Bell says he’s more proactive on health
knee injury.
With 229 combined carries and receptions, which leads the NFL, piled onto that body already through half of this season, will the wear and tear catch up to him again?
“I feel good,” Bell said after practice Wednesday. “I can’t complain where I’m at right now and I think over the course of the year if I continue to do what I’m doing and get some playoffs it’ll be good.”
Bell says he has learned from the past, particularly last season when he let a sore groin fester rather than take care of it. He says he also has learned to be proactive before anything happens.
“Yeah, definitely. I have doctors and therapists to help me maintain my body. Over the course of the [2016 season] I think I got hurt because I didn’t realize I was hurt until it was too late. I’m staying on top of things now before anything ever happens, before I have any strains or tears or whatever it is. I’m staying on top of my body and make sure everything is good.”
His routine includes stretching, massages, ice tub therapy, icing and more.
“Even when you’re not sore, it’s making sure you take care of your body and stay on top of things.”
The Steelers rode him to the AFC championship game last season. They hope to ride him all the way to the Super Bowl this year. Their offense has evolved from Ben Roethlisberger-centric to focusing on Bell. As much as they need to keep their quarterback healthy, they need to keep Bell safe if they have designs on their seventh Lombardi Trophy.
He virtually willed them to victories in two playoff games last season with a Steelers postseason record of 167 yards rushing and two touchdowns to topple Miami, 30-12, and then broke that with 170 yards in an 18-16 squeaker at Kansas City before the wheels came off early in New England.
That cannot happen again, but the Steelers are not likely to cut back on his use.
“It’s one of those things if you have a favorite toy, you’re not going to take the wrapper off and never play with it, never get to use it,” guard David DeCastro reasoned.
“He’s gifted enough. This game’s brutal. You see injuries every week. It’s part of it. You can’t play scared. You just have to go out there and do what you have to do to get wins and if something happens, guys have to step up.
“Let the coaches manage that. Let them watch how he feels and be smart about it, if you can be, but don’t let it be a deterrent to giving him the ball because he’s special.”
There is a solution, to play rookie James Conner more in order to take some of the carries and punishment off Bell. The vet is for that, to a point.
“We’re kind of on a moving train right now and to kind of just throw him on it wouldn’t serve him justice or our team,” Bell said. “I think it’s him getting comfortable and us being comfortable with him in there.
“I don’t necessarily feel I need all the carries. He’s more than capable of doing some things. You’ll have games where we might be up by 10 points and I have 25 or 28 carries already and he needs to get some carries or touches, he can finish the game out.
“There are times I feel when we’re up or in control of the game and want to run the clock out, you’ll see a lot of James.”
Still, the plan is to stick with Le’Veon Bell and hope to run him until the wheels don’t fall off this time.