Caldwell Expects Tate Will Play Sunday, Says 'We'll See' About Johnson
By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak
ALLEN PARK (CBS DETROIT) - Calvin Johnson and Golden Tate, the top two wide receivers for the Detroit Lions, both missed practice time this week due to injuries. Both returned Friday, however, for the portion of practice open to media.
Tate appeared on the injury report for the first time Thursday, listed as having been limited in practice due to a hamstring issue. Lions head coach Jim Caldwell would not talk about how the injury occurred but sounded optimistic that Tate would be available for Sunday's game against the Buffalo Bills.
"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, having been working at it, have been improving, and we expect them to play well."
Caldwell did not commit to playing Johnson, who — because of an ankle injury — played little more than a decoy role last week against the New York Jets; but the coach said that the lack of practice time would be unlikely to affect his performance in a game.
"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; 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," Caldwell said.
As far as whether Johnson and running back Joique Bell, who is listed on the injury report as having suffered a concussion, will be available Sunday, Caldwell remained vague.
"We'll see," Caldwell said. "We'll see how it goes."
Johnson's injury affected him enough in last week's game that quarterback Matthew Stafford targeted him just twice against the Jets after throwing to him at least 10 times in each of Detroit's first three games.
With Johnson not operating at his usual level, other players stepped up to help keep the passing game dangerous. Tate caught eight passes for 116 yards; wide receiver Jeremy Ross caught two passes, including one for 59 yards; running back Reggie Bush snagged four balls for 19 yards; and tight end Eric Ebron had three catches for 34 yards. Between the receivers, tight ends and running backs, eight different players caught passes from Stafford against the Jets.
