ain’t even happy for me? This had been going on all season,’ ” Harvin said. “I was so already wrapped up it didn’t even probably matter what his answer was. Anything he would’ve said I still was going to...I was already at 10.”

Harvin documents that he shoved Tate into a trash can before players and staff broke up the scuffle. He also said that the tensions found their way into the team photo taken later that day before he eventually made peace with Tate on game day, a peace offering started by Lynch.

Harvin later addresses Tate and took responsibility. "Those situations are on your boy, 100 percent."

No matter the awkward tension, it didn't seem to affect Harvin on game day. He took the second half's opening kickoff back 87 yards for an instant score, creating a 29-0 Seattle lead. The Seahawks would win by a 43-8 final to capture their first Super Bowl.

Harvin would be traded with the New York Jets in 2014 before ending his career with two seasons in Buffalo.