This Team Doesn't Miss Bell

[JimHarbaugh'ssoakedtissue]

Why so many plays without a rb in the backfield ?

[Fire Goodell]

We miss Haley as fucked up as that sounds lol. I'm honestly not impressed at all with Fitchner

[Shoes]

We miss Haley as fucked up as that sounds lol. I'm honestly not impressed at all with Fitchner


Ben got what he wanted, a coach he could control.

[BlackAndGold]

We miss Haley as fucked up as that sounds lol. I'm honestly not impressed at all with Fitchner

the offense is a one quarter show.

The "run, run, failed screen pass" to begin the 3rd quarter was awesome

[steelreserve]

Yeah, you run the ball 9 times, you're not even going to find out if you have an effective running game.

We have had 32 rushing attempts vs. 145 passing attempts in the last 3 games (not counting sacks and sneaky handoffs to Switzer as either).

So, literally more than 80% passing plays. I just don't think you can win with an offense like that; it works in spots, but it wears out really quickly and becomes ineffective if you do it ALL the time. Even the Patriots are like 60-40 passing to running. Even the '90s Oilers and Bills were 60-40.

Maybe the reason is Conner actually sucks and we don't know it, but from here it just looks like they aren't even giving the running game a chance.

[st33lersguy]

Bell is not the issue, and I can't stand simpletons such as Bucky Brooks saying otherwise. Plus look at the blocking, some Connor runs, the defender is right in the backfield when Conner gets the ball. You think Bell would not get stopped for a loss as well?

[Fire Goodell]

Coach Fitz has a tecmo bowl playbook. Run up the middle, go deep (give up a free down cause ben can't connect on any of them), WR screen

[BlackAndGold]

The run blocking just isn't good. The group has regressed starting last season.

Many blamed Bell for his YPC but the o-line wasn't that good at creating holes. Bell made them look better than they really were.

[Steeldude]

Some fans here thought Haley being let go would fix the problem. Now fans want Butler gone. That won't fix the problem either. As long as Tomlin remains the team will be the same.

There are very few players on this team that are worth keeping. Tomlin acquired this lackluster talent.

[BlackAndGold]

Some fans here thought Haley being let go would fix the problem. Now fans want Butler gone. That won't fix the problem either. As long as Tomlin remains the team will be the same.

There are very few players on this team that are worth keeping. Tomlin acquired this lackluster talent.

Colbert has a lot of say in that, he makes the final call on the draft. Tomlin's opinion of course is heard but KC pulls the trigger. But I agree, bad drafts are the reason for the horrible defense. Shazier was the best defensive player they have drafted in a while and his career is more than likely over.

[JimHarbaugh'ssoakedtissue]

Some fans here thought Haley being let go would fix the problem. Now fans want Butler gone. That won't fix the problem either. As long as Tomlin remains the team will be the same.

There are very few players on this team that are worth keeping. Tomlin acquired this lackluster talent. Fans wanted Butler gone after last season!

- - - Updated - - -


Colbert has a lot of say in that, he makes the final call on the draft. Tomlin's opinion of course is heard but KC pulls the trigger. But I agree, bad drafts are the reason for the horrible defense. Shazier was the best defensive player they have drafted and his career is more than likely over. Shazier was the best player on D and hard to replace. He was not Troy or would ever been that good. Point being Ryan wasn't all that and a bag of chips.

[86WARD]

Fans wanted Butler gone after last season!

- - - Updated - - -

Shazier was the best player on D and hard to replace. He was not Troy or would ever been that good. Point being Ryan wasn't all that and a bag of chips.

If you added Shazier and Polamalu at his absolute prime, it wouldn’t be enough to save this defense,,.would be a start but you’d still need about 6 more decent players and a creative DC to get it to be competitive.

[Born2Steel]

This offense runs through Bell. They better find another way because he's not coming back.

[Cyphon25]

Maybe the reason is Conner actually sucks and we don't know it, but from here it just looks like they aren't even giving the running game a chance.


This offense runs through Bell. They better find another way because he's not coming back.

They have the answer, run through Conner. They just flat out aren't even giving him a chance and he has shown he is capable in every phase of the game.

[86WARD]

Conner isn’t as good as Bell. Not even close actually...different league. Hate on Bell all you want, look through the black and gold glasses, doesn’t matter what the numbers say off the field, you can see a big difference on the field. Last night Conner looked much, much closer to Mendenhall than he did Bell...and that was a healthy full squad O-Line in there...

[Cyphon25]

Conner isn’t as good as Bell. Not even close actually...different league. Hate on Bell all you want, look through the black and gold glasses, doesn’t matter what the numbers say off the field, you can see a big difference on the field. Last night Conner looked much, much closer to Mendenhall than he did Bell...and that was a healthy full squad O-Line in there...

Yes, and our line looked much closer to the one that blocked for Mendenhall than the one who has blocked for Bell the last few years. Go back and watch the film, holes weren't really there for Conner to have success, we didn't run often enough to have any kind of a rhythm, and we historically don't run well against the Ravens. In our first game against them last year Bell had 40 something yards and a 3.7 average.

