Williams proving to be so valuable that there has to be a way to put him and Bell on the field together
Steelers offensive coordinator Todd Haley talked last week about the team’s competition at wide receiver now that Markus Wheaton is back in the mix for the game today in Philadelphia. There is no clear leader in the clubhouse after Antonio Brown.
“I’ve told ’em all, ‘You’ve got to make it impossible for me to take you off the field,’ ” Haley said. “As soon as one of ’em stands head and shoulders above the rest, he’ll be out there more.” I immediately thought of DeAngelo Williams. It’s fair to argue Williams was the Steelers’ best offensive player in the first two games. He leads the NFL with 237 rushing yards, 41
that the Steelers will sign him to a long-term, megamillion deal after the season or even put the one-year franchise tag on him. It will be hard for them to trust a guy who has been suspended two years in a row and also had season-ending knee injuries the past two years.
So why not run Bell until the wheels fall off, to use a Mike Tomlinism?
Williams won’t complain if it happens that way again. He is 33. Less of a role will increase his chances of staying healthy and getting another contract for next season, here or with another team. And, as Haley said, he’s selfless. He never complains.
“I’m going to do whatever the coach tells me I need to do,” Williams told NFL GameDay last week. “If it’s be a wide receiver, be a running back, be the water boy, take out the trash ... Whatever it takes to get to the Super Bowl.”
Somewhere, Chuck Noll is smiling.
Haley promised Williams won’t become a forgotten man. He talked of how he used a two-back package with Dexter McCluster or Thomas Jones and Jamaal Charles when he was the Kansas City Chiefs’ head coach. He was an assistant to Bill Parcells with the Jets when they had Curtis Martin and Richie Anderson on the field at the same time.
“Ideally, I would like to find a way to have the guys who are making plays make plays,” Haley said. “You look back at those tapes, we had two guys on the field a bunch. It’s definitely something that’s doable.”
Haley will more thoroughly investigate the possibilities next week when Bell comes back. The most likely possibility is for Williams to line up in the backfield and Bell to split wide to take advantage of his receiving skills.
What Tomlin, Haley and the Steelers want most is for Bell and Williams to stay healthy. They would have beaten Baltimore in the playoffs two years ago if Bell hadn’t gone down with a knee injury in the final regular-season game. They also would have beaten Denver last season and advanced to the AFC championship game if both Bell and Williams hadn’t been injured.
”We have some versatility with those two,” Haley said. “We have some options.”
Terrific options, actually.