The Pittsburgh Steelers are fortunate to have Le’Veon Bell on their roster. Those who suggested during his 3-game suspension to start the year how the team should get rid of the All-Pro back, this is the reason why you might tolerate those shortcomings.
Bell, who was named the Steelers team MVP recently, was also named the AFC Offensive Player of the Month. Bell capped off a ridiculous month with the award, and it shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone the team didn’t lose in the month where Bell was truly prolific.
Just look at some of these statistics for Bell during the month of December, courtesy of Steelers.com:
“Bell rushed for an NFL leading 569 yards during the span on 100 carries, a 5.2-yard average, and rushed for four touchdowns. He had 18 receptions for 179 yards, a 9.9-yard average, and one touchdown reception. Bell had 748 total yards from scrimmage, which also led the NFL, averaging 5.8 yards every time he touched the ball and a league-leading 187.0 yards from scrimmage per game.”
“Usually when we get to the end of the year, the weather starts to kind of affect games a little bit,” said Bell. “Over the course of the year the offensive line continually got better, we got more confident in the run and every play that was called we just felt like it could work. At the end of the year we came in with a game plan of ‘We want to run the ball, slow the clock.’”
The Steelers are a different team with Bell in the backfield, and for the first time since he was drafted in the second round of the 2013 NFL Draft, Bell will be in the backfield for a playoff game. After a ridiculously awesome December, Bell looks to really make his mark in the months of January, and February.