Dave Birkett

Detroit Free Press

Golden Tate showed up on the Detroit Lions' injury report for the first time Thursday, but coach Jim Caldwell said the wide receiver's hamstring injury is not the type that will keep him out of action this week.

"If he can't go, obviously, we'll have other guys that will step in and do the job," Caldwell said. "We don't anticipate that being the case. But if that does, indeed, happen, we have guys that have been preparing and been working at it and improving and we expect them to play well."

Tate led the Lions (3-1) with eight catches for 116 yards in last week's 24-7 win over the New York Jets, when Calvin Johnson was limited mostly to decoy duty because of a sprained right ankle.

Johnson missed practice Wednesday and Thursday because of his injury but is expected to play Sunday against the Buffalo Bills (1 p.m., Fox), too. Both Tate and Johnson are practicing today.

Caldwell said Johnson's lack of practice time the last two weeks -- he also two days of practice and was limited a third day last week -- should not have an adverse effect on the offense.

"I think it would probably be a bit more impactful if he was a first-year, second-year or third-year player and the quarterback with whom he's working was not familiar with him," Caldwell said. "But in this particular case, I think those guys have enough mileage together where, I think, you'll see very, very few effects in that regard."

Contact Dave Birkett: dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.