ALLEN PARK — Louis Delmas returned to the practice field today (Wednesday). The Lions starting free safety has been out of action since Aug. 7 knee surgery.

Delmas was on the field at least for the media portion of practice.

Several players were out including: Cliff Avril (back), Dominic Raiola, Rob Sims, Stephen Tulloch, Bill Bentley, Brandon Pettigrew, John Wendling, Justin Durant and Corey Williams who had knee surgery a week ago.

Since the Lions don’t play again for 11 days, they could have been using caution in holding certain players out.

 Linebacker Travis Lewis, who has been out with a quad injury, also returned to practice.

 When Delmas is in the game, the numbers are startlingly different than when he is not. In the first 11 games last season when Delmas played, the Lions allowed an average of 202.4 passing yards. In the five regular season games he missed last year, the Lions gave up 321 passing yards on average. 

The Lions (1-3) practiced Wednesday before taking a mandated five days off for the bye week. Their next game is Oct. 14 at the Philadelphia Eagles.

 (Follow @PaulaPasche on Twitter.)