Le’Veon Bell doesn’t expect Martavis Bryant’s suspension to slow down the Steelers offense in 2016.
“I think our offense is still going to be just as dynamic,” the running back told NFL Media.
Bryant, who was suspended for the entire 2016 season for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy, is a major reason the Steelers ranked second in offense in 2014 and third last season. He caught eight touchdown passes in 10 games in 2014 and he caught 50 passes, including six more touchdowns, in 11 games last season after serving a four-game suspension.
The Steelers are 15-6 in the games Bryant has played and 6-5 without him since he was taken in the fourth round of the 2014 draft.
Bell, who served a two-game suspension at the beginning of last season for violating the league’s substance abuse policy, mentioned the Steelers’ next-man-up mentality and how the Steelers made the playoffs despite a slew of injuries in 2015.
Bell missed the last eight games of the season and DeAngelo Williams filled in nicely until he went down in the regular-season finale. Then Fitzgerald Toussaint and Jordan Todman combined to help the Steelers edge the Bengals in their AFC wild-card game.
Ben Roethlisberger missed four games and Mike Vick won a start and Landry Jones won a game in relief. Maurkice Pouncey missed the entire season and Cody Wallace started all 16 games at center. Left tackle Kelvin Beachum, now with the Jaguars, went down for the final 10 games and Alejandro Villanueva took over.
So Bell is right in saying that the Steelers were able to endure a lot of injuries last season. Bryant’s presence, however, had a lot to do with that.
Bell is displaying some leadership by saying that the Steelers are ready to move forward without Bryant at least for 2016, and a lot of that rests on his shoulders. The Steelers will need the kind of season out of him that they had in 2014, when he led the AFC with 1,361 rushing yards and caught 83 passes. And while no one can entirely prevent injuries, if the Steelers make the playoffs it also would help the offense if Bell can suit up for a playoff game for the first time.
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