The Steelers used to be known as a franchise which would dominate you with their defense.
Now, they have to decide which kind of offense they want to dominate you with.
A few weeks ago, it was Ben Roethlisberger, throwing for 862 yards in two games.
Last night, it was Le’Veon Bell running for 204 to come back to beat the Titans. It was the fourth-most in franchise history, trailing just Willie Parker (223 and 213 yards in 2006) and Frenchy Fuqua (218 in 1970, because we wanted to type the name Frenchy Fuqua this morning).
“We want to be a group that’s capable of stepping into a stadium and throwing with anybody in the league and a team that’s capable of stepping into a stadium and running with anybody in the NFL,” coach Mike Tomlin said, via Alan Robinson of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
They’re doing just that, and now have a moment to get well so they don’t have to do it out of necessity.
They were playing without four defensive starters last night, and needed Bell to be the bell cow, since Roethlisberger was off. Bell delivered, in a big way.
“When he’s running like that, carrying guys, carrying defensive backs and linebackers, it’s a wonderful feeling,” left tackle Kelvin Beachum said. “A lot of people in the locker room said that’s the old Steelers ball.”
Now that they keep re-defining what Steelers ball is, we’ll have to see which version shows up for December and possibly the playoffs.
