Le'Veon Bell started and finished the Pittsburgh Steelers' 27-24 win over the Tennessee Titans on Monday night. He carried the ball the first six plays of the game, and before two Ben Roethlisberger kneeldowns to close it out, Bell carried the ball on the game's final seven plays.
Power football. Steelers football? Maybe. We'll get to that in a bit. All told, Bell ran 33 times for 204 yards — the fourth-most ever by a Steeler, and the most by a Steeler on a Monday night — plus a score in the win. Time and time, Bell ran through contact, gaining almost half his yards after he was hit by a Titans defender.
The Steelers built a 10-point first-half lead, went down by 11 points in the fourth quarter and figured out that Bell was the antidote for a Titans rush that confounded the offensive line much of the night, sacking Roethlisberger five times and hit him hard several more.
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Are the Steelers an air-it-out club like we saw in Roethlisberger's back-to-back six-TD games in Weeks 8 and 9 games? Or are they a slam-it-down-your-throat running team like we saw in wins over the Cleveland Browns, Carolina Panthers and the Titans?
That's something to chew on. It would be great if they could be both, of course. But it also would be great if they could be a more consistent team that is able to play as well against top competition — wins by 18 over the Panthers, by 17 over the Indianapolis Colts and by 20 over the Baltimore Ravens — as they do against the league's also-rans. This Steelers team is better than to let teams such as the Jacksonville Jaguars and Titans hang around all game and for teams such as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New York Jets beat them.
Right now, the Steelers are in first place in the AFC North, escaping Monday despite a terrible end to the first half that cost them 14 points. One reason: The Titans mismanaged things, too, throwing a pick-six on the opening play of their first drive, failing to go for in on fourth down twice with little to lose on either (including taking a field goal from the Pittsburgh 2) and challenging a Bell non-catch late in the game that he clearly hadn't had control of.
Lacking that additional time out at game's end, the Titans could not stop the clock — or Bell.
The Steelers have won all four games this season and all nine games in Bell's two seasons in which he has carried the ball 20-plus times. Yes, the Steelers try to throw it to him often, and after Monday he has 57 catches through 11 games.
There's clearly a place for power football and continuing to feed hot backs who seemingly don't tire (see Bell and Gray, Jonas from Sunday night's New England Patriots victory) in an era of football where nickel and dime backs see the field far more than burly, run-stopping linemen.
There's also a value, as it relates to the Steelers, to have a player who can take pressure off a defense that is flawed. The Steelers can make plays, mind you, as William Gay's interception return showed.
But Gay also was a horrible victim by authoring some of the worst end-of-half coverage you might ever see on Nate Washington's 80-yard bomb with 44 seconds left in the second quarter. (Seriously, what was he doing biting on that route in that situation?)
This defense is not going to erase teams. Yes, it made Andrew Luck look relatively human in the Colts game, but otherwise there have been shortcomings littered throughout the season. Grinding Bell an extra 4-5 carries a game can help keep those defenders fresh — or maybe better yet, off the field entirely.
Bell's running also takes significant pressure off Roethlisberger to have to win games by himself. He's an elite quarterback many games, and Antonio Brown might be the best wideout in the game right now. Brown's buzzsaw of a route on his touchdown reception should be shown to young wideouts the country round. But Roethlisberger also capable of some bone-headed throws such as his first-half pick, which not only cost the Steelers points but led to the Washington score on the next play.
It's not going to work out this way every game, but Bell has shown he wants the ball — and can take the pounding — every time out. And sometimes, it's much easier just turning around and handing it to him than it is trying to find him in space on a screen, option route or with him split wide, which he also occasionally will be asked to do.
For offensive coordinator Todd Haley, it sometimes doesn't have to be so hard. Monday is pretty decent proof of that.
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Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at edholm@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Eric_Edholm
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