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With Week 7 of the 2013 NFL season now here for the Detroit Lions, running back Montell Owens is eligible to start practicing again, and the team expects him to be on the field this week. He was placed on injured reserve with the designation to return at the beginning of the season after suffering a knee injury in the preseason, and the wait is over for him to practice.
In terms of actually playing in a game, Owens has to wait until after the bye week. Players on IR with the designation to return have to miss at least eight weeks, and since Week 9 is the Lions' bye this year, Owens will get an extra week off before he plays in an actual game. Assuming he is healthy, he should make his regular-season debut in Week 10 at the Chicago Bears.
In other injury news, Jim Schwartz expects the injuries running back Joique Bell and cornerback Rashean Mathis suffered on Sunday to be of the short-term variety. This goes along with a tweet from Bell on Monday that said he will be back "in no time."
Wide receiver Calvin Johnson is still dealing with a knee injury that kept him out in Week 5, limited him in practice last week and led to him playing only 51 percent of the Lions' offensive snaps on Sunday. Schwartz indicated that Johnson was sore following Sunday's game, but he doesn't know if the injury is any worse than it was going into the matchup with the Cleveland Browns.
Finally, Schwartz didn't have any updates on running back Theo Riddick or tight end Tony Scheffler. Both players are still being "evaluated" after suffering concussions in Week 5, and there's no word on if either player will end up on injured reserve at this point in time.