Steelers

Carter's Classroom: Offensive line schools Bills

Dec 12, 2016 • 9:12 am

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Just when I thought we had seen the best of the Steelers' offensive line and Le'Veon Bell, they go and take it to another level with their 27-20 victory over the Bills on Sunday.

Bell's 236 yards on 38 carries became the most rushing yards in a game in Steelers history. His performance was a combination of his patient running style, his insane athleticism and the stellar performance of the offensive line.

In a game in which Ben Roethlisberger threw three interceptions and no touchdowns, that dominance in the ground game became an absolute necessity.

We take an in-depth look at what led to Bell's big day:

FINISHING THE JOB

When a player has a game like Bell did, it's easy to overlook the little things that he does that make him great. While the offensive line does a good job changing the line of scrimmage, what makes the first touchdown of the game is Bell's great leg drive once he comes into contact with the Bills:

Watch how when Bell turns his back to the end zone on the play above, if you look closely you can see his legs still pumping to push him forward. That's the primary fundamental in goal-line situations for runners; if you keep driving your legs through contact, you put yourself in a much better situation to win a battle at the line.

NO BEATS MISSED WITH FINNEY

The Steelers were missing their starting left guard in Ramon Foster (chest), but with the line's performance, one might not have even noticed his absence. B.J. Finney put in another solid performance coming off the bench for the Steelers and even was winning battles at key points. Watch for him on the touchdown here:

Bell runs right into the gap created by both Finney's domination of all-pro defensive tackle Marcell Dareus (99) and Alejandro Villanueva's solid job on the edge. Finney gets his hands inside of Dareus on contact and manages to turn him to the middle of the line and into the pile up.

If this were college football, Finney would get a decal on his helmet for this block. It was complete domination on his part and allowed Bell to make an easy run in the end zone.

RETURN OF ROOSEVELT

Roosevelt Nix was one of my favorite unsung heroes for the Steelers in the 2015 season, and Sunday, he looked just as vital as he did last season. His multiple special teams tackles were exciting, but he also threw several key lead blocks to help spring Bell.

Watch the play below as Nix runs through a huge hole created by Finney keeping his man to the outside and Maurkice Pouncey keeping Dareus from coming across the play:

That's a nicely sized hole, but what made this play on the next level was Nix's quick acceleration to get to the middle linebacker and seal him out of the hole. This allows Bell to get into the secondary before he's even touched and erases the penalty yardage, which had the Steelers backed up behind midfield.

Nix led the way, but he gets the help of an offensive line that absolutely bullied the Bills.

Take Bell's third touchdown, as you can see he basically walked into the end zone with Nix leading the way with a final block on the safety:

Watch how Chris Hubbard crashes down the line on Bills outside linebacker Zachary Brown to completely take him out of the way and open up an attack lane for David DeCastro, who's pulling down the line. DeCastro engages with the middle linebacker who is playing his gap but has no help to contain the three Steelers coming his way.

Once DeCastro has taken care of his man, Nix has no problem bullying a defensive back into the end zone and Bell literally walks in.

These are the days that make Kevin Colbert look like the managing genius. When the Steelers won their most recent Super Bowl, it was in spite of poor offensive line play. But with solid investments through the draft, the Steelers have elite linemen in Pouncey, DeCastro and Marcus Gilbert along with sound and reliable players in Foster, Villanueva and Finney.

The Steelers' offense was all on the ground and pushed over a Bills defense that had struggled against the run for most of the season. While a winning performance is expected, the level of domination that led to all this production is astounding.

Carter’s Classroom appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday on DKPittsburghSports.com.