Calvin Johnson and Reggie Bush inactive for early game in London

There presumably will be a few hundred (thousand?) fantasy football leagues that include Detroit Lions receiver Calvin Johnson in lineups this week, because fantasy football owners slept through their alarms.

Johnson and Lions running back Reggie Bush were declared inactive 90 minutes before the early Lions-Atlanta Falcons game in London. Inactives were announced at about 8 a.m. Eastern time for the 9:30 a.m. ET kickoff, or about 5 a.m. Pacific time. Bush was listed as doubtful, so there probably weren’t many fantasy owners holding out hope he played. But Johnson, the game’s greatest receiver when healthy, was listed as questionable after some limited practices, so there was some hope.

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The Lions will instead try to get Johnson completely healthy from a high-ankle sprain, the price they paid for using him earlier this season as a decoy instead of just letting him get well. Now the Lions have a bye next week, so Johnson should be ready to go for Detroit’s next game. The Lions did well without him before Sunday’s game in London, as they came into the contest against the Falcons at 5-2 and tied for first place in the NFC North.

The Lions brought Johnson to London and he practiced, so some optimistic fantasy owners might have tentatively had him in the lineup as they went to bed on Saturday night. Hopefully they made it up in time to put him on the bench.

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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab