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Lions notes: Martha Ford speaks to team, Alex Carter returns to practice

Today's Lions notes looks at Martha Ford's impassioned speech with the team and checks in with rookie Alex Carter.

By Jeremy Reisman
Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

  • Martha Ford spoke with the team for the first time since making the front office changes. Players reported that Martha spoke from the heart, and Darryl Tapp had the best reaction of anyone:

    • "You always got to be leery of these little people," Tapp said. "My grandma, she's 87. She's this tall (gesturing). She'll beat me down right now.

  • Are there some changes coming on the offensive line?
  • Rookie cornerback Alex Carter returned to practice for the first time since placed on the short-term injured reserve list. The Lions have 21 days to decide whether to place Carter on the active roster or to end his season.

  • In other practice news, Calvin Johnson sat out. It's unclear whether this was another veteran day off or if this was related to his ankle injury suffered toward the end of game against the Chiefs. Here is the full participation report:
  • Matthew Stafford responded to reports from last week questioning his ability to mentally handle Joe Lombardi's offense:
  • Jim Caldwell also responded to the report, simply calling it "hogwash."

  • I joined Jerry Mallory on his podcast to talk about the Lions' second half of the season and my favorite general manager candidate.

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