More photos » by Jim Prisching - AP

19 days ago: Detroit Lions Demarcus Faggins (38) defends as the Green Bay Packers' Donald Driver (80) hauls in a pass during the second half of an NFL football game Sunday, Oct. 18, 2009, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Jim Prisching)

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Cornerback Demarcus Faggins was placed on the injured reserve on Tuesday, bringing his season to an end.  Faggins, who had worked his way into the cornerback rotation, was injured in the fourth quarter of Sunday's game against the Rams.  I'm not exactly sure what he injured, but the severity of it was enough for the Lions to shut him down for the rest of the season.

To fill Faggins' spot on the roster, the Lions signed cornerback Jason David.  David played the first few seasons of his career for the Colts before going to New Orleans for a couple seasons.  He was waived by the Saints in August of this year, and the Lions will be the first team he has played for since then. 

I hate to say this, but David will probably fit right in with the Lions' usually lackluster secondary.  David has been known to give up big plays, something that really started in his first game with New Orleans, which actually was against his former team, the Colts.

In other roster news, the Lions signed running back Cedric Peerman to the practice squad last week and released Tristan Davis, who showed off his excellent speed in the final game of the 2009 preseason.

The official inactive list is out, and there is both good and bad news stemming from it.  The good news is that there is no Matthew Stafford on the list, meaning he will start today.  The bad news is that Calvin Johnson is on the list, meaning his return will have to wait at least another week.  Here is the full list:

Detroit Lions

QB Drew Stanton
FB Jerome Felton
WR Calvin Johnson
OG Manny Ramirez
OG Daniel Loper
DE Jason Hunter
CB Anthony Henry
S Marvin White

St. Louis Rams

QB Keith Null
WR Tim Carter
WR Ruvell Martin
OT Phil Trautwein
OG Roger Allen III
OG Richie Incognito
DE C.J. Ah You
S Anthony Smith

More photos » by Darron Cummings - AP

In this Feb. 21, 2009 file photo, Nebraska offensive lineman Lydon Murtha works on a drill at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings, File)

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One of the dangers of having a player on the practice squad is the possibility of losing him to another team.  The obvious positive about having a player on the practice squad is that you can continue to develop him and activate him to the main roster if an injury or something else happens.  The obvious negative is that every other NFL team can try to sign him to their active roster.  That doesn't happen too often, but it did today, and the Lions were on the negative side of it.

The Dolphins signed offensive tackle Lydon Murtha to their 53-man roster from the Lions' practice squad.  Murtha was a seventh-round pick and was one of only two draft picks not already on Detroit's active roster.  He, Dan Gronkowski, and Zack Follett all started the season on the practice squad, and Follett was recently activated and essentially called up to the active roster.  While Murtha probably wasn't going to be brought up to the active roster in the immediate future, he was developing on the practice squad.  He has great athleticism and raw talent, and it was obvious from the time he was drafted that his development would take some time.  Obviously the Dolphins feel that he has come far enough to warrant a spot on their active roster, and now the Lions won't get a chance to continue to watch him develop.

Losing a player like this is sort of a kick between the legs.  Obviously Murtha isn't going to pass up the chance to be signed to an active roster, but at the same time, you almost want to boot someone and offer him a deal just to hang on to him.  The Lions didn't think he was going to get into the offensive line rotation in the immediate future considering he was still on the practice squad, but even so, I'm sure they would have liked to hold on to all of their draft picks.

Both Calvin Johnson and Matthew Stafford are officially out for today's game.

At one point it looked like Calvin Johnson was active and ready to play, but NFL.com's inactive list was not correct.  It was just updated to show that Megatron will sit, and he is not the only big-name player who will miss today's game.

Matthew Stafford is also inactive today, and tomorrow Dr. James Andrews will take a look at a new MRI and "determine whether or not surgery is needed" to fix his injury.  Anytime I hear that name I immediately have bad thoughts, as the injury is usually always more serious than originally anticipated.  In this case it appears that the Lions just want Andrews' opinion on the injury, but the fact that surgery is now being mentioned is worrisome, to say the least.

ESPN's Chris Mortensen reported that Stafford "experienced more swelling" after he practiced on Wednesday, which explains why he was limited and sat out on Thursday.  (It appears there was no big conspiracy like many thought.) 

A full inactive list from the Lions' official site and NFL.com can be found after the jump.  (NFL.com's still has 9 players on the list for the Lions.)

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