Wednesday Notes: Four Injured Lions Return to Practice

• Calvin Johnson and Louis Delmas returned to practice on Tuesday.  Johnson was without his cast, but he didn't have any passes thrown to him just to be safe.  Delmas made his presence felt by destroying Aaron Brown with a ferocious hit during today's practice.  Jim Schwartz made sure to tell Delmas to be a bit more careful when jacking up teammates, but he seemed to enjoy the hit.  Gunther Cunningham, as expected, seemed to like what he saw as well.
• Casey FitzSimmons and John Standeford returned to practice today.  FitzSimmons was limited, but the fact that he simply returned is good news, as I didn't expect him to be back so soon.  Standeford fully participated in practice.
  
• Wide receiver Kenneth Harris was carted off the field because of an ankle injury.
• Daniel Loper didn't practice today and was replaced by Manny Ramirez at left guard.
• Running back Allen Ervin was wearing a boot at practice because of an ankle injury.  Jim Schwartz said it was more serious than a day-to-day issue, which is too bad.  Ervin played well against the Falcons and certainly looked better than Aveion Cason.  Ervin and Aaron Brown pulled ahead in the competition for the third running back spot for sure.  Obviously Brown has the upper hand (and will continue to have it with Ervin out), but losing a player means less competition, which is never a good thing.

(More after the jump)

• Jim Schwartz compared Brett Favre unretiring again to this famous quote from Godfather III: "Every time I think I'm out, they pull me back in."
• Favre's decision to sign with the Vikings caused a big increase in ticket sales for the Lions.  The Vikings play at Ford Field on September 20 -- the Lions' home opener -- and it seems like there is a very good chance of it being a sellout.  In that sense, thank you, Brett Favre.
• Nick Schuyler, the lone survivor of the boat accident that involved Corey Smith, was interviewed by Bryant Gumbel and recounted what happened during the tragedy.
• Tarvaris Jackson's days with the Vikings are numbered, and it is expected that he will be released or traded by Friday.  The Pioneer Press speculated that the Lions could be interested in him based on the fact that he was with the Vikings and has knowledge of their offense, but I highly doubt Detroit would waste anything on him.  It's not like he would be anything more than the Lions' third-string QB, so I would be shocked if he ended up joining Detroit via a trade.  If he does become a free agent, I wouldn't be too surprised if the Lions showed interest in signing him, but does anyone honestly think Jackson is going to sign with a team that already has a couple QBs that would be ahead of him?