Joique Bell returns to the city where he played his college football (Photo: YardBarker.com)
Tonight’s game against the Buffalo Bills will be a homecoming of sorts for one Bills rookie. Former Wayne State running back Joique Bell returns to Detroit with one last shot to impress his new coaching staff.
Joique Bell went undrafted last April but drew interest from a number of teams and signed with Buffalo. He has made the most of his preseason opportunities. Bell enters the preseason finale with the NFL’s fifth best rushing total. His 6.5 yards per carry average is third best among players with at least 15 carries.
The Bills are quite deep at running back with first-round pick C.J. Spiller, Marshawn Lynch, and Fred Jackson but Joique Bell could win himself a spot on the roster. It will come down to a numbers game and an organizational decision as to how to create the most effective roster out of their allotted 53 men, as suggested by the Buffalo News:
Bell would seem to have an edge on Simpson but the Bills could keep just four backs in order to go heavier at another position.
I contacted Bills blogger Paul Miller from BuffaLowDown to get his perspective and received the following response:
Joique Bell has indeed looked nothing sort of spectacular when running the ball this preseason for the Bills with his 6.4 yards average on 22 rushes. Which on most teams would be a lock to gain a roster spot, but unfortunately for Bell, he is part of a team with a crowded backfield.
With C.J. Spiller, Fred Jackson and Marshawn Lynch all fighting for carries this season, Bell would have to prove himself not only to be a great fourth string running back, but also an elite player on special team. Which so far this season, Bell has been anything but good while on the special teams. He is currently labeled as the worst tackler on the Bills, missing easy tackles and key assignments so far on special teams.
Saying this, rumors around Buffalo are that even though Bell has been electric when running the ball, he is no way considered a lock to make
the team come cut day.
ESPN.com selected Bell as one of the under-the-radar players to watch heading into training camp. They explained the path that kept Bell off the radar:
Circumstances kept him from being recruited like he wanted out of Benton Harbor, Mich. An injury to his high school quarterback forced Bell to fill in his senior year. Colleges didn’t see him as a running back. Michigan and Michigan State projected him at safety. So he went to Detroit’s Division II Wayne State where he could get the touches he craved.
Oh, the things he did with those touches! Bell ran for 6,728 yards and 88 touchdowns over his career at Wayne State and won the Division II’s equivalent to the Heisman Trophy as a senior. It is nice to see a guy with local ties making the most of his opportunity. I will be rooting for the Lions tonight, but you can be sure that I also want to see some good things from Joique Bell.
Limiting playing time for starters in the final exhibition game is nothing new — no team wants to risk injuries to key players a week before the regular season begins — but Schwartz isn’t willing to turn the game into a farce, either.
The veteran has made his money in the NFL for many years as a productive slot receiver. But because of the addition of veteran WR Nate Burleson this year, who should see time in the slot, Northcutt’s role could be significantly reduced — if he makes the team.
It would have been inconceivable to suggest that Kevin Smith’s roster spot was in doubt just a couple weeks ago. Momentum is now building to suggest that Smith could be the odd-man out of the Lions’ suddenly crowded backfield.
In today’s Detroit Free Press, head coach Jim Schwartz attributes Smith’s preseason struggles to yet reaching the point where Smith trusts his surgically repaired knee. A lingering psychological issue is not uncommon and could be considered reason enough to hang on to the young running back; once Smith got over that hump the Lions would have their productive runner once again. The reasoning might make sense but Schwartz did not make such a commitment in the freep article.
NFL.com’s Michael Lombardi has confirmed that Kevin Smith’s roster spot is indeed on the bubble.
Lions beat writer Tom Kowalski suggested a more creative approach to sorting out the running back situation in his article posted on mlive.com. He said this regarding the quarterback position:
The decision is whether to keep No. 3 Drew Stanton or release him to use that roster spot on another position.
Kowalski found the place to use that roster spot when summarizing the running back options facing the Lions:
Here’s a spot where Stanton’s spot could be useful. Kevin Smith still isn’t 100 percent — he had major knee surgery in December — but the Lions can’t put him on IR.
