The NFL will look into whether the Pittsburgh Steelers should have been listing running back Le’Veon Bell on its weekly injury reports after Bell left the AFC Championship Game loss against the Patriots in the first quarter with a groin injury, ESPN’s Adam Scheffer reports.
The only day Bell practiced last week before the game was Friday. It had been reported he missed earlier practices for “personal reasons.”
CSN Patriots Insider Tom E. Curran had more on the Bell situation earlier this week here.
“He was doing a great job of managing it,” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said Tuesday at his season-ending news conference. “It didn’t cause him to miss any practice time, let alone game time. It was just something to manage. I think when you look at the journey that is the season, I think that just about every guy down there is dealing with and managing something in an effort to stay on the grass. I was aware of it. But it wasn’t significant to the point where it affected planning or the anticipation of planning in any way. It was unfortunate that it became an issue in-game. But it wasn’t something that was on our radar from that perspective.”