Could there be a two-headed monster in the Steelers backfield?

Alright, I’m going to say this with full confidence: DeAngelo Williams is the best free-agent the Steelers have signed in the last ten years. The kind of performance we saw out of him on Monday night was nothing short of amazing.

(Obviously, let’s give a lot of credit to the offensive line for opening those holes, but that was just a part of Williams’ success.)

What’s amazing about Williams, although he’s a veteran, is he’s so similar to Le’Veon Bell: great vision and patience is all we saw from Williams on Monday night.

With DeAngelo Williams’ success, will the Steelers use Williams and Bell as a one-two punch, when Bell returns? (Well, I actually like to say two-headed monster, as to a one-two punch, it sounds cooler. Doesn’t it?)

Anyways…

The Steelers put up 38 points on Washington, but the Redskins defense isn’t “elite” by any means. They have a few Pro Bowl players, but that’s it.

The fact that Ben Roethlisberger and company put up 38 points on the road, in Week 1, against a not very good opponent speaks volumes to where this team is at, mainly on offense. Before their Week 1 game, the Steelers hadn’t won a season opener since 2009 (against the Tennessee Titans).

Beyond that, and everyone in Steelers Nation knows, the Steelers have a reputation for “playing down” to teams that aren’t considered to be very good.

For example, in their season opener two seasons ago, the Steelers nearly lost to Brian Hoyer and the Cleveland Browns.

At home.

Considering the Williams rushed for 143 yards and 2 touchdowns against the Redskins, one might imagine how many points our offense could put up with Williams and Bell in the backfield.

Before any of this can happen, we must consider Bell’s seasons getting cut short because of knee injuries: one to each knee, in two different seasons.

Injuries happen, especially in the NFL, but we also must take into account that Bell has only played in all 16 games one time. That was in 2014. (And even then, he was lost for the playoff game against the Ravens, due to one of those knee injuries.)

Injuries aren’t the only thing that has kept Bell off the field. Le’Veon started the last two seasons late because of suspensions (which sucks). We all know what Bell is capable of, and I have no doubt he would’ve led the league in several statistical categories if both seasons had not been cut short.

I feel like I’d be hard-pressed to find anyone to argue against that. T

he point I’m trying to make is this: Bell is in a contract year, and while it would be awesome to see Bell split reps with Williams, I’m just not so sure that’s going to happen. The Steelers want to see the most they can out of Bell. (Especially since they’ve seen so little of him.)

Could we see Bell’s reps go down a bit? Sure. But again, who knows.

In 2014, Bell played 92% of the offensive snaps. That’s rare for any running back in this day and age: and Bell is rare player, one that doesn’t come around too often.

Listening to Pat Kirwan talk about the Steelers on Sirius XM NFL Radio the other day, he told a caller that a “well respected” Steelers coach (who was not named) had said “Antonio Brown, without a doubt, is the team’s top receiver.”

“Le’Veon Bell is the second-best receiver on this team.”

That makes it difficult to take Bell off of the field, but let’s try to imagine what the Bell-Williams dual threat would look like:

In 2014, Bell averaged, 4.7 yards per carry on 290 attempts, 85.1 yards per game, and rushed for 1361 yards while adding 83 receptions for 854 yards (a league-high among running backs). He also averaged 10.3 receptions per game and 53.4 receiving yards per game with eight rushing TDs and three receiving touchdowns.

In 2015, Bell averaged 4.9 yards per carry on only 113 attempts (for obvious reasons), which was also a higher average of 92.7 yards per game. Le’Veon rushed for a total of 556 yards, added 136 receiving yards (22.7 average) on 5.7 receptions per game and ran for 3 touchdowns. (He would not score on a reception last season).

As for DeAngelo Williams, the Steelers seemed to breathe new life into #34.

Williams hadn’t rushed for a thousand yards since 2009. Part of the reason is the Panthers were running, somewhat of a dual threat with Williams and Jonathan Stewart. However, Williams looks like a new player in Pittsburgh.

In 2015, Williams averaged, out of 200 attempts, 4.5 yards per carry and 56.7 rushing yards per game; he rushed for 907 yards, and averaged 9.2 receptions with 22.9 receiving yards per game, while adding a career high 40 receptions for 367 yards. His 11 rushing touchdowns were tied for a league best.

While I don’t see the Steelers taking reps away from Bell, the team has discussed the possibility of this two-headed monster several times in the past. Bell had talked about the possibility back in July:

“There are definitely going to be packages where me and ‘D-Lo’ are going to be out there at the same time. I’m ready for that.”

In the same article, Ben Roethlisberger admitted that the Steelers discussed it last year:

“Unfortunately, we didn’t get a chance to do it. That could be a weapon for us, some two-minute-drill stuff, some no-huddle stuff, to have both of them on the field.”

However, the only way I see Pittsburgh taking reps from Bell is to keep him fresh and healthy; especially if the Steelers are a freight train heading towards the playoffs.

The plus side to this is DeAngelo Williams: he puts the team before himself, which is something that you can’t not love about him. (Plus, he already leads the league in rushing after Week 1… Yeah, yeah. I know it’s only one game, let me just enjoy it!)

Whatever happens in the Steelers backfield, it’ll be amazing to watch this offense do what it does; especially when Bell returns.


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