• It is looking more and more like Dan Orlovsky will be placed on the injured reserve in the very near future.  Orlovsky has two fractures and a torn ligament in his right thumb, and he will see another hand specialist next week to get a second opinion.  My guess is that he will head to the IR, as it seems like surgery will be necessary, meaning the Lions would be left with Daunte Culpepper, Drew Stanton, and Drew Henson at quarterback for the rest of the season.
• As you could probably guess, Orlovsky will not play against Jacksonville tomorrow, and speculation continues to suggest that Daunte Culpepper will get the start.
• Lions safety Kalvin Pearson was fined $7,500 by the NFL for his horse-collar tackle on Devin Hester during last week's game against the Bears.
• Gerald Alexander's neck surgery last week was "successful."
• Here's a shocker: Roy Williams isn't happy with his role on the Cowboys.

Regardless of what I thought about his on the field antics, it is pretty obvious that Roy Williams has a good sense of humor.  I say that because the costume he wore to the Lions' Halloween party on Monday night was so funny that it even tops Jon Kitna's outfit from a year ago.

Williams came dressed as former Lions running back Tatum Bell, who made national headlines two months ago when he was accused of pilfering the travel bags of Detroit running back Rudi Johnson. Williams was wearing a bellhop uniform with a big name tag that said "T. Bell.''

Williams was also wearing boxer shorts on the outside of his pants and it said "Rudi'' on the front and "Johnson 32'' on the back. Williams said he informed Bell what he was going to do, via text message, and got the running back's approval.

I saw a video of Roy in the costume on FOX 2 Detroit, and it looks as funny as it sounds.  The bellhop uniform by itself would have been funny, but the fact that he added boxers really just topped it off.

Roy was in town for the party since it benefits Mike Furrey's charities.  This has become an annual tradition, and just because Roy is now a Cowboy, that doesn't mean that he was about to miss this party, especially with the great costume idea he had.

• The Lions signed linebacker Anthony Cannon yesterday and released Gilbert Gardner, a linebacker that was on the injury report.  Cannon didn't make the team after Gardner essentially beat him out for the last linebacker spot, but the one-time Lion is back to play special teams.  He had the fifth-most special teams tackles last season, and with Kalvin Pearson starting in place of the injured Dwight Smith, there was a need for added depth on special teams. (Pearson is a great special teams player.)
• Damion Cook will start at left guard on Sunday.  He replaced Edwin Mulitalo last week and gets to keep the starting job after a good performance.
• As mentioned earlier this week, Gosder Cherilus will likely start at right tackle.
• Safety Gerald Alexander, who is already on the IR, will have surgery sometime next week to fix a cracked vertebra and a disc injury.
• From the sounds of it, the Lions are going to try to get Calvin Johnson the ball more often.
• Instead of the Lions-Redskins game, FOX 2 (out of Detroit) will broadcast the movie Best Laid Plans.  As Dave Birkett points out, someone working for FOX 2 has a sense of humor given the name of the movie.  The Lions definitely do not have the best laid plans, which is sort of why their game got blacked out.
• Roy Williams' contract with the Cowboys actually includes $19.5 million of guaranteed money, which differs from a previous report.
  

• Quarterback Tim Rattay worked out for the Lions on Tuesday.  According to Tom Kowalski, a signing "is not imminent."  Just as was the case with Cedric Benson, the Lions are likely just getting a look at a free agent in case a signing is necessary later on in the season.
• Matt Millen was fired exactly four weeks ago.
• Rod Marinelli emphatically defended his decision to bench rookie Gosder Cherilus.  I completely understand why he made the move, but I do think that it is important for Cherilus to get more experience so he can learn and develop quicker.  Obviously you want to do whatever will get the team closer to a win, but at this point it really doesn't matter.  Building for the future should be the priority.
• Drew Stanton shared some interesting things about the Roy Williams trade on his blog.
  

  As far as the events that went down on Tuesday, I think that was a direct sign that the Lions know Calvin is their franchise receiver and they are looking to build at other positions. We are fortunate to be so deep at receiver, so losing Roy hurts but it is not devastating as Mike Furrey and Shaun McDonald are great talents.
  
  Plain and simple, Roy did not want to be here any longer and was going to demand an insane amount of money if there was a chance of him staying.
  
  I think that trade worked out great for everyone involved. We ended up picking up essentially a first- and third-round pick, Roy got to go back to Texas, and the Cowboys got a great talent at wide receiver.

  I couldn't agree with him more.
• Yes, the Lions could go 0-16.
• I want to give Jason Hanson a well-deserved pat on the back for making two 54-yard field goals against the Texans.  He has now made all 8 field goal attempts this season and sadly is once against putting himself in position to be this team's MVP.
• As MLive's Philip Zaroo pointed out, the Lions could end up with better draft position than originally expected if the Cowboys implode.  They are likely going to be without Tony Romo again this weekend, and if the losing continues, things could get really ugly in Dallas.
• A transcript of Rod Marinelli's press conference from earlier this week can be found here.
• Dwight Smith may be out for a few weeks due to an injury.  He had a CT scan on his foot, and Marinelli said that "it doesn't look good."
• Both Chuck Darby and Travis Fisher didn't play against Houston, even though they were involved in the pre-game warm-ups.
• Edwin Mulitalo was inactive against the Texans.  He wasn't injured; Marinelli said he just wanted to give Mulitalo a break.
• Here's a depressing thought: Detroit could have hired Dick Jauron or Jim Haslett instead of Rod Marinelli.  Jauron, as you probably remember, was the Lions' interim coach after Steve Mariucci was fired, but he never became an actual candidate for the job.  Instead, he went to Buffalo and is the coach of a team that is currently 5-1.  Haslett, on the other hand, finished second to Marinelli in the coaching search.  He went on to be the Rams' defensive coordinator and became their head coach earlier this season when Scott Linehan was fired.  Since Haslett took over, the Rams are 2-0.
  
• Rudi Johnson replaced Jon Kitna as a captain.
  
• Darren Sharper did not get fined for his hit on Calvin Johnson during the fourth quarter of the Vikings-Lions game.  The hit was helmet-to-helmet and prevented Johnson from finishing the game since he had blurry vision after it.
  
• Roy Williams is going to get $27 million in guaranteed money from the Cowboys.
• The 49ers fired head coach Mike Nolan on Monday and replaced him with Mike Singletary.

• George Foster is going to start on Sunday at right tackle for the Lions.  He replaces Gosder Cherilus, who was benched against the Vikings last week.
• Ford Field finished second to last in SI.com's stadium rankings, only ahead of the Rams' Edward Jones Dome.  The reason Ford Field ranked so poorly is because of tailgating and team quality.  Since the stadium is in downtown Detroit, there really is no place to tailgate, and the rankings reflect that.  For team quality, the Lions came in at #32, which is a very deserving ranking.
• According to Pro Football Talk, "league insiders" weren't a big fan of the Lions' attempt to trade Jon Kitna since he went right to the IR after the deadline passed.  I can understand why they would be upset, as trading an injured player isn't a very cool thing to do.  However, Kitna isn't really that hurt, so he likely would have been able to play in the near future for any team that would have traded for him.
• You know how the Lions' mantra this year is to "pound the rock"?  Well, they're not doing a very good job.
  

  Melf did the math, and Detroit is actually gaining 2.7 yards per game less (77.8 to 80.5) than in 2007.

  That is simply pathetic.
• Dan Orlovsky took most of the reps at quarterback in practice this week, signifying that he is the Lions' starter.
• Damion Cook may start in place of Edwin Mulitalo on Sunday.
• The Free Press has a photo gallery of Roy Williams practicing with the Cowboys.
• Speaking of Roy, I answered some questions Blogging The Boys had about the Cowboys' newest wide receiver.
• Face value for some Super Bowl tickets in 2009 will be $1,000.

Despite being the Lions' general manager for only three weeks, Martin Mayhew has already pulled off a better trade than Matt Millen ever did in his seven-plus years in Detroit.  Mayhew managed to get a first-, a third-, and a sixth-round pick from the Cowboys in exchange for a seventh-round pick and Roy Williams, who was going to be a free agent after this season anyways.  Not only did Mayhew pull in a lot for a player that may have been gone in a few months, but the deal itself came together very quickly.

