SideLion Report » Mike Bell

The Detroit Lions’ Year in Review: August 2011

Zac Snyder — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 21:00:34 +0000

The beginning of August brought some unexpected roster shuffling. Nick Fairley was out of action due to a foot injury that required surgery, Zack Follett left the team and football as a result of neck problems and Mikel Leshoure was lost for the season with an achiles injury. The Lions were able to absorb the Fairley injury thanks to depth at defensive tackle and the Follett situation paved the way for Bobby Carpenter’s return which was not unexpected. Losing Leshoure promted the Lions to bring in Jerome Harrison and Mike Bell.

Ndamukong Suh got the preseason started with another body slam of a quarterback and the Lions easily defeated the Cincinnati Bengals. The Lions then defeated the Browns to take their record to 2-0 against teams from Ohio.

The release of individual tickets resulted in a flooding of buyers, particularly for the Monday Night Football game to be played in week five of the regular season.

The Lions validated fans’ interest in the upcoming season by defeating the New England Patriots in a nationally televised game to move their preseason record to a perfect 3-0. The offense and defense both played in the first half when both teams were using their regular lineups.

It was all good news for the Lions and their fans until August 29 when news broke that long time beat writer Tom “Killer” Kowalski had unexpectedly died that morning.

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Detroit Lions Cut Mike Bell, Dave Rayner and Six Others

Zac Snyder — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 15:31:16 +0000

Tomorrow is the day that NFL rosters will be limited to 80 players but the Lions announced eight cuts today:

RB Mike Bell
WR Demario Ballard
TE Richard Dickson
LB DeJuan Fulghum
WR Marcus Harris
S Michael Johnson
K Dave Rayner
DT Montavious Stanley

There isn’t a strong case to be made for keeping any of the names on the list, it will be much more interesting to see who doesn’t survive the final list of cuts. Two more players will not survive the first round of cuts in order for the Lions to get from the 90-man limit down to 80.

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Detroit Lions Add Running Back Depth with Jerome Harrison and Mike Bell

Zac Snyder — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 01:11:59 +0000

As I followed the reactions in the wake of Mikel Leshoure’s season ending achilles injury, I found they generally fell in one of two groups. One, an immediate entrance into the freak out zone and two, disappointment for Leshoure coupled with a vote of confidence for Maurice Morris.

I would put myself with those in group number two but that doesn’t mean I’m not glad the Lions brought Mike Bell and Jerome Harrison into camp.

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