Le'Veon Bell's tenure with the Pittsburgh Steelers did not start out as planned. The rookie came in with heavy expectations, but an injury derailed his progress. Bell sat out the first few weeks with a mid-foot sprain. When he returned to practice, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger made headlines saying he was not really sure what to think of Bell because he has yet to be active at practice. Now, the Steelers quarterback is praising the rookie and comparing him to the best.
"I hope he doesn't hear this, but I was really happy with the things he did and I'm not going to say that he was Adrian Peterson, but he showed some glimpses of some things I see Adrian Peterson do," Roethlisberger said, via 93.7 The Fan. "The reason I say I don't want him to hear this, I don't want him to hear me giving him all of this praise, because I want him to keep his nose to the grindstone and keep going hard."
It seems Roethlisberger has changed his tone a bit on Bell. Pittsburgh is in desperate need of offensive performers and Bell can be just that. Is he as good as Peterson yet? That remains to be seen, but he is off to a good start. In his NFL debut, Bell put up a total of 84 yards and two scores as the Steelers lost to the Vikings. Those numbers might not jump out for someone getting the Peterson comparison, but considering how bad the Steelers have been this year, they are pretty great.
Roethlisberger not only praised Bell's running ability, but also his confidence in pass-blocking. The quarterback noted he can fully rely on Bell to pick up defenders as no one is too big for him.
"When he was standing next to me in some of our third-down and shotgun plays, I was telling him, 'You need to pick this guy up,' and he looked at me with confidence in his eyes and no doubt about it, he was ready to go," Roethlisberger said. "It didn't seem too big for him. I just want him to continue to keep developing and pushing himself to be better."
Bell told media that his foot feels completely healed and he has not suffered any kind of setbacks. Prior to his season debut, the Steelers ranked 31st in the league in rushing, putting up just 58.0 yards per game. The Steelers remain confident that Bell can help change that around and possibly end their winless streak.