1. Matthew Stafford is clearly the real deal. In these first two games this season he’s thrown seven touchdown passes and two interceptions. Nate Burleson made a good point afterward by saying that Stafford will throw passes that other quarterbacks wouldn’t attempt. Stafford is not only confident in his arm, but teammates are confident in him. And why wouldn’t they be? He delivers on the money.

2. Scott LInehan, the offensive coordinator, trusts his players and proves it by going for a touchdown on fourth down when they already hold a 17-point lead. This aggressive game-calling is fun for the fans, players and probably Linehan too. He’s got plenty of talent surrounding Stafford so why not use it.

3. These Lions are having fun. Witness the touchdown dances by Tony Scheffler who you wouldn’t necessarily think of as a showman. He said they work on them at practices which just makes it more fun (there’s that word again). They’re focused and serious about getting the job done, but working on a few dance moves never hurt anyone as long as the priorities are straight and there is no doubt they are.

4. The defensive line is as good as advertised. They had a pair of sacks against the Chiefs, but they were in quarterback Matt Cassel’s face all during the game. It’s not just the line playing well, but they set the tone. Chris Houston has improved as has Amari Spievey. Louis Delmas (hip pointer) was a game-time decision and he played like a maniac (in a good way). In the first two games the Lions’ defense has allowed just one touchdown.

5. It’s going to take a while longer to know how good the Lions really are. They have now beat two teams that each won 10 games last season. They got better from week one to week two. And the mistakes they made in week one were corrected. The win over the Chiefs wasn’t a perfect game — the Lions got off to a sluggish start. But once in gear, they were impressive. They haven’t won in Minnesota since 1997, they haven’t started a season 3-0 since 1980. The Vikings are 0-2, the Lions are 2-0 and still hungry.

(Follow me on Twitter @PaulaPasche. Get Lions news delivered directly to your phone by texting the keyword "Lions" to 22700.)

DETROIT — WR Calvin Johnson and S Louis Delmas will play today against the Chiefs. Both were listed as questionable on Friday’s injury report.

Johnson rolled his left ankle a week ago at Tampa. He had limited practice on Friday.

Delmas sustained a hip pointer at Tampa. He was also questionable on Friday’s injury report.

Also no changes to starting lineup.

WR Maurice Stovall, whose right hand is in a cast, is inactive. Other inactives are LB Doug Hogue and G Jacques McClendon.

DT Nick Fairley, T Jason Fox and CB Alphonso Smith were announced as inactives on Friday.

Out for Chiefs are Ricky Stanzi, Reshard Langford, Steve Maneri, Keary Colbert, Jonathan Baldwin, Brandon Bair and Jerrell Powell.

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ALLEN PARK — Safety Louis Delmas (hip pointer) and wide receiver Calvin Johnson (ankle) returned to practice today (Friday). Neither practiced on Wednesday and Thursday.

Delmas, who was practicing on a limited basis, said on Thursday he expects to be a game-time decision, although his recovery pace has been good so he thinks there’s a good chance he will play.

Johnson said earlier this week that he expects to play on Sunday.

Wide receiver Maurice Stovall (hand) and cornerback Alphonso Smith (foot) have been practicing all week on a limited basis.

The only absentees were DT Nick Fairley and T Jason Fox. Both are coming back from broken feet.

The Lions host the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday at Ford Field.

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ALLEN PARK — Calvin Johnson (ankle) and Louis Delmas (bruised hip) missed the second straight day of practice today (Thursday).

Johnson said on Wednesday that he rolled his ankle and it was not a big deal. He also said he expects to play on Sunday vs. the Kansas City Chiefs.

Delmas was nowhere to be seen on Wednesday. On Monday coach Jim Schwartz said Delmas had bruised his hip in the win on Sunday and he was in “we’ll see” mode.

Veteran DE Kyle Vanden Bosch will have Wednesdays off of practice during the season. He returned today as expected.

Nick Fairley and Jason Fox, who both had broken feet, are getting closer to healthy, but neither practiced Thursday.

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ALLEN PARK — By the numbers, the Lions have everything on the Kansas City Chiefs, the opponent for Sunday’s sold-out home opener.

Soak these NFL numbers up:

— The Lions rank fifth in NFL in total offense while the Chiefs rank 18th in total defense.

— Detroit had the 10th best rushing effort, while the Chiefs had 27th best defense against the rush (in other words they stunk).

— The Lions had eight best passing game while the Chiefs had 11th best pass defense.

— Kansas City’s offense was ranked 30th while Detroit’s defense was tied for 12th. The Chiefs ranked 30th in passing offense while the Lion had 11th best pass defense.

— Of course, it was just one week. The Lions beat the Bucs 27-20 and the Chiefs were humiliated at home by the Bills 41-7.

(Follow me on Twitter @PaulaPasche. Get Lions news delivered directly to your phone by texting the keyword "Lions" to 22700.)

Cornerback Maurice Leggett will apparently be reunited with Gunther Cunningham after agreeing to a deal with the Lions.

Leggett played for Cunningham, the Lions defensive coordinator, when both were with the Chiefs.

Leggett confirmed the deal with a tweet explaining that Moe is on his way to “Mo Town.”