Going into Tuesday, it looked like Roy Williams was not going to be traded.  After all, Mayhew told Williams on Monday that a deal was unlikely, but the rumors persisted anyways.  Things changed sometime Tuesday when the Lions received an offer from an unidentified team that got the ball rolling.  Mayhew alerted a few other teams of the offer in order to give the Lions some leverage, and the deal came together from there. 

My guess is that most of the teams alerted of the offer were in the NFC East.  I can't say for sure if it was the Cowboys or someone else that made the first offer, but regardless, Mayhew was very wise in the way he handled things.  It appears that he let other teams know of the offer simply to create more interest in Williams.  Let's assume the Cowboys did make the first offer for a second just to think about how things may have played out.  Mayhew could have gone to a team like the Eagles and let them know that a division rival was about to get a lot better.  That could have prompted the Eagles to make an offer of their own, which may have in turn sweetened the pot for the Lions, as it caused Dallas to up the ante.

It was stated on SportsCenter last evening that the third-round pick the Lions got was thrown in at the last minute to make this deal happen.  Mayhew probably was telling the Cowboys that if they didn't make a deal, he had a certain team from Philadelphia very interested in trading for the receiver or something like that.  It may not have gone down exactly like that, but I'm thinking Mayhew definitely used the interest from other teams, whether it existed or not, to make the deal as good as possible.

Once the deal with Dallas was actually agreed to at "3:20 or 3:30" in the afternoon, there was still one thing that needed to be taken care of before it could be made official.  Since Williams was set to be a free agent after the 2008 season, the Cowboys wanted to lock him up to make sure he is in Dallas for a long time.  The Lions gave the Cowboys permission to start negotiating a long-term deal, and about 15 minutes before the trade deadline, Williams and Dallas agreed to a five-year contract and an average per year salary.

All parties involved in this trade came out of the deal smiling.  Roy Williams now gets to play in his home state and for a good team, which is what he always wanted.  The Cowboys got another Pro Bowl receiver and another weapon that makes their offense the most high-powered in the league.  Finally, the Lions got three draft picks that will give them a chance to start greatly improving next April.

No matter how you look at this, the Lions made a great deal.  Roy Williams leaving does not make much of a difference for the remainder of this season, because even with him the Lions weren't likely going to win very many games.  His departure doesn't change that one bit.  On top of that, Williams was going to be a free agent after the season anyways, and he would have left if he was given the chance.  In all likelihood, the Lions would have franchised him, which would have caused them to spend a lot of money or trade him away.  Even if the Lions did end up trading him then, there's no way they would have gotten as much as they did right now.

I have to give Martin Mayhew a pat on the back for making this trade happen.  This move alone doesn't mean he should stay on as the GM beyond the 2008 season, but building his resume doesn't hurt his chances.  Not only did he make the wise move of trading Williams when he did, but he got the Lions more than I ever thought they could in a deal like this.  Obviously the next step is to use those draft picks wisely to make this team better, but we don't have to worry about that until the draft rolls around in April 2009.  For now, we can thank Roy for the good things (let's just forget the bad) he did as a Lion and give kudos to Martin Mayhew for pulling off this trade.  Everybody involved is better off for it.

(Note: For a full transcipt of Martin Mayhew's press conference yesterday, click here.  For audio of the presser, click here.)

• The Cowboys agreed to a five-year contract with Roy Williams before the trade was made official yesterday afternoon.  The deal was initially agreed to about a half-hour before the deadline, and it went through 15 or so minutes later once Roy Williams and the Cowboys came to an agreement on a new contract.
• The Lions are receiving praise from NFL front office members for the trade they pulled off
• With Roy Williams being traded to the Cowboys, there are now two players that share that name on the roster.  There is now safety Roy Williams and wide receiver Roy Williams.  I bet that will get confusing every once in a while.
  
• Should the Lions opt to not retain Martin Mayhew as the team's general manager after this season, they will be able to interview employees of playoff teams during the playoffs if they are given permission.  A proposal made by the competition committee (something Matt Millen was on before he was fired) was passed at an NFL meeting yesterday, and it gives teams the ability to conduct interviews with non-high-level employees of playoff teams immediately after the season if they are given permission.
• Safety Gerald Alexander, who was moved to the IR on Monday, will likely have surgery to "clean-up" his neck injury.  He will probably be out 6-8 weeks.
  