Although that approach could work, it comes with some risk. The Lions would want to turn to Stanton if something should happen to one of their other two quarterbacks because of his familiarity with the offense. They can’t guarantee he will be available if they cut him loose.
I’m still of the opinion (as is Tom Kowalski) that Jahvid Best, Kevin Smith and Jerome Felton will be joined on the roster by two the remaining backs: Aaron Brown, Maurice Morris, and DeDe Dorsey. I imagine Martin Mayhew will spend a lot of time with a telephone to his ear in hopes of making the most of the situation.
No other man has started at QB for the Colts since Peyton Manning came into the league (Photo: YardBarker.com)
FanSided’s Atlanta Falcons Blog, Blogging Dirty, put together a list of the number of starting quarterbacks each NFL franchise has used since 2000.
The Lions’ place on the list isn’t as ugly as their record over that time, but it still isn’t pretty. A total of 11 men have received starts at quarterback for the Detroit Lions, with Joey Harrington getting more than any other over that time.
The full list of Lions’ starting quarterbacks since 2000 goes like this: Stoney Case, Charlie Batch, Ty Detmer, Mike McMahon, Joey Harrington, Jeff Garcia, Jon Kitna, Dan Orlovsky, Daunte Culpepper, Matthew Stafford, and Drew Stanton.
We already know how important it is for Matthew Stafford break the cycle, taking a look at some of those names highlights the point even more.
See Blogging Dirty’s original post for the full list.
Cleveland Browns defensive tackle Shaun Rogers was notified yesterday he won’t be suspended for carrying a loaded gun into an airport.
On the same day, the Browns are lobbying to have Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh suspended for a football play. One is a federal offence but — evidently by NFL standards — it isn’t the guy carrying the gun.
Even in last year’s exhibition finale, when he still had not been named the starter, Stafford played just three series. How much Stafford plays Thursday means little anyway because some of his key off-season goals already have been accomplished.
The ladies over at The Thrifty Table have graciously agreed to partner with the SideLion Report for a series of posts dedicated to tailgating. Every Tuesday we will feature a new recipe perfect for that week’s tailgate, whether it be related to the Lions, their upcoming opponent, or the time of year.
This week we will start the series off with two recipes for cornbread, a sweet family favorite from Catherine and a savory and slightly spicy recipe from Jennifer. Go ahead Lions fans, start off the season with some hot, buttery cornbread. Be sure to wash it down with a big glass of Kool-Aid.
Catherine’s Sweet & Easy Cornbread
1 box of Jiffy Yellow Cake Mix
1 box of Jiffy Cornbread Mix
3/4 C of milk
1 T of water
2 eggs
Preheat over to 375 degrees.
Grease a 9×13 baking pan or line muffin tins with papers.
Mix all ingredients well and blend for 3-4 minutes. Pour batter into greased baking pan or muffin pan. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Remove when a toothpick comes out clean. Enjoy!
Jennifer’s Green Chile Cornbread 1 c flour 3/4 c yellow cornmeal 1 tbs. sugar 1 tsp. baking powder 1 tsp. salt 1 tsp. ground cumin 1/4 tsp. baking soda 1 c fat-free buttermilk 2 eggs 1 (4 oz.) can diced green chilies, drained 3 tbs. butter, melted 1/2 c. low fat shredded cheddar cheese
1. Preheat the oven to 400 F. Spray an 8-inch square baking pan with nonstick spray. 2. Combine the dry ingredients together in a medium bowl. Combine the buttermilk, eggs, chiles, and melted butter in another medium bowl. Add the buttermilk mixture to the flour mixture and stir until just blended. Gently stir in the cheese. Transfer the batter from the pan and spread evenly. 3. Bake until the edges are golden, 17-22 minutes. Let cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes. Cut into 12 squares and serve warm.
*Taken from WeightWatchers My Turnaround Cookbook. Only 135 calories per square.
DeAndre Levy, Detroit’s starting middle linebacker, was seeing his first exhibition-game action because of a back injury, but pulled a groin muscle early in the victory over the Browns. He will at least miss Thursday’s final preseason game.
