Le'Veon Bell on the game's second play, the one on which he recalled getting hurt. — MATT SUNDAY / DKPS

Steelers

Losing Le'Veon early an insurmountable blow

Jan 23, 2017 • 2:15 am

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FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- The Standard is the Standard, right up until the NFL's premier offensive weapon goes down.

The Steelers love to preach how every player is expected to perform as well as the player he's replacing, but their 36-17 pounding by the Patriots in the AFC Championship Game on this Sunday night illustrated powerfully how much Le'Veon Bell, lost for good in the second quarter to a left groin injury, means to the overall process.

"That speaks for itself," David DeCastro was saying. "You saw what he's done the past couple of weeks. He's the better part of our offense. That hurt a lot."

"Well, I thought DeAngelo Williams did a great job," Ben Roethlisberger said, referring to Bell's replacement rushing 14 times for 34 yards and a five-yard touchdown, plus catching seven passes for 51 yards. "Obviously, we were going to try and use ... Le'Veon's a special running back, and we all know that. We missed not have him out there."

Only Mike Tomlin, the Standard-bearer, balked at the subject, other than to say "no question" when asked if the offense had to alter its strategy without Bell.

Per Bell's recollection, he felt the injury on his second carry, also the Steelers' second play from scrimmage. That was a six-yard run up the middle out of the shotgun, and the offense was off the field one play later.

After two more runs for nine yards on the next series, it was the first play of the third series, apparently, that did him in:

See how he stayed down after the tackle?

That was late in the first quarter. He tried once more in the second, after giving up a series to Williams and meeting on the sideline with Dr. James Bradley, the team physician, there would be no more. He finished with six carries for 20 yards, many miles removed from his 167 against the Dolphins, 170 against the Chiefs.

"Obviously, I got banged up, but I still tried to give it a go," Bell said. "It just got progressively worse. I couldn't be myself. It's like I was really running 50 percent. I had no burst anymore. I felt like I was holding the team back. ... I had a gap, there was a nice seam, and I just felt like I couldn't get there."

Bell had spoken in impassioned tones all week about embracing the first healthy playoff run of his career. I asked how much this must have hurt:

Maybe the most striking part of Bell's postgame remarks were his divulging that he'd dealt with a groin issue for "a couple weeks."

"I'm not really sure what caused it," he said. "Just over the course of time, I've been hurting. So today was kind of like when it broke the camel's back, you know? I haven't been really telling people how I really felt. I came into the game today and really let my teammates down because I couldn't go. I've been out there fighting through, fighting through, and I couldn't go today, so it sucked."

If he didn't inform the coaches or athletic trainers, as he suggested, that might explain the Steelers omitting him from their injury report all week leading up to the game. But for the conspiracy-minded, it's worth noting that wide receiver Demarcus Ayers was a slight surprise as an inactive for the game, while backup running back Fitz Toussaint suited up even though Justin Gilbert was returning kickoffs. Purely in hindsight, Ayers' services would have been welcome in light of the mess made by most of the secondary wide receivers on this night.

MATT SUNDAY GALLERY