‘Benny Snell football’ closes out win for Steelers in partial homecoming

CINCINNATI — About two hours from where he went to high school and 90 minutes from where he starred in college, rookie Benny Snell had the best game of his NFL career Sunday.

Snell had career highs in carries (21) and rushing yards (98) during the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 16-10 win against the Cincinnati Bengals. It was Snell’s first game in almost a month since he underwent knee meniscus surgery, and it was part of the best rushing game for the Steelers this season (160 yards).

“He proved to us during the week that he was ready,” coach Mike Tomlin said, “so all that was left was (proving) ball security, and he did a good job with that.”

.@benny_snell had 98 yards on 21 attempts but nothing was bigger than this 21 yard run on third and one that led to the 16-10 FG #Steelers pic.twitter.com/b0SFw7iCDD

— Mark Slaughter (@MarkVSlaughter) November 24, 2019

With James Conner (shoulder) out again, Snell usurped Trey Edmunds and Jaylen Samuels as the featured back. Snell almost doubled his yardage for the season (he had 118 on 28 carries coming in), and he added his second catch, too.

“Whatever my role is, that’s up to the coaches,” Snell said. “My role is to come out and execute it.”

Snell accumulated almost 4,000 rushing yards over his junior and senior years at Westerville Central High School in Ohio, and he was the All-SEC running back as a senior last season at Kentucky, which is due south of Cincinnati.

Snell was at his best at the time he would refer to as “Benny Snell football.” He had carries of 21 and 13 in the fourth quarter, the latter of which sealing the win. Snell had nine carries for 61 yards after the Steelers took their first lead, one they never relinquished in large part because of the efforts of Snell.

“We all pick each other up as an offense,” Snell said. “Whoever’s number is called, we represent it.”

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