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.
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Eric Hicks sees Jake Plummer running bootlegs in his sleep.

................good.
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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.
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There's a guy in my hunting camp this week that is from Pittsburgh who said "Don't buy that #26 jersery, it's not going to work out!"

I bet him $100 that he's playing a prominent role by the playoffs, and he wouldn't take it.

Sounds like he's just eating sour grapes to me.
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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.
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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.
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A former Steeler teammate of Bell's. Starts about 2:40:

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How are teams going to defend the Chiefs now?
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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.

Sent from my GM1915 using Tapatalk
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This. Their BS was around the same time.
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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?
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There was nothing wrong with his statement and absolutely no reason to suck the Steelers dry
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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.

— Nate Taylor (@ByNateTaylor) October 22, 2020

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Just a gut feeling: 8.5

Pretty confident he'll carry it at least 5-6 times, and might get 2-3 passing downs.
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