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Jerome Bettis Loves Him Some Le’Veon Bell

By Patrik Walker

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With Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell on fire this year, it has caught the attention and love of famed Steeler Jerome Bettis.

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This season has seen the true rebirth of the Pittsburgh Steelers‘ run game, thanks to second-year running back Le’Veon Bell. This is terrific for a Steelers organization that hasn’t been dominant in the run game after the retirement of Hall of Fame back Jerome Bettis. What’s truly impressive is not simply that Bell is showing out, it’s exactly how he’s doing it.

Bell is on pace to have more combined yards from scrimmage than Steeler great Barry Foster and he’s only 10 receptions away from taking John William’s record of 51 set in 1994. His ability to run and catch the ball out of the backfield is a key component in the Steelers wins this year. And this hasn’t gone unnoticed by Bettis who heaped praise onto Bell in a recent interview:

"“I love him,” said Bettis to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “He’s a great, great running back. He can do it all. He has the patience of a veteran as a second-year guy. He was doing some of that his first year. That’s something you can’t really teach.”"

It didn’t end there. Bettis went on to say:

"“The fear of a third-down back is you can blitz him and he becomes a liability because he can’t block those big linebackers and safeties.” Bettis went on, now glowing. “Now you have a big back who can block those guys in a heartbeat, so now it changes the way teams have to defense the offense. He does so many different things and has the ability to do so many things. He’s one of those perfect type of running backs. And fact he’s only in his second year, he should be there for a long time to come.”"

Considering the source, I’d say that’s a tremendous compliment for an already tremendous running back in Le’Veon Bell. If he keeps performing at a pace like this and can stay healthy, maybe one day he can wear a jacket the same color as Jerome’s as well.

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