SB Nation - Ikaika Alama-Francis

Wednesday Notes: Schwartz and Mangini Clear the Air

Sean Yuille — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 04:35:23 -0000

The Packers have lost both Al Harris and Aaron Kampman for the season because of knee injuries.
Eric Mangini and Jim Schwartz talked after Mangini implied that the Lions faked injuries on Sunday and the two "cleared the air." It apparently dawned on Mangini that he was simply deflecting blame by making those accusations, and he took some responsibility for the loss during today's press conference.
"At the end of the day we're accountable for losing the game and for not making enough plays," he said. "That's me, that's the coaches, that's the players. That's what it was. I think I was frustrated with the situation and probably expressed that more than I probably should have, but at the end of the day we're responsible for it.

"We had plenty of opportunities to win the game and we didn't. That wasn't good enough," he said.
All it took for Mangini to see the light was a little chat with Jim Schwartz. Okay, I'm sure the negative reaction he got for the comments also played a role in making him realize that he sounded like a douchebag. But still, I'm sure chatting with Schwartz helped the issue quite a bit.
The Lions announced their first ever "Pride of the Lions" class last Sunday. The 12 members are Lem Barney, Jack Christiansen, Dutch Clark, Lou Creekmur, Dick Lane, Yale Lary, Bobby Layne, Barry Sanders, Charlie Sanders, Joe Schmidt, Doak Walker, and Alex Wojciechowicz.
Julian Peterson and Brandon Pettigrew were fined for hits in the Minnesota game.
Roger Goodell thinks Matthew Stafford's performance against the Browns can be a "game-changer" for the Lions' franchise.
Troy Aikman is a fan of Matthew Stafford.
SI took a poll of 296 NFL players and discovered that the Packers are a least desirable team to play for than the Lions. The Raiders are the least most desirable team to play for. Buffalo came in second, followed by Green Bay and Detroit.
The sale of the Silverdome was allowed to move forward thanks to a judge's ruling earlier this week.
The Dolphins have signed Ikaika Alama-Francis.

Dolphins waive Matt Roth, sign Alama-Francis

Matty I — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 23:25:45 -0000

More photos » by Carlos Osorio - AP

In a very surprising move, the Dolphins have waived former second round pick Matt Roth. Filling his roster spot is former Lions DE Ikaika Alama-Francis.

Roth was a starter at strong side outside linebacker all of last year but had a "mysterious groin injury" that held him out of all of training camp this year and much of the season this year. But even still, this move comes as a big surprise as it seemed like Roth was possibly on his way towards becoming a solid run-stopping OLB in Miami's 3-4 defense.

It's hard to figure out why the Dolphins decided to cut Roth at this point in time. But the Miami Herald reports that this move "was strictly a football decision" - according to a team source - and didn't have anything to do with any outside factors, like Roth's groin injury from earlier this season. Sources also told the Herald that this was just a situation where people in the personnel department and on the coaching staff thought that Roth wasn't the same player he was last season. Asked if the groin injury could be part of the reason, a source said, "That's as good a guess as any."

But still - the timing of the move was curious, to say the least.

Meanwhile, the Dolphins added defensive end Ikaika Alama-Francis, a 2007 second round pick of the Detroit Lions. He spent two seasons in Detroit before being cut back in September. Alama-Francis is a 6'5, 290 pound prototypical 3-4 defense end who could very well see playing time sooner rather than later with Tony McDaniel and Randy Starks expected to get some snaps at nose tackle following the loss of Jason Ferguson.

Alama-Francis has played in 19 career games with the Lions, starting two. Before attending Hawaii, he was a three sport star in high school, playing baseball, basketball, and volleyball. So he's an athlete for sure. He actually was a walk-on to Hawaii's basketball team before decided to play football.

Hat tip to Daniel52

Lions Release Alama-Francis, Gordon, and Jennings; Three More Signed to Practice Squad

Sean Yuille — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 22:02:58 -0000

The Lions have just sent out a press release confirming the Kevin O'Connell trade and announcing some other roster moves.