The NFL Network's Adam Schefter is reporting that the Lions have traded Roy Williams to the Dallas Cowboys.  According to The Dallas Morning News, the Lions will receive a first-, a third-, and a sixth-round pick and will give up a seventh-rounder.  All picks are for the 2009 draft, giving the Lions plenty of opportunities to start rebuilding through the draft as soon as possible.

UPDATE: ESPN's Ed Werder is reporting that no first-round picks are involved in this trade.  That is contrary to what Adam Schefter, The Dallas Morning News, and ESPNews are reporting, so I would stay tuned until something is officially announced.

UPDATE II: Via Blogging The Boys, the Cowboys' official website is reporting the same information as Adam Schefter and The Dallas Morning News.  It looks like Werder got some bad information.

UPDATE III: In a typical ESPN move, Werder's story has been changed to include the correct information.  It looks like the Lions will get three draft picks and give up a seventh-rounder, just as was first reported by The Dallas Morning News.

The NFL's trade deadline is at 4 p.m. ET today.  That means that if the Lions have any plans to trade Roy Williams or perhaps even Jon Kitna, they better start working the phones all morning and afternoon to get a deal or two put together.  If they decide to stand pat and leave the roster as is, then the Lions would have to wait until the offseason to trade any players, and at that point nothing would probably happen until it is determined who the general manager will be.

As for right now, the rumor mill is continuing to produce various trade possibilities involving Roy Williams.  That should be expected since there have been a ton of rumors about him ever since this past offseason.  Many people expect him to be traded, but it doesn't look like that will happen right now.

By the way, (GM Martin) Mayhew also said that he talked to Williams and told him that the Lions were not shopping him. According to Mayhew, Williams told him that he wants to stay in Detroit.

The only way Roy Williams will get traded is if the Lions get a draft pick and a player in return for him.  Detroit's asking price for Williams has been high in the past, and since we are in the middle of the season, it is expected that the Lions would want a player that can help them right now in addition to a first-round draft pick.  Since most teams won't want to give up that much for a receiver, chances are he will be sticking around until at least the next offseason.

Jon Kitna's name has been thrown around the rumor mill as well in the last 24 or so hours.  With it becoming clear that Kitna's days in Detroit are likely numbered regardless of whether or not he returns from his back injury in the near future, the Lions may attempt to deal him right now.  That would allow Dan Orlovsky and Drew Stanton to finish out the season at QB for the Lions and would get the franchise an extra draft pick.

The first team that came to mind as a possible destination for Kitna was the Dallas Cowboys since Tony Romo is out up to four weeks with a broken pinkie.  The injury means that Brad Johnson is going to have to step in as a starter for the Cowboys, and for a short time there was some speculation that the Lions would package Kitna and Williams together in a deal with the Cowboys.  However, it appears that the Cowboys are happy with Brad Johnson and don't have interest in Kitna.

Another possible destination for Kitna should he be traded is San Francisco.  That would make the most sense since Mike Martz would be reunited with Kitna.  J.T. O'Sullivan has struggled in recent weeks, so there again was some speculation that he could become a 49er.  However, just as with the rumors about a trade with Dallas, the 49ers do not have interest in Kitna, either.

At this point all indications are that no big trades will happen involving the Lions.  A small deal involving a lesser-known player wouldn't shock me, but it is unlikely that the Lions will do anything.  Although it is strange that Rod Marinelli was so adamantly against discussing Jon Kitna during his press conference on Monday, I don't think the Lions could trade him even if they wanted to.  There are some teams out there that are in need of a QB, but trading for an injured one isn't a very good idea.

My guess is that we'll hear a few more rumors as the day progresses, but once 4 p.m. rolls around Jon Kitna and Roy Williams will still be members of the Lions.  I would love for the Lions to trade Kitna since he doesn't appear to be part of Detroit's future plans, but there is not much of a demand for him.  The same goes for Roy Williams in the sense that his trade value probably won't get much higher than it is right now, so a trade would be welcomed right now.  Besides, a trade in the offseason may not get the Lions as much as they want anyways, so if Detroit could get a first-round pick and a player or something like that, I would hope that they pull the trigger.

Keep checking back with Pride of Detroit all day long for any breaking news about potential trades involving the Lions.