Pittsburgh Steelers punishing Le’Veon Bell and LeGarrette Blount by making them play Thursday
By Sam Richmond
Typically NFL teams will hold players out of games when they get in trouble. Well, the Pittsburgh Steelers are utilizing the exact opposite approach.
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Running backs Le’Veon Bell and LeGarrette Blount, who were both charged with marijuana possession on Aug. 21, will be forced to play in Pittsburgh’s preseason finale on Thursday versus the Carolina Panthers, according to NFL.com’s Kevin Patra.
"At least part of that punishment appears to be continuing to make Bell and Blount participate in the preseason. While most starters and veterans get the night off during the final preseason game, Tomlin said Tuesday both running backs “absolutely” will play Thursday against the Carolina Panthers."
While this seems like a strange plan, it at least makes some sense. The final preseason game rarely features big-name players, so Pittsburgh is singling out and embarrassing Blount and Bell by making them play.
The Steelers used Bell and Blount in the team’s third preseason game for similar reasons, as Patra notes.
"Mike Tomlin believed it would be more reward than punishment to miss a preseason game."
This whole situation could be used as an indictment of preseason football. It’s hard to argue that coaches and players heavily value preseason games when Tomlin is suggesting that playing in one is a form of punishment. This situation would obviously be handled a lot differently if Blount and Bell got in trouble during regular season action.
But they didn’t. So we can all laugh at the idea of football players having to play football as a punishment.