It’s certainly not a bold statement to make but a loud one from Le’Veon Bell. The rest of the NFL needs to watch out – the Pittsburgh Steelers have football’s best offense. One that’s finally finding its groove.
That’s what Bell said Thursday in speaking with the media.
“I think this offense is the best offense in the league,” Bell said. “And I don’t think teams can stop us. We can only stop ourselves.”
Pittsburgh’s offense got on track the second half of the season, averaging close to 30 points per game. For the year, even with early season struggles, they score 406 points, the 5th most they’ve ever put up in a season. Like him or not, Todd Haley has been around to coach three of the top five outputs. In 2014, they scored a franchise record 436 and nearly matched that with 423 the following year.
Bell attributes that improvement to chemistry and communication.
“I just think we got better. Our chemistry got a little better. Timing, players kinda developed their roles and understand what role they play in the offense and things like that. Once you get that, this offense skyrocketed. We’re only going to continue to get better.”
He also said that in a weird way, the offense missing Antonio Brown was a good thing. It forced other guys to step up, not just rely on #84 to take care of things, and they came through. JuJu Smith-Schuster continues to play like the top rookie he is, Martavis Bryant has steadily improved, and even Justin Hunter got involved in the offense in Week 16 against the Houston Texans, catching his only TD pass of the season.
On the entire year, the Steelers finished 8th in points per game, averaging 25.4. And over that aforementioned second half of the year, only the New England Patriots scored more than the Steelers (a certain booth review would’ve flipped those numbers, by the way).
When the offense struggled and the criticism was loud and just, I remember Ben Roethlisberger talking about not trying to peak too early. That while no one was happy with the offense’s performance, the ultimate goal was to play well down the stretch and peak as they rolled into the playoffs. That’s exactly how it’s played out. Browns should return in the playoffs, the missing piece for the offense to finally be healthy as they chase a Super Bowl.
