Bell silenced

Pittsburgh Steelers all-purpose running back Le’Veon Bell ended his contract holdout and came back last week. He was mostly missing from the Steelers’ opener.

Bell looked rusty and hardly like one of the NFL’s best players on Sunday, gaining 32 yards as Pittsburgh turned to its defense and a late Ben Roethlisberger-to-Antonio Brown connection to hold off the Cleveland Browns 21-18.

Bell, 25, did not report to training camp this summer because of a contract squabble with Pittsburgh’s front office. Bell, who became the first player to average 100 yards rushing and 50 receiving per game last season, reported less than a week before the opener and signed his $12.1 million franchise tag after failing to come to agreement on a long-term deal.

Bell gained 17 yards on his first nine carries before ripping off a 15-yarder with 2:28 left, and the Steelers were able to run out the clock after the Browns burned their last timeout challenging Brown’s 38-yard reception.

Bell also had a 12-yard run called back by a holding penalty. He had three catches for 15 yards.

Steelers Coach Mike Tomlin defended Bell’s lackluster performance, laying the blame on Pittsburgh being in long-yardage situations.

“You can write whatever story you want to write about — him missing the preseason and all of that,” Tomlin said. “The bottom line is that we got highly penalized and it put us behind the chains and minimized the running game. That’s what happened.”