Le’Veon Bell decided to wear a bright yellow hoodie and black sweatpants to work Sunday because those are the colors of the Pittsburgh Steelers, who were not only the New York Jets’ opponent, but the team for which Bell, the versatile running back, had played for five years before sitting out the 2018 season in a contract dispute.
“I wasn’t doing it to be petty or nothing,” Bell said of his choice of clothing after the Jets beat the Steelers, 16-10, to deal Pittsburgh’s playoff hopes a serious blow. “I thought it would draw a little attention.”
Bell has drawn too much attention this year, and not the good kind. He entered Sunday’s game averaging 83 yards from scrimmage per game, way off the 143 yards per game he averaged over his last two years in Pittsburgh. The Jets lost seven of their first eight games, and Bell was spotted bowling after he was ruled him out of a game earlier this month because he had the flu. (He reported that he rolled a 251 game, a career high.)
The Jets are only 6-9, out of the playoffs. Pittsburgh’s third starting quarterback of the season, Devlin Hodges, threw two interceptions Sunday, and was benched in favor of the second quarterback, Mason Rudolph, who then got hurt, so Hodges had to go back in. The Steelers lost running back James Conner and center Maurkice Pouncey to injuries.
But Bell, all but a Big Apple bust two months ago, sounded as if he and the Jets are finally headed places when he said Sunday: “I said it weeks ago, this team is still building and we are still getting better as a team. We are not going to sit here and lay around and wait for the season to be over. We’re still trying to get better and build for the offseason and years to come.”
Bell, 27, has still not had a 100-yard rushing game this season. He had 75 or more receptions in three of his five seasons with the Steelers, and was expected to come close to 100 receptions this year, and he only has 61. He shrugged it off last week, saying, “Stats don’t really show how well I’ve been playing. Regardless of the stats, I don’t really care what people think.”
He has not used two huge excuses: second-year quarterback Sam Darnold missed three of the Jets’ first four games with mononucleosis, and the offensive line was battered by injuries. But critics were unsparing: Bell, a running back who hesitates before popping through a hole, looked like a terrible fit for first-year coach Adam Gase’s quick-hitting offense.
“We kind of lost a little bit of our chemistry there from training camp once we got going in the season,” Gase said at a news conference last week when asked about Bell.
Bell, who has a four-year, $52.5m contract, told reporters that two teams tried to acquire him before the trade deadline in October, one of them being the Steelers, believe it or not. The Jets then lost to the Miami Dolphins, who had not won a game. But the second half of the season has included only one clunker – a 22-6 loss to previously winless Cincinnati.
“He’s been upbeat the whole time,” Kelvin Beachum, the Jets’ left tackle, said of Bell after Sunday’s game. “He hasn’t wavered, hasn’t blinked.”
Bell, who says he feels fresher at this point of the season because he did not play last year, accounted for 72 rushing yards on 25 carries and had four receptions for 21 yards Sunday, but the Steelers had the No4 defense in the league and, more important, were playing for a playoff spot in a stadium that, thanks to StubHub, was more than half-filled with Steelers’ fans.
It was an odd scene. With the Jets facing third-and-nine at the Steelers’ 23 yard line on the opening drive, Pittsburgh linebacker TJ Watt gestured to the stands to request more noise, and the Steelers’ fans responded, hollering as they spun their yellow Terrible Towels. But then Darnold zipped a touchdown pass to Robby Anderson.
“I thought he did a good job taking what they were giving him,” Gase said of Bell, who had 25 yards on the drive.
As is their nature, the Jets would stumble, allowing the Steelers to tie the game at 10-10 in the final seconds of the first half. But the Jets got two second-half field goals while their defense ate up the Steelers. The second field goal was set up with a nifty seven-yard run by Bell, who took a handoff from Darnold, hit a hole and darted to his left before grinding upfield.
“Just knowing the guy, I think he would just be really happy for this organization to get this win against a really good team and a really good opponent,” Darnold said of Bell.
A victory next week at Buffalo, who have already clinched the AFC’s No1 wildcard spot, would enable the Jets to finish at 7-9, generally where they were expected to finish before the season. That they have won five of seven is remarkable, and Bell should have gained more yardage had he not decided to reverse field on a blown-up sweep, resulting in a 12-yard loss.
Bell said he was sore after the game, but added that “there was no better feeling.” Gase had given him a chance to haul the load in a meaningful game – meaningful for the Steelers, that is – and, on an unusual afternoon, he sent towel-twirling Pittsburgh fans, who made up the majority of fans in Bell’s home stadium, away unhappy. If only every Sunday had been like this.
“We have a new program with new guys and new faces and coaches, injuries and things like that,” Bell said. “When all of that happens, it’s going to take time to get the ship sailing in the right direction. Now we’re starting to see the ship turn a little bit. That’s all I’ve been preaching.”
