Le’Veon Bell finally looked like himself again vs. Ravens

With 236 total yards in the first three games of the season, Le’Veon Bell wasn’t a disaster for the Pittsburgh Steelers, but he certainly wasn’t putting together performances like he did during his first four seasons with the team.

But with 186 yards and two touchdowns against the Baltimore Ravens, it’s safe to say Bell is back.

The Steelers leaned on the star running back in a big way Sunday, giving him 35 rushing attempts and four receptions. It was the second-most touches of his career.

“I think today we did a good job of sticking to the run,” Bell said after the game. “The gaps and the holes weren’t big in the first half or even the third quarter, but we knew that going in, the Ravens were going to play the run tough. Our offensive line just kept digging at it and digging at it, and eventually the holes got a little bigger.”

It was the seventh time that Bell has eclipsed 140 rushing yards in a game, but the best news for the Steelers is that it could be the type of performance that gets the offense rolling again.

There are narratives aplenty to explain why Bell got off to a slow start. After turning down Pittsburgh’s contract offers prior to the franchise tag deadline in July, the Steelers running back was left with a one-year, $12.12 million contract that he wasn’t happy with.

Bell then skipped all of training camp and the preseason and didn’t rejoin the Steelers until September.

The beginning of the regular season marked the first time since his rookie year that Bell went three consecutive games without once topping 100 total yards. Rust is the easiest explanation for the start and may have been a large reason why the Steelers offense looked out of sync, as a whole, to begin the year.

But what’s important now is that Pittsburgh looks like it has its star running back in the backfield again, and that makes the entire offense look significantly more dangerous.