The Pittsburgh Steelers' ground game is officially the Le'Veon Bell show. The team opted to release backup running back LeGarrette Blount following drama on Monday Night Football and now it is up to Bell to keep the offense balanced. Bell spoke to the media following the news on Blount and said that this is the moment he has been training for a remains confident that he can keep the momentum up for the Steelers.
Bell had a successful rookie season in Pittsburgh, but the Steelers signed Blount to help ease the pressure and be a change-of-pace type of running back. Bell is more dynamic while Blount excels between the tackles. However, the Blount partnership is over and now it is up to the second-year back to be both players. Bell will now see more than his normal share of carries. He put up 33 carries on Monday while having 252 touches overall this season.
"I don't really feel pressure," Bell said, per the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "This is what I trained for. I didn't feel fatigued in the game or tired. As long as I continue to work and train as I've been, I'll be fine. I'm not really worried about how many carries I get or anything, I just want to make sure we win the game. So if I need 50 carries to win the game, I'm going to get it. If I only get eight carries and we win the game, I'm fine with that. I just want to make sure we go out there and win the game; that's the main thing for me."
Bell admits the Blount release was surprising, but understood that the running back had been pushing the wrong buttons of the coaching staff. Offensive coordinator Todd Haley told the media that the team feels very confident in Bell's abilities and likes what he brings offense over Blount.
"We had kind of already made the decision to go with Le'Veon, as you could see in the [Titans] game, from the situational aspect, goal line, short yarder and some of those," Haley said, via ESPN.com. "We had already made the decision that he was going to be the guy."
Fantasy owners get ready because Bell is about to become the premier back. The Steelers have rookie Dri Archer on the team and promoted Josh Harris from the practice squad, but expect Bell to barely come off the field now working as both a runner and receiver for the team.
