Calvin Johnson and six others miss practice

The Lions were without a number of starters today at practice as they began on-field preparations for Sunday’s game at Minnesota.

Receiver Calvin Johnson missed the portion of practice open to the media, which is no real surprise considering he was limited last week in Jacksonville with a left knee injury. Johnson still had seven catches for 129 yards in the game, but wasn’t near 100 percent. He missed all three practices last week.

The Lions were also without receiver Titus Young. Young’s been battling a knee injury for most of the season, but hasn’t missed a game.

The Lions will release their first injury report of the week at 4 p.m. today.

Defensively, they were without five starters: Defensive ends Cliff Avril and Kyle Vanden Bosch (rest day), defensive tackle Corey Williams and safeties Louis Delmas and Amari Spievey.