The 24-year-old cornerback, who is 5-foot-11 and 188 pounds, played the last three seasons in Kansas City after being signed as an undrafted free agent out of Valdosta State. He was the Chiefs’ rookie of the year in 2008 when Cunningham was the defensive coordinator.

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After appealing the tampering charges filed by the Kansas City Chiefs in December, the Lions have now gotten back their seventh-round draft pick, according to a report by ESPN.com’s Mike Sando. That pick had been taken away prior to the appeal.

With the return of this seventh-round pick, the Lions will have six picks in the draft, April 28-30.

But, oddly enough, they will lose their seventh-round pick in the 2012 draft. They will still swap fifth-round picks with the Chiefs.

Were they guilty? Sounds like the answer was maybe just a little

The Lions have been mum on the charges and would not even confirm that they had appealed. That information was released inadvertently by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell a few weeks ago.

No matter what the lockout situation is, the draft will go on. The Lions have the 13th overall pick to get things started.

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Gunther Cunningham, the Lions defensive coordinator, is one who gives credit where it is due. Throughout the season he praised Daron Roberts, the assistant secondary coach, for his work.

Roberts is now leaving the Lions, per an ESPN report. He has accepted a job at West Virginia where he’ll be the special teams coordinator and inside wide receivers coach.

Roberts never played football beyond the high school level. He got his start in coaching by volunteering with the Kansas City Chiefs and then getting hired as quality control coach when Cunningham was with the Chiefs. He had been with the Lions for two years.

While he didn’t play football in college, Roberts is a University of Texas alum. He also has a Master of Public Policy degree from the John F. Kennedy School of Government and a law degree from Harvard.

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INDIANAPOLIS -- It was the Kansas City Chiefs who filed tampering charges against the Detroit Lions in December, but Chiefs general manager Scott Pioli would not offer any insight on Saturday morning while addressing the media at the NFL Combine.

“That’s a league issue that was handled and I really don’t have any comment on that at all,’’ Pioli said.

The Lions have until Monday to appeal the charges. The Lions lost a seventh-round draft pick and will swap fifth-round picks with the Chiefs.

On Friday, Lions general manager Martin Mayhew said the team had not decided on the next step.

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The Detroit Lions must forfeit their 2011 seventh-round draft pick because the NFL has determined the club has violated the NFL anti-tampering policy.

The decision was announced today (Friday). The team has until Feb. 28 to appeal.

A statement released today by the NFL says: ...”The Detroit Lions have violated the NFL Anti-Tampering Policy by commenting publicly to the media about the Lions’ desire to acquire players then under contract to the Kansas City Chiefs and by having impermissible contact with a player (or his agent) under contract to the Chiefs. The violations occurred in 2010.’’

The Chiefs filed tampering charges against the Lions in early December.

Although no names were given in the NFL release, it is believed to involve Lions defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham and former Chiefs safety Jarrad Page who is now with the Patriots.

Page played two full seasons as a starter under Cunningham when he was the Chiefs’ defensive coordinator.

Tampering is defined by the league office as: "Any interference by a member club with the employer-employee relationship of another club or any attempt by a club to impermissibly induce a person to seek employment with that club or with the NFL."

The Lions will also have to swap fifth-round picks with the Chiefs. Detroit will now have the 23rd selection of the fifth round while Kansas City will move up to ninth.

(Paula Pasche covers the Lions. Follow her on Twitter @PaulaPasche. Read her Lions Lowdown blog at oplions.blogspot.com.)

The Kansas City Chiefs have filed tampering charges against the Detroit Lions according to a FOXSports.com report. Specifics are unknown, but FOXSports links the complaint to Lions defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham, the former Chiefs coach.

“(Kansas City) keeps wanting to dump their players. I would like to be there to catch a lot of them because I know a couple of those guys,” Cunningham said earlier this year.

According to the report the charges may involve former Chiefs safety Jarrad Page, who was embroiled in a contentious holdout with the team earlier this year. Reportedly the Lions reportedly were interested in Page.

Not only is Daunte Culpepper visiting the Lions for a workout today, the Lions would like to sign the free-agent quarterback ASAP.

Teams bring players in for workouts every week. Some they have legitimate interest in, some they just want to check the tires on. I've been told Culpepper, who's been out of football all year, is a case of the former.

I don't know how close the Lions and Culpepper are to a contract, but reports Monday that either he or the Chiefs canceled a pending workout in Kansas City -- he told ProFootballTalk.com that he was in negotiations with a team that was a "better fit" for him -- would indicate a signing could be imminent.

The bigger question is why the Lions, at 0-7, would want to sign a veteran quarterback rather than continue playing youngsters Dan Orlovsky and (eventually) Drew Stanton. There's next to no chance the Lions make the playoffs this year, and it would seem to be in the best interest of the organization to see what exactly it has in Orlovsky, a free-agent-to-be, and Stanton, last year's second-round pick, heading into this important offseason.

I don't have the answers to that, but it appears as if the Lions -- as Rod Marinelli has said all along -- are playing for now and believe Culpepper's big arm and veteran poise gives them the best chance to win.