Barring any definitive news coming out between now and Tuesday, we’re unlikely to know the true severity of the right knee injury that Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell suffered Sunday in the loss to the Cincinnati Bengals until head coach Mike Tomlin holds his weekly press conference.
For what it’s worth, and it’s not much, Bell tweeted Sunday evening that he’ll be “okay” and that he appreciates all of the tweets, texts and phone calls that he’s received since going down injured.
A few hours ago Pro Football Talk reported that a source informed them that the team is optimistic about the status of Bell’s ACL and that the hope is he only suffered an injured MCL. If that is indeed the case, Bell would figure to be able to return later in the season.
Of course, all of this is speculation right now based on that Sunday evening report and what Bell tweeted out Sunday night. The tone of his tweet at least sounds positive, so we’ll have to go with that for now.
Regardless, the Steelers will be using running back DeAngelo Williams as their starter for the immediate future and he’ll likely be backed up by Jordan Todman. Williams rushed for 71 yards on his 9 carries in Sunday’s loss. Additionally, he caught 4 passes for another 39 yards.
While Williams certainly isn’t Bell, as Matthew Marczi pointed out a few hours ago, the Steelers running game is in good hands with DeAngelo.