Here is the thing, Conner isn't as good as Bell but that isn't the debate or the problem. Bell isn't as good as Barry Sanders but that also wasn't a problem. The question is if Conner is good enough to be effective and the answer is unquestionably yes. He shows very well in pass protection, has sure hands out of the backfield, and knows how to find a hole and hit it when it is there. The issues right now are on Ben Roethlisbergers poor play, bad run blocking from the OL, and a bad game plan from Fichtner. It has very little to do with what Conner is capable of and Bell would have (most likely) made very little difference unless the Steelers decided to forced feed him which again, wouldn't make for a fair evaluation against Conner because they choose not to force feed him even though he is capable.

[Dwinsgames]

we are no longer an attacking defense ...

and when you do not attack every single one of your shortcomings are magnified ......

Butler has accomplished things Lebeau never did in all his time here ...

Records points against at home teams are scoring almost at will

[cubanstogie]

my new wish list is for Donald, Mack, Garret type of D lineman. Problem is to get one we are going to need a top 10 pick. 2019 just might be the year we get an early draft choice. I realize that wouldn't have helped the lethargic offense score in second half but watching Flacco with all day to throw was the most frustrating part of game for me. I am usually a homer but this year I actually see no way of finishing ahead of Ravens or Bengals. I see Mason Rudolph getting some playing tie this year and the locker room disarray with compound. This team obviously misses Bell. Winks quote about Bell having 4 good pitches compared to Conner having a good fastball was spot on. I think I have been in denial because Im so pissed at LB, but this offense could use him badly.

[Rotorhead]

I wish it was as simple as Bell can fix it, but we still have no deep threat, teams are bracketing AB all game. We have finally found a very good TE, but there is no rhythm to our play calling, and empty backfield almost every play allows the defenses to cheat. The fact that we have so many communication issues on def is completely unacceptable. Dupree can’t set an edge and can’t rush the QB. VW and Boston are at least doing their jobs, teams are shutting down Watt (cause my 7yr old could block Dupree) so we can not generate any pressure. Artie gotBurned is getting beat far too much, and without Haden our secondary is probably bottom of the league. How our safeties continually allow players to get behind them almost every play is ridiculous and beyond me. All that, and it is getting worse almost every game. That is a coaching issue. This team walks out on the field each week (it seems) with literally no idea what they are going to do, then come out of halftime with a worse game plan then they had going in!

[GoSlash27]

Fichtner isn't calling the offense, Ben is. Ben isn't calling runs because our line isn't doing a good job creating lanes. It isn't Lev Bell, it's the line. We can do fine with Conner if we get better at the run game in the trenches. Right now, we're not getting good pushes, not getting to the second level. Defenders are getting to Conner in the backfield, so he's got to make 2 guys miss just to get to the line of scrimmage. We're never going to establish a run game that way.

The line needs a full pad practice focused on the run.

[ALLD]

The team misses Cowher more than it misses Bell.

[st33lersguy]

The biggest problem is the linebackers and defensive back. Our best linebacker in TJ Watt only shows up vs the Browns and aside from Haden who makes a good play on an occasional basis, all the defensive backs are crap. Bell is not gonna fix it

[Craic]

What everyone is forgetting is Bell is good only about half the time against the Ravens. The other half, he's not that effective either.
http://pfref.com/pi/share/i16XU






Rush
Rush
Rush
Rush
Rece
Rece
Rece
Rece
Rece
Rece
Rece
Scor
Scor


Year
Date

Opp
Result
Att
Yds
Y/A
TD
Tgt
Rec
Yds
Y/R
TD
Ctch%
Y/Tgt
TD
Pts


2013
2013-10-20

BAL
W 19-16
19
93
4.89
0
1
1
6
6.00
0
100.0%
6.00
0
0


2013
2013-11-28

BAL
L 20-22
16
73
4.56
1
9
7
63
9.00
0
77.8%
7.00
1
6


2014
2014-09-11

BAL
L 6-26
11
59
5.36
0
5
5
48
9.60
0
100.0%
9.60
0
0


2014
2014-11-02

BAL
W 43-23
10
20
2.00
0
6
5
38
7.60
1
83.3%
6.33
1
6


2015
2015-10-01

BAL
L 20-23
22
129
5.86
1
7
7
21
3.00
0
100.0%
3.00
1
6


2016
2016-11-06

BAL
L 14-21
14
32
2.29
0
9
6
38
6.33
0
66.7%
4.22
0
0


2016
2016-12-25

BAL
W 31-27
20
122
6.10
1
4
3
15
5.00
1
75.0%
3.75
2
12


2017
2017-10-01

BAL
W 26-9
35
144
4.11
2
6
4
42
10.50
0
66.7%
7.00
2
12


2017
2017-12-10

BAL
W 39-38
13
48
3.69
2
10
9
77
8.56
1
90.0%
7.70
3
18



9 Games


5-4-0
160
720
4.50
7
57
47
348
7.40
3
82.5%
6.11
10
60






Provided by Pro-Football-Reference.com (https://www.sports-reference.com/sharing.html?utm_source=direct&utm_medium=Share&utm_campaign=ShareTool): View Original Table (https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/B/BellLe00/gamelog/?opp_id=rav&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=Share&utm_campaign=ShareTool#stats)
Generated 10/2/2018.