Anyone still think missing Bell

wouldn't be a big deal?

Saw at least a half dozen people that said it wasn't a big deal.

There was a reason he was the team MVP.

 

I honestly don't believe Bell was the difference maker. The D was flat (except for a few plays on a couple of series) and the O just stunk up the joint. Heath was off, and Ben didn't look too motivated after he went down in the 4th quarter.

Have to say that Tate is a baller though. Happy to see him come in and try to make a difference.

 

No...even with him in there...the way the O played today would have been same result. Bell didnt do much of anything the last time the played the Ravens. That coupled with over 100 yards worth of penalties will loose you the game.

 

Bell scored the Steelers first TD last game (in the Red Zone, which the Steelers couldn't do tonight) - he also caught 5 passes.

 

He turned the season around.
He's why they could even make the Playoffs.

 

When it was 7-0, so to tie the game *very* early. And from that point (1st Q), he had exactly 32 yards of offense.

You're grasping. Or deliberately trying to be provocative.

 

Yep I think they sacked or hit Ben on almost every side car pass. It was clear the Rats where going to blitz the side car side . We played in to many tight sets that allowed the Rats to send to much heat from wherever they wanted....I feel very strong had we came out with the spread and put our speed on the field we would have beat them...

We had WR'S open every time we went empty . Ben missed a lot of open WR'S early in the game.

 

Tonight when they had chances - what did they do.

Down 7-3
Down 10-6
Down 13-9

Maybe they don't win with Bell, but I'll bet it's a different game.

 

I'm not disagreeing that most of the team picked the same night to be horrendously off... but your original point was insinuating that Bell was the difference between us winning and losing. (and the followup was that he was a major factor in us blowing them out last time.) Hardly for either.

And no, IMO, him being there tonight I don't think would have made that much difference.

 

THIS! His absence showed our hand all night. Empty backfields. The secondary totally selling out to play the pass. No fear of getting beaten on checkdowns. Bringing the house on the pass rush because of a lack of protection. It's not the lack of rushing yards that killed us. We actually had more rushing yards than them. I absolutely think we should have used Harris more than we did. Apparently the line wasn't run blocking good either and maybe that's why we didn't see more of Harris and Tate. Either way the absence of Bell was a recipe for disaster.

 

Ben was sacked 5 times.

 

Definitely felt our passing attack would have been too much.

 

Exactly 4 of which came from tight sets I believe. That was my point. They sacked him because we played sets that allowed heat with guys who couldn't stop it.

Football 101 if you don't have the talent at the positions to pick up the blitz then get those positions off the field. RB'S and TE'S caused this O the most damage tonight .

 

We can debate all we want, discuss the scapegoats all we want...but fact is, Bell's absence was the biggest reason they lost this game tonight. I firmly believe that. And we can officially annoint Bell as the heir apparent to Marshall Faulk as the best all-around RB in the NFL.

Let's look on to 2015.

 

Losing Bell did hurt. His Receiving and pass blocking was sorely missed!!

 

i beleive this loss comes down to one thimg. We simply did not challenge thier weakened secondary. Almost every time we n tried it it worked, why not keep doing it? (That is an analogy for simplification). A blind could have seen it. Why did we not exploit it? Im sure their next opponent will. And they will win.