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How is it possible to have the best owner, best front office, best gm, best HC, good/great drafts every year and good FA acquisitions every year, but only have 3 playoff wins in 14 years? -
I don't think Bell does much against us, that O-line is terrible and our front is nasty.Comment
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Weve held better backs than bell in check this year... I see him having a decent game receiving... but right around his average rushing.Comment
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We are going to stuff this Bell jagoff in his tracks. 12 for 23, with 2 catches.Comment
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'We love Le’Veon': Steelers have no hard feelings toward former teammate
GERRY DULAC
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
DEC 18, 2019
The Steelers get to see something first-hand on Sunday they haven’t seen in two years — Le’Veon Bell on the football field.
They face their former teammate for the first time since they let him go and he signed in free agency with the New York Jets. And both Steelers captains say they harbor no ill feelings toward Bell.
“I’m telling you — we love Le’Veon,” center Maurkice Pouncey said. “The outside world can think whatever they want, but everyone in this locker room loves and respects him. If he was still here, we’d be riding with him.”
“He was a great teammate when he was here,” defensive end Cam Heyward said. “I never had any ill will with him. He came to work, you knew what you were getting on Sunday. I think he cared about what he put on the field. He cared about his teammates.”
Bell sat out all of the 2018 season when the Steelers put a $14.5 million franchise tag on him for the second year in a row. In 2017, he sat out all of training camp and reported to the team before the start of the regular season.
Tired of his ongoing problems, the Steelers declined to use a franchise or transition tag on him in February, allowing him to become a free agent. He then signed a four-year, $52.5 million contract — smaller than the Steelers’ original offer — with the Jets.
“This is a brotherhood,” said Pouncey, who texted with Bell last month after the Myles Garrett incident. “I know the outside world don’t get it. At the end of the day, we let the outside world think whatever they want. We always want the best for each other as players and in our careers and things like that.
“I have the utmost respect for him. He did it his way and rightfully so. What’s wrong with that? He made the right decision for himself.”
Bell is having the worst of his six NFL seasons with the Jets. In 13 games, he has 676 yards rushing and three touchdowns and has caught 57 passes for 404 yards and one touchdown.
In five years with the Steelers, he averaged 1,067 yards rushing, 532 yards receiving and more than eight touchdowns per season.
“I like Le’Veon, I love that dude,” Heyward said. “Even though he’s on a different team, when we play football, we try to get after him. We appreciate what he’s done here, but he’s going to be going against us, too. Don’t expect him to be going light. He’s going to be trying to get some payback.”
Asked what he will say to Bell when he tackles him, Heyward said, “That’s one, get ready for number two.”
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No surprise. Bell's issue with the Steelers was never within the locker room. Brown, on the other hand.....Comment
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I'm not buying it; He'd love nothing better then to beat us and knock us out the playoff hunt. That would be sticking it to management; which is who he
had a real beef with. He's going to try and have a blow up game. We better not underestimate the revenge factor in this game.Comment
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Not concerned about Bell. He is the only real offensive threat. If the Steelers defense can't hold one guy in check then they don't deserve a playoff spot anyway.Comment
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Between Le’Veon Bell & James Conner, so little has changed: ’Still a good friend’
By Jacob Klinger | jklinger@pennlive.com
PITTSBURGH — James Conner didn’t manage the Steelers’ salary cap last year.
But he did get taken in by Le’Veon Bell as a rookie. The former Pittsburgh star running back shared his practice and recovery habits and generally helped Conner into life in the NFL.
When Bell began to miss regular season time with the team last year while declining to sign the franchise tag, and his offensive line teammates tore into him publicly, Conner did not. “Le’Veon’s a good person,” he said at the time.
Fifteen months later, Bell has no relationship with Mike Tomlin. His teammates tiptoed around the idea of any lingering tension between themselves and Bell, who’s absence did leave a $14.5 million salary cap hit on the team that missed the playoffs by a game. But who Bell is to Conner remains the same, even ahead of Sunday’s 1 p.m. kickoff with Bell and the New York Jets.
“Really nothing’s changed. Still the homie, keep in touch every once in a while, not every day, you know, not my best friend but still a good friend," Conner said. "Good ball player, yeah.”
As each tries to put better finishes on frustrating seasons, they haven’t talked this week.
Bell is set for a career low in rushing yards for a full season. Conner’s missed five games across two stints on the sideline with the same shoulder injury.
Unlike other Steelers, Conner hasn’t wondered about Bell’s money or last year’s contract negotiations and their effect on his team.
That wasn’t his job, he said. And on Sunday, he’ll be reconnecting with a friend.
“Yeah I don’t feel no way about it. I didn’t have nothing to do with it, to be honest," Conner said. "So, excited to go versus him, but other than that that’s about it.”
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