Le’Veon Bell praised by Mike Tomlin for Week 6 game

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger (7) hands the ball to running back Le’Veon Bell.

Pittsburgh Steelers rookie RB Le’Veon Bell is the kind of player who can give the Steelers a much-needed feature back in their offense, but he had a rough fantasy/stats-sheet outing in Week 6 against the New York Jets. Making his second start of the season, Bell had just 34 yards on 16 carries but was able to chip in three receptions once again. It wasn’t a pretty day in the box score for Bell, but Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin is fine with that. In fact, he praised Bell for his performance.

“I thought he ran very well. I thought the Jets provide some challenges in terms of run defense. They’re number two in the league, and they lived up to that. They’ve got some talented people up front. There weren’t many holes.

“I thought he did a great job of picking vision and putting the ball where it was supposed to be and running with the type of demeanor that we desire.”

When Tomlin praises the New York Jets front seven, he certainly isn’t kidding. The Jets have one of the best and most stingy run defenses in the league, and they have an excellent three-man front. Sheldon Richardson has probably been the best rookie this year, Damon “Snacks” Harrison is coming into his own as a top-notch nose tackle, and I think it’s common knowledge at this point that Muhammad Wilkerson is one of the best DLs in the game. Next week’s rivalry contest against the Baltimore Ravens will pit a poor Steelers OL and their rookie RB against another high-level run defense, but the Ravens run D certainly isn’t infallible. Despite bad blocking, another rookie back in Eddie Lacy was able to have a huge, 100-yard day.

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