What a difference a few weeks make.
When Le'Veon Bell didn't report to the team at the start of the regular season, there were some choice words for him coming out of the Steelers' locker room.
Now?
With the way James Conner has been running the ball, the Steelers sound a lot more relaxed about the situation.
"Of course. If you don’t run the ball, then everybody’s, ‘Where’s Le’Veon? ’" All-Pro guard David DeCastro said Monday during the team's media availability at the Rooney Complex. "It’s nice to be able to run the ball and show it’s a team sport, and we’ve got good players. It’s fun. That’s why I love football. It’s a team sport."
Conner rushed for 111 yards and two touchdowns on 19 bruising carries in Sunday's 28-21 win in Cincinnati to improve to 3-2-1 and pull out of an early-season tailspin.
Bell elected not to report at the start of the season, as he had done a year ago, and is forfeiting $855,000 each week on his franchise tag salary of $14.54 million rather than showing up. Bell told ESPN a few weeks ago he intends to report to the team during the team's bye week, which officially began Monday.
He didn't report Monday, either, but the Steelers seemed OK with that.
"I have no idea," right tackle Marcus Gilbert said when asked when he expects Bell to sign his franchise contract. "I haven’t heard from him. If he does show up, I’ll be excited to see him."
A two-time All-Pro, Bell has already forfeited $5 million of his contract after turning down a five-year, $70-million offer from the Steelers in the offseason.
But in his absence, Conner has rushed for 453 yards on 103 carries and added another 257 yards on 26 receptions. His seven touchdowns are second in the NFL to the Rams' Todd Gurley, while he ranks seventh in the league with 710 total yards.
Conner making runs like this, has won over his teammates:
He is averaging 118.3 total yards per game, slightly less than the 128.5 Bell has averaged in his career -- the most in NFL history. He has touched the ball 129 times this season, an average of 21.5 times per game. That puts him on pace for 344 for the season, far fewer than the league-high 406 touches Bell had in 2017.
That high usage rate was one thing Bell pointed to as a reason why he didn't report and play this season.
Now, with the emergence of Conner, a third-round pick in 2017, perhaps the Steelers won't need to ride Bell exclusively -- though that has been Mike Tomlin's stance throughout his career when he has a feature running back.
"We’ll figure it out, however it all shakes out," Gilbert said of the usage of the two running backs when Bell does finally report. "He is a special player that can’t be replaced. Any guy that we put in there is going to be a different type of player. Him and James are different types of players, different styles of running backs. I think they’ll compliment each other’s style. We’ll see what kind of shape he’s in when he shows up and how he can help this team because it’s a different team than last year."
MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
Steelers vs. Bengals, Cincinnati, Oct. 14, 2018 - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS
