Bell’s strong showing could bolster Browns in playoffs
CINCINNATI – The Browns didn’t need David Bell to have a solid game in their regular-season finale at the Cincinnati Bengals. Considering the injuries they’ve sustained at the receiver position heading into Saturday’s AFC wild-card game at the Houston Texans, it definitely didn’t hurt.
Bell was one of the Browns’ bright spots in a 31-14 loss to the Bengals. While the game itself didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things – Cleveland rested virtually all of its key players because it had playoff positioning locked up – that didn’t matter to the second-year receiver.
Both touchdowns by Browns quarterback Jeff Driskel were thrown to Bell, a 31-yarder with 8:45 remaining and a 24-yarder with 2:34 left. He finished with 68 yards on four catches, coming on four targets.
“It felt good,” Bell said. “I felt like me just staying patient is waiting for opportunity to come. Like I said, unfortunately we lost, but I ended up having a pretty decent game.”
Bell’s performance was just the latest time he has made big plays along the journey the Browns (11-6) have taken to the playoffs. It may not have been as meaningful as his critical fourth-down catch in a Week 6 win over the San Francisco 49ers or his 41yard touchdown in Week 14 against the Jacksonville Jaguars, but it should add some confidence both in himself and from his coaches and quarterbacks in him.
Driskel was starting only because the Browns were resting Joe Flacco for the upcoming playoffs. Having Bell come up with the two touchdowns was at least a positive for his own confidence.
“Yeah, that was cool,” Driskel said. “And that was cool for me to get a couple of touchdowns there. And he’s a guy that I found out pretty quickly in the week of practice that, you give him a chance, he’s probably going to come down with it.”
That work is going to be important because Bell’s role could grow in the playoffs depending on how some injuries break for the Browns. No. 1 wide receiver Amari Cooper was held out against the Bengals, although part of that was to allow for a little more rest time for a heel injury he sustained in his record-setting performance on
Christmas Eve in Houston.
Elijah Moore, the Browns’ No. 2 wide receiver, started and played a handful of snaps Jan. 7 after having come out of the concussion protocol he had been in since the Week 17 win over the New York Jets. However, rookie Cedric Tillman left the Week 18 game after sustaining a concussion when he was hit by Cincinnati’s D.J. Turner and Akeem Davis-Gaither on an 18-yard catch.
“Yes, we’ll see how it goes,” Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said. “As you know, you can’t predict these injuries and then you can’t predict how the guys are going to respond, so we’ll see. Disappointed for Ced.”
That disappointment, though, is couched by an opposite feeling based upon what Bell did. The catches, yards and touchdowns were all career highs for the Purdue University product.
Bell has 14 catches for 167 yards and three touchdowns this season. As an added bonus, he had his career game in Cincinnati, less than two hours from his Indianapolis home.
“I’m always smiling,” Bell said. “I had a lot of my family members here, so they had the opportunity to see what was happening today also.”