What will be the team's mood/attitude toward Bell when he shows Up?

[Steel Maniac]

The question has to be asked I think. Put yourself in any one of the other players place on the team. What would your mindset be towards Bell as a teammate?

[feltdizz]

same as last year

can't spend too much time thinking about him while he is gone but glad to see him when he shows up.

[Buzz]

I don't think it will be any different than their attitude toward him last season: "Let's help each other win." Bell's place on the team for this season is established. What he did last year didn't sour his teammates on him, so I don't think what he's done this year will, either. Conner, Samuels and the other RBs will be happy for the extra reps in practice.

[Starlifter]

they are pros, not fans. If he shows up, works hard and helps them win - they will embrace him.

[RuthlessBurgher]

When he shows up, he balls out. The other players and coaches are perfectly fine with that. It's why our front office wanted to extend him so badly. He'll be accepted in the locker room without any issue whatsoever.

[Ghost]

I read an interview with DeCastro earlier this year where he essentially predicted exactly what happened and said he didn't expect to see Bell in camp or for preseason games and he'd show about a week before the season started. DD appeared as if he could not care less.

We're fans. We get all upset. For all the player's talk about "loving" a certain team, this is a business for the players and they all understand it. Each guy has to do whatever they think is best for making as much as possible in a short amount of time. And I think that's what the other players see. They worry about what they need to do to make the team and hopefully get the sweet deal. Everyone is on their own. The first critical 1st down or touchdown Bell scores and no one will care about the contract or missed days in July.

[Steel Maniac]

Hopefully your right ghost.
But I've seen situations where teammates feel that some guys are not rowing the boat with the other guys and become a little indifferent.

I could have gone either way..

If he signed and stayed long term then that was good because it's always good to take care of your own.
When he leaves after this year, that will be good with me because we'll find another RB; we always do.

There is no "sky is falling" syndrome with me over Bell. He's been a distraction and now I'm hoping we all can move on now because we know how this is going to end this time next year.

[Ghost]

The big positive out of this is the exposure the other RBs will get through 16 practices and 4 pre-season games. I think we know what we have with Toussant and journeyman Stevan Ridley (It ain't much...). It will be interesting to see if Conner has been able to fine tune his pass protection and worked on his hands a bit. Also excited to see what Jaylen Samuels can offer. He had 201 passes caught with 47 TDs at NC State. He could be the RB out of the backfield Ben looks for with Bell not on the field.

[Slapstick]

With Samuels, you could conceivably change from 21 personnel to 11 or 12 without substitution...

[Iron City Inc.]

With Samuels, you could conceivably change from 21 personnel to 11 or 12 without substitution...

Don't remember if we ran much double tights last year but it's a new year with a new OC. But Samuels just like Conner will have to be solid in the protections or his time on the field will be limited. He will be someone I'll be watching closely at Latrobe n I'll report on how they are using him.

[Steel Maniac]

Thanks Iron ,..much appreciated.

[hawaiiansteel]

Why Losing Le’Veon Bell Could Hurt Ben Roethlisberger’s Longevity

By Alex Kozora
Posted on July 17, 2018

First, let’s make one thing clear that I think has been lost in all of the Le’Veon Bell craziness. Bell isn’t leaving immediately. He’s still here for all of 2018 and the Pittsburgh Steelers have a good chance to win a Super Bowl, in part thanks to his help.

But when he leaves after the year ends, Ben Roethlisberger will still be here. His goal, the teams goal, my goal, is for Roethlisberger to play as long as possible. At least two more years following 2018 is Roethlisberger’s own stated plan with the potential to go for another four.

That’s all predicated on Roethlisberger staying healthy. The fact he’s even playing now is because the team found a way to protect him. Ben’s game evolved to someone who wreaks more havoc within the pocket than outside of it, exposing him to fewer blows, and the team rebuilt their offensive line while hiring the game’s best coach for it.

Roethlisberger should probably send a fruit basket Bell’s way too. He’s never had a back quite like Bell. Nor the trust. Especially in a post Heath Miller world, Bell has been THE security blanket for Roethlisberger when the rush is on. There’s total trust in him to check it down, let him make a play in space. In the past, Roethlisberger would hold onto the football, try to do too much, and that meant more hits, more sacks.

That’s always been my belief at least. But with the news of no deal being reached, I wanted to look at it empirically. Do the numbers hold up?

So for the last three seasons, I’ve gone through the charting done by the immaculate Matthew Marczi of the Steelers’ offense. How often does the team get sacked when Bell is on the field compared to when he’s off it? That’s what I wanted to find out.

Here’s the results.

2015-2017 Sacks Dropbacks Sack %

With Bell 44 1187 3.7%
Without Bell 35 749 4.7%

Or put it like this. If you extrapolate the “without Bell” dropbacks to the number with him, the Steelers would’ve allowed 55 sacks, 11 more than they did with Bell out there.

The results are even more striking if you look at the last two years. Sack-percentage with and without him.

With Bell: 3%
Without Bell: 5.5%

So we’re seeing the sack percentage nearly double without Bell on the field. That’s a HUGE difference and I think there’s real causation, not just correlation. Here’s just one example but I think it sums it up. Last year, Week 14 against Baltimore.

James Conner is on a check/release out of the backfield. He’s a little too hesitant about it, releasing later than he probably should, but he’s open underneath with nothing working downfield.

But Roethlisberger doesn’t look his way, keeping his eyes downfield. He takes the sack.

If that’s Bell, I promise Roethlisberger is throwing it his way. Granted, this was a 3rd and 6, but Bell tied for 3rd on the Steelers in third down catches (17). That trust just isn’t there with anyone not named Bell. So Roethlisberger holds the ball, tried to leave the pocket like old Ben, and goes down.

It’s not that trust can’t be built with another back, it can, but that takes time and frankly, doesn’t happen with everyone. And time isn’t really on Roethlisberger’s, or the Steelers’, side right now.

That’s not to say without Bell, Roethlisberger is going back to the mid-2000s of getting sacked 40+ times. The line is still good, he has a hand-picked OC, he’s changed his playing style dramatically. But Bell is a key component of that too and just in the way the offense as a whole is worse off without him, so is Roethlisberger. With Bell gone, it’s an overlooked aspect of the offense that will take a figurative hit. And for Ben, some literal ones.

https://www.steelersdepot.com/2018/07/why-losing-leveon-bell-could-hurt-ben-roethlisbergers-longevity/

[Steel Maniac]

An in depth article to be sure but I think all the gloom and doom talk is overblown. Whomever is the full time RB after Bell will be brought up to snuff on being a good pass protector as well as a good outlet for Ben to get rid of the ball. We'll be fine.

[Mr.wizard]

His teammates are going to be thanking him for not signing a contract with only 10 million guaranteed. Players don't want other players signing those type of deals.

[Slapstick]

$45 million over three years is a bad deal?