Yes, the name Barry, as in Sanders, has been bandied about this offseason by the Lions faithful with respect to Best. Is this an insanely positive perception of a player who has yet to take a live NFL handoff? Of course it is, but just as I have likened this kid to Chris Johnson, he’s simply one of those talents who incites dramatic comparison.
If you’re going to get flagged for a personal foul, you might as well get your money’s worth. Ndamukong Suh certainly did. For those of you that missed Suh’s brutal take down of Brown’s quarterback Jake Delhomme, see below:
Some people have wanted to know my opinion of the play so I put this post together to give a flavor of the variety of opinions that are floating around and throw mine into the mix.
Face mask penalties are going to happen from time to time. We saw one earlier in the preseason from Kyle Vanden Bosch. If you want an aggressive pass rush from your front four then you are just going to have to live with the occasional grasp of the quarterback’s face mask.
Ndamukong Suh’s face mask plus take down went beyond that but I welcome the sight, as long as we don’t see it again. I have waited a long time to see a good defense from the Lions. They won’t qualify as such this year but seeing a nasty streak out of the man drafted to be one of the faces of a rebuilt defensive front is a step in the right direction. As long as what happened on Saturday night was a statement of arrival in his first game in front of his new hometown fans and not the first of a series of bad decisions then by all means, welcome to Detroit Mr. Suh!
He already face-masked him, then he grabs him by the neck, twists it and throws him down. To me, that’s something you can get suspended for, I think.
The Browns organization is not going as far as suggesting a punishment but will ask the league to review the play according to the Associated Press:
Browns coach Eric Mangini on Monday said he would ask the league to investigate the play, but he assumed it would do so anyway.
Mangini does not believe there was any malice on the part of the No. 2 overall draft pick, and Delhomme said he would leave it up to the league to decide whether a suspension or fine is warranted.
Oakland Press columnist Pat Caputo turned the tables and posted an indictment on the state of the Browns team on the level of Ndamukong Suh’s throwdown:
The idea of fining Suh for that play is a joke, and says a lot more about the Browns’ lack of toughness than it says about Suh’s lack of sportsmanship.
Keep your head up, kid. Detroiters always have to work harder for respect. (YardBarker.com)
The careers of Matthew Stafford and Mark Sanchez will be forever linked. The Detroit Lions made Stafford the number one overall pick in the 2009 NFL draft while Mark Sanchez was the second quarterback to come off the board at number five to the New York Jets. Justified or not, Sanchez has a distinct leg up as far as the media is concerned.
The September 6, 2010 issue of ESPN The Magazine includes a feature called “Faces of the Game”, a largely pictorial look at the people that make the NFL what it is. A variety of players, coaches, agents, lawyers, and even a neurosurgeon make the list.
Just three current starting quarterbacks are included: Peyton Manning, Drew Brees and Mark Sanchez. Yes, you read that correctly, Mark Sanchez. The Mag gives a nod to two of the most recognizable and successful quarterbacks of the present and anoints the NFL’s next star signal caller within a matter of pages. The jovial picture of Sanchez engulfed in a sea of hanging green T-shirts contains this caption:
He’s got Mexican roots, Trojan training and a Big Apple address. Throw in a playoff run as the Jets’ rookie QB, and presto-you’ve got it.
Raiola was possibly Stafford’s biggest fan last season — although he was one of many — and he only sees better things ahead for the Lions led by a confident young gunslinger, who said after the game he was proud of his offense for the comeback at the start of the third quarter.
The NCAA has a different concept of quarterback protection, and Suh found this out in Detroit’s 35-27 win over the Cleveland Browns last Saturday, when he blew past his blocker and tried to open quarterback Jake Delhomme(notes) like a bottle with a helmet on top.
The Lions had a difficult year in 2009, finishing only at 2-14. However, they did improve upon their performance two years ago. Perhaps this season will be the Lions’ best yet! Buy your lions tickets now! You can show your team support for Lions Browns tickets, or buy other tickets such as the Baltimore Ravens schedule or the Cincinnati Bengals schedule. You can even buy NFL champion Saints tickets for sale through GameStub.com.
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