Ben Roethlisberger: Le’Veon Bell ‘distraction’ hurt Steelers, but replacements did job
The Pittsburgh Steelers completed an entirety of a season without former All Pro running back Le’Veon Bell. That they missed out on the playoff by a half game, it’s appropriate to wonder how much Bell’s absence hurt their chances at contending for a Super Bowl.
On his weekly KDKA-FM radio segment Tuesday, Ben Roethlisberger said Bell wasn’t missed on the field as much as his situation held the Steelers back off of it.
“It hurts you when you don’t have one of the better players in the game,” Roethlisberger said, “but I think the biggest thing that hurts us was that it was a distraction. At his position we got to see James Conner and Jaylen Samuels, and I thought we got to see guys come into their own and see a glimpse of the future. I was really encouraged about life without Le’Veon.”
Conner and Samuels combined for 1,229 rushing yards, 696 receiving yards and 16 touchdowns this season.
Bell did not sign his $14.5 million franchise tag tender and sat out the season after he and the team could not come to agreement on a longterm contract by a league-imposed July deadline.
Bell never made clear his intentions for playing this season and deadline after deadline (real or perceived) passed amidst great speculation if Bell would report.
“I’m not going to say it was invisible,” tight end Vance McDonald said of the Bell-related distractions. “I’m not going to say it didn’t cause some sort of emotional response. I think we handled it well, all in all. There were couple jokingly displays of him not being here that it makes everything kind of lighthearted and not so serious.”
Speaking Monday from the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex locker room, McDonald had some subtle-but-pointed observations of the Bell situation.
“It is a big concern when you have one guy that – call it selfish, call it pursuing his individual freedoms or wanting to change the process,” McDonald said. “At the end of the day, I signed my contract and I’m going to live it out regardless of what it looks like. That’s just my decision.”
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Chris Adamski is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Chris at cadamski@tribweb.com or via Twitter @C_AdamskiTrib.
Chris Adamski is a TribLive reporter who has covered primarily the Pittsburgh Steelers since 2014 following two seasons on the Penn State football beat. A Western Pennsylvania native, he joined the Trib in 2012 after spending a decade covering Pittsburgh sports for other outlets. He can be reached at cadamski@triblive.com.
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