Originally Posted by prhom:
I can’t think of a more frustrating player to watch play against us than Bell. Maybe Manning, but still. We could just never get him stopped. I’m with you, glad he’s playing for the good guys now.
I can only think of one thing more frustrating from a defensive standpoint, and that was playing The Denver misdirection offense. We bit on everyone of those back in the day and it was infuriating. Eric Hicks is still biting on those fakes. [Reply]
Originally Posted by crispystl:
I can only think of one thing more frustrating from a defensive standpoint, and that was playing The Denver misdirection offense. We bit on everyone of those back in the day and it was infuriating. Eric Hicks is still biting on those fakes.
Eric Hicks sees Jake Plummer running bootlegs in his sleep.
Originally Posted by htismaqe:
I mean come on, there's people here comparing him to Antonio Brown.
Brown started his BS AFTER he got paid, forced his way out of Pittsburgh, got cut in New England because he shot his load on someone without asking first, and then got booted out of Oakland for fighting with the GM. (Maybe I got the order wrong there, was Oakland first? It's hard to keep track with Brown).
Does Bell have a bad rep? Sure. But in what ****ing universe is he even close to Antonio Brown?
I made the bad comparison. I apologize for how that was interpreted. No, they're nowhere near the same universe. It was to badly make a point that repeat behavior creates a pattern. Obviously Bell's behavior is way less extreme. And arguably it was totally excusable given the circumstances. But there's plenty of good reason to be skeptical. I love taking the chance, but also don't get people throwing all kinds of excuses his way. He got thrown in some bad situations but he also handled them very poorly. [Reply]
Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501:
I made the bad comparison. I apologize for how that was interpreted. No, they're nowhere near the same universe. It was to badly make a point that repeat behavior creates a pattern. Obviously Bell's behavior is way less extreme. And arguably it was totally excusable given the circumstances. But there's plenty of good reason to be skeptical. I love taking the chance, but also don't get people throwing all kinds of excuses his way. He got thrown in some bad situations but he also handled them very poorly.
I don't think not wanting to play under the tag for a 2nd straight year is an excuse. It's a legit concern for any player but especially for a RB, considering their shelf lives.
I don't think not wanting to play for a coach that made it clear he didn't want you from the start, especially when that coach is a moron AND an asshole, is an excuse. It's a legitimate complaint.
Did he go about everything the right way? No, probably not. But the circumstances that led to him doing what he did were pretty shitty all the way around. I think we are in agreement. [Reply]
Specific to Bell not talking to his Pitts team during the hold out...
Anyone remember Chris Jones and his contract not too long ago?
Media constantly asking Coach Reid and others if they'd spoken to him.
No one had, but they kept double talking like it was going to work out while secretly they didn't know shit.
Chris was radio silent and used that to help the pressure his agent was putting on the Chiefs to come up with a solution, or to trade him somewhere where he'd get his asking money.
Most had his back on this forum. He deserved to get paid, right?
But in Pittsburgh, they tried to sell that the team comes first and players must be subservient to the overall franchises master plan.
Coach Tomlin was a complete ass at the time, I remember watching his interviews and he never once sounded like he had Bell's back or that he was encouraging the player to get looked after first, and then get back to playing.
The whole time it was "We're riding with who's here now and can't do anything about who isn't'. Didn't speak Bell's name, was a complete management company man.
Also was angry and petulant about it on camera.
Weak ass for mine.
Then the media go to his teammates and richly it was those who had already got theirs who thought Bell was selfish. They thought they were headed for a SuperBowl and didn't want their own dreams hurt by a hold out. Regardless if Bell ended up shorted and his career prematurely ended with faaaaar less than he'd earned for that scab group with his Pro Bowl level play.
If Bell thought they were real friends of his on the team before that point, he sure as heck knew better very quickly.
Bell wasn't the cancer, his team as dictated and orchestrated by Tomlin were the cancer.
That line is ok in College coming from Saban, complete bullshit in the pros.
If they didn't want to pay him what he wanted they should have amicably worked out a trade to someone who WOULD pay him. No harm no foul.
I call BS on how this act was portrayed then by the media, and by some currently on here. [Reply]
Originally Posted by htismaqe:
I don't think not wanting to play under the tag for a 2nd straight year is an excuse. It's a legit concern for any player but especially for a RB, considering their shelf lives.
I don't think not wanting to play for a coach that made it clear he didn't want you from the start, especially when that coach is a moron AND an asshole, is an excuse. It's a legitimate complaint.
Did he go about everything the right way? No, probably not. But the circumstances that led to him doing what he did were pretty shitty all the way around. I think we are in agreement.
I thought I remembered that Pittsburgh front office or GM told him and his agent that they would work out a deal at the end of the season, and that they wouldn't tag him again, only they didn't negotiate in good faith and had planned to tag him the second time all along, and that's was a contributing factor in his decision to sit out.
I hate the Steelers, so I really don't remember where I heard this, so maybe that isn't true at all.
We always have weird bets at the office for the upcoming Chiefs game. I would like to use Bell this week. Will he play? What is a good over/under for Bell carries? 4.5? Or touches in general? [Reply]
Originally Posted by Marcellus:
The Steelers are one of the best ran and most successful organizations in football history but hey feel free to slant the narrative how you want.
There was nothing wrong with his statement and absolutely no reason to suck the Steelers dry [Reply]
Eric Bieniemy said Le’Veon Bell was the one who initiated his 1st chat with Clyde Edwards-Helaire. Bieniemy said Bell told Edwards-Helaire that he wouldn't disrupt the flow & chemistry of the Chiefs' offense.
Originally Posted by Bronco_buster2:
We always have weird bets at the office for the upcoming Chiefs game. I would like to use Bell this week. Will he play? What is a good over/under for Bell carries? 4.5? Or touches in general?
Just a gut feeling: 8.5
Pretty confident he'll carry it at least 5-6 times, and might get 2-3 passing downs. [Reply]