Allen Park, Mich. - The Detroit Lions announced today that they have traded QB Kevin O’Connell to the New York Jets for an undisclosed future draft pick. The team also released DE Ikaika Alama-Francis, CB Cletis Gordon and WR Adam Jennings.

Seven players were signed today by the Lions to the team’s practice squad, including: WR John Broussard (San Jose State), TE Carson Butler (Michigan), RB Tristan Davis (Auburn), LB Zack Follett (California), C Dan Gerberry (Ball State), TE Dan Gronkowski (Maryland) and T Lydon Murtha (Nebraska).

With Marcus McCauley and Yamon Figurs set to join the team, that means there are still two open spots on the roster. You can assume that McCauley took Gordon's spot and Figurs basically replaced Jennings. What does that mean for the other two open spots? Well, I'm guessing the Lions have signed or claimed a defensive lineman, as that would explain why Ikaika Alama-Francis was released. As for who will be brought in to fill O'Connell's spot on the team, that remains to be seen. One thing is for sure -- the Lions are not done making changes to their roster just yet.

Recent Draft History: Detroit Lions

mgrex03 — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 22:09:50 -0000

We all know the running joke in the league is that the Lions only take Wide Receivers in the first round, especially when they are in the top 10. Thankfully for Lions' fans, Matt Millen is no longer drafting for them, even though I think he had learned from drafting the same position in the top 10 3 years in a row.

I took a look at the last 3 drafts for the Lions, to try and see if they had any tendencies, which may help shape where they will go in 2009. Here's a list of their picks from the first 3 rounds, as well as the number of games played by those picks:

Year	Round	Player	Position	Games
2008	1	Gosder Cherilus	OT	16
2008	2	Jordon Dizon	OLB	12
2008	3	Kevin Smith	RB	16
2008	3	Andre Fluellen	DT	8
2008	3	Cliff Avril	LB	15
2007	1	Calvin Johnson	WR	31
2007	2	Drew Stanton	QB	3
2007	2	Ikaika Alama-Francis	DE	19
2007	2	Gerald Alexander	FS	21
2006	1	Ernie Sims	OLB	48
2006	2	Daniel Bullocks	SS	31
2006	3	Brian Calhoun	RB	11

Some notes:

After a few years of really struggling in the draft, the last 3 years have been pretty good. I'd consider Calvin Johnson the best player drafted in that time frame, and I credit the Lions organization for taking the PR lumps, taking another WR, and ending up with a fantastic player.
The Lions had 5 picks in the first 3 rounds last year, which is the same as 2009. They went 3 on defense, all up front. I'm guessing they'll take at least a Safety this year, as they've brought in 2 CBs since Friday. They'll probably stay away from a RB as well, especially with the signing of Maurice Morris on Friday.
These 12 guys have played in 231 of a possible 352 games, which is 65.6%. I don't know what the league average is, but this seems pretty low. Only 3 players have played in every game of their career, with 2 others being just 1 game short.
Of the 22 starters in Week 1, only 11 of them were drafted by the Lions. Again, I don't have any stats from other teams, but I'm guessing the more successful teams are in the 15 to 16 range. They'll need to work on drafting and retaining their talent to get back to competing for the playoffs.

With the Lions choosing #1 overall, here are a few interesting notes:

The last time the Lions had the #1 overall pick was 1980, and they took Heisman trophy winner RB Billy Sims. Had 2008 Heisman winner Sam Bradford decided to come out this year, I think the Lions would have selected their 2nd Oklahoma Heisman winner.
Over the past 20 years, there have been 11 QBs taken #1 overall, but only 5 have turned out to be NFL quality QBs (Aikman, Bledsoe, Manning x 2, Palmer). The Lions should tread wisely when contemplating taking Stafford #1 overall.
The last 2 times the Lions have taken a QB with their first pick, they've come away with Joey Harrington and Andre Ware. Again, there's no need to take the QB #1 just because everyone says you should or will.

Lastly, here's a chart of what positions the Lions have picked over the past 3 years. This should give us a glimpse into what the Lions could do in 2009:

Position	QB	RB	WR	TE	OT	OG/C	DE	DT	LB	CB	S
Drafted	1	3	2	0	2	2	2	1	5	3	3

From a sheer numbers look, the Lions have drafted heavily on defense the past 3 years. I expect them to focus a little more on offense than in the past, but still get at least 3 or 4 defensively, as that's where they really struggled last season.

