At 0-4 the Pittsburgh Steelers don’t have much to be excited about, but at least rookie running back Le’Veon Bell had a positive showing in his NFL debut in the Sunday loss to the Minnesota Vikings.
Bell, who had been sidelined since the second preseason game with a sprained foot, started the game in London and contributed 84 total yards of offense on 16 carries and four receptions.
Perhaps the most noticeable thing is the fact the Michigan State product did not have any negative yardage plays the 20 times that he touched the football.
Bell also scored two rushing touchdowns in the game which now give the Steelers two for the season.
“I’ll look at the tape,” head coach Mike Tomlin said following the game when asked if he got what he was looking for out of Bell in his debut. “Obviously, I thought he gave us a good effort from a conditioning standpoint. For a guy who hadn’t played a lot of football, to absorb the number of snaps that he did was positive, but in terms of evaluating his play with a fine tooth comb, I’ll do that at the appropriate time.”
The Steelers have a bye next week and that will give Bell a few more weeks to get that right foot of his even stronger. At one point during the game Sunday he needed that foot examined, but the doctors cleared him to return to action.
The Steelers drafted Bell in the second-round of the 2013 NFL Draft.
