A week after keeping his touches to a minimum, the Pittsburgh Steelers fed Le'Veon Bell in Sunday's 26-9 win over the Minnesota Vikings.
Bell earned 27 carries and four receptions Sunday, compared to just 13 totes in Week 1. While he got 31 touches, there was a distinct lack of explosive plays from Bell. The Pro Bowl running back earned just 3.2 yards per carry, with a long of 11 yards and just four total yards on four receptions.
Bell, coming off groin surgery and skipping all offseason work, isn't worried about the lack of big plays through two games.
"It'll come," Bell said, via the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "I'm due for an explosion play. It hasn't happened yet. I almost had like three today. I almost made one on a screen, a run. They made the play. We're two games in. We'll watch the film and get ready for next week."
The entire Steelers offense appears to be idling in low gear after two weeks, ready to explode. Last week was the Antonio Brown show with little else. This week versus a good Vikings defense, Brown and Bell were slowed most of the contest, but Martavis Bryant picked up the slack with big-play galore. When the entire operation gets clicking, look out.
As for Bell, he earned 30-plus touches for the eighth time in his career, but has yet to score a touchdown in two games. This year's knocking off the rust is not unlike when the dual-threat came off suspension last season. Bell had no scrimmage TDs in his first five games of 2016 before scoring nine in his final seven games.
"He's going through a process from time missed," coach Mike Tomlin said of Bell. "[Sunday] was a significant step. He was better than a week ago. But again, much like Martavis you're not looking at a finished product. We'll continue to work him back and along the way he's going to give us above the line contributions like he did [Sunday]."
The Steelers' offense possesses the weapons to be as diverse and deadly as any in the NFL. As the pieces begin to rebuild chemistry, the explosions will come with more regularity.