Week 12 Injury Report

Sean Yuille — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 07:15:47 -0000

DETROIT LIONS
Pos.	Player	Injury	Status
QB	Dan Orlovsky	Hand	Out
RB	Kevin Smith	Groin	Probable
RB	Rudi Johnson	Knee	Probable
FB	Jerome Felton	Ankle	Probable
WR	Calvin Johnson	Quad	Probable
WR	Mike Furrey	Concussion	Out
OG	Edwin Mulitalo	Knee	Questionable
C	Dominic Raiola	Hand	Out
DE	Ikaika Alama-Francis	Concussion	Probable
DE	Jared DeVries	Hand	Probable
DE	Dewayne White	Calf	Out
DT	Cory Redding	Groin	Probable
DT	Chuck Darby	Calf	Probable
CB	Keith Smith	Groin	Out
S	Dwight Smith	Foot	Questionable
S	Kalvin Pearson	Shoulder	Probable

TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS
Pos.	Player	Injury	Status
QB	Brian Griese	Right Elbow	Questionable
RB	Carnell Williams	Hamstring	Questionable
RB	Warrick Dunn	Back	Probable
WR	Ike Hilliard	Shoulder	Probable
TE	Alex Smith	Ankle	Questionable
OG	Arron Sears	Shoulder	Probable
S	Jermaine Phillips	Forearm	Doubtful

NFL INJURY REPORT GUIDE
Status	Definition
Probable	75% chance that the player will play in the game
Questionable	50% chance that the player will play in the game
Doubtful	25% chance that the player will play in the game
Out	0% chance that the player will play in the game

Monday Notes: Falcons Game Observations

Sean Yuille — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 06:00:09 -0000

Off the top of my head, Ernie Sims, Paris Lenon, and Dan Campbell left yesterday's game with injuries. Sims was actually carted off the field with an ankle injury right before halftime and was listed as questionable to return. He was really the only defensive player that wasn't having problems making tackles, so his loss definitely hurt.

Lenon hurt his knee and had it heavily wrapped on the bench and Campbell went out after re-injuring his hamstring. Campbell has been limited due to the hamstring injury and hurt it again after only one catch. I think Michael Gaines may have also been hurt, but I have not heard any details about what happened to him.

We should have an update on all of the injuries from the Atlanta game later today.
Jon Kitna was very, very frustrated in the first half of yesterday's game. He not only was yelling at teammates but actually started to get in the face of a couple offensive coaches. On two separate occasions he called a timeout and quickly went over to the sideline and started yelling at a coach. The first time it was passing coordinator Kippy Brown that felt Kitna's wrath, and the second time it was running backs coach Sam Gash.

Kitna did calm down once the Lions started to score some points, but it was pretty discouraging to see him that angry. I like that he was showing passion, but there's a fine line between being fiery and being out of line. I tend to think the latter was where Kitna was as he really had no right to get in the faces of his coaches like that.
Calvin Johnson is this team's new #1 receiver as far as I'm concerned. He caught 7 passes for 107 yards and was clearly Kitna's go-to guy. Roy Williams hauled in 3 passes for 47 yards and a touchdown and made a couple nice plays, but Johnson is the Lions' premier receiver now.
Jon Kitna shouldn't be blamed for the interception he threw at the start of the second half as it apparently was Roy Williams' fault. Roy ran the wrong route and left Lawyer Milloy by himself to make the diving interception.
Despite their improvements during the preseason, the defense was absolutely pathetic. I don't know if I've ever seen a game with more missed tackles. That was a big reason why the Falcons ended up with 318 rushing yards. Michael Turner set a single-game franchise record for rushing yards with 220 of his own. He also scored a pair of touchdowns and would have had three had it not been for a holding penalty. Even their backup, Jerious Norwood, ran for 93 yards and a touchdown.
The passing defense wasn't any better. Matt Ryan went 9/13 for 161 yards and 1 touchdown. That touchdown came on his first NFL pass as he hit Michael Jenkins for a 62-yard score. Travis Fisher looked terrible on multiple occasions and Leigh Bodden didn't look much better at times.

To make matters worse, the dominant defensive line we saw in the preseason was rarely dominant in yesterday's game. The Lions only had a single sack and never got much pressure on Matt Ryan, resulting in his nearly 70% completion rating.
Detroit did seem to get closer to becoming a balanced team offensively. They ran the ball 21 times and had 33 passing attempts. Keep in mind, if the Lions weren't playing from behind during the entire game the amount of passing attempts would have been lower. Since they were trailing, though, they had to air it out more to give themselves a chance to win.
Kevin Smith only rushed for 48 yards on 16 carries in his NFL debut, but he didn't look bad by any means. There were more than a few plays where the offensive line was blown up and Smith had literally nowhere to run. Once or twice he was able to actually gain yards despite the terrible blocking, and on plays when there was a hole open he made a play. Plus, he did score a touchdown, which is great for any rookie in their first game.
Rudi Johnson only had 3 carries for 14 yards in this game. It's not surprising he didn't get more carries as he still is learning the playbook. The announcers said he barely knew any blocking assignments for passing plays, which is probably why he went in motion to the outside on the passing plays he was in the game for.
As mentioned when discussing Kevin Smith, the offensive line did not play well. Smith was tackled right when he got the handoff a few times, and Kitna's protection wasn't that great, either.
The Lions' inactives against Atlanta were as follows: QB Drew Stanton, OG Manny Ramirez, DE Ikaika Alama-Francis, DT Andre Fluellen, DT Landon Cohen, LB Gilbert Gardner, and CB Ramzee Robinson. Alama-Francis was bumped to the inactive list by DE Cliff Avril.
Even though there are still two games tonight that will affect the opening week of fantasy football, I am in good enough shape to start bragging about how sweet of an owner I am. In all three of my leagues I am not only ahead but am destroying my opponents. In the official POD League I am currently up on Maize 'n' Blue Jays 109.70-77.16. In the POD Overflow League I control a lead of 117.88-57.40. And finally, in the league that involves bloggers from both SB Nation and the AOL FanHouse, I am up 97.00-37.90.

I wasn't expecting to have all three of my teams turn out to be this good already, but I'm pleasantly surprised. Even my poorly drafted team in the official league put up 100+ points, although the big reason for that was that I had Michael Turner starting. We all got an up close look at how great of a game he had.
As far as fantasy football goes, I plan on posting an update on the official league every Tuesday. The update will include scores from each game and a quick recap of how each team did. I will also keep you guys updated on how I do in the overflow league as well as the SBN-AOL one.
Regarding my general posting schedule for the week that I will follow throughout the season, on top of the fantasy football update, I will also do a week whatever recap every Tuesday. I haven't decided on the exact format just yet, but I will try to briefly provide a recap of each game and/or will direct you to other SBN blogs for more information.

In general, what I expect my posting schedule or routine to look like is this: On Sunday nights/Mondays, I will recap the Lions game and discuss general things from it. On Tuesday, I will update fantasy football and the NFL. Moving on to Wednesday, I will wrap up coverage on the Lions' last game and begin to look ahead to their next one. Then Thursday will be spent really looking at the Lions' next opponent, and Friday and Saturday will get you ready for Sunday. I'll still have notes every day and keep you updated on any Lions news, but that will be in addition to what I listed above.
Ex-Lions tight end Sean McHugh was signed by the Steelers.
Chad Johnson, err, Chad Ocho Cinco, wasn't allowed to wear his new last name on his jersey this week due to a dispute with Reebok over unsold merchandise. I'm sure Ocho Cinco will have no problem buying his old unsold jerseys considering his new one will have little trouble selling.
The Jets were left in a predicament against Miami after kicker Mike Nugent got hurt in the first quarter of yesterday's game. Backup QB Kellen Clemens and safety Kerry Rhodes were actually attempting kickoffs before the second half in warm-ups. Thankfully for the Jets' sake neither was needed as Nugent returned in the third quarter.