Time to ring the bell on Le’Veon

… teammates finally hammer him

Let’s place the Le’Veon Bell fiasco as the Steelers are preparing for their first game on Sunday squarely where it belongs: On Coach Mike Tomlin.

Bell, just a few days before the first game, has still not shown up for practice. For the second consecutive season, Bell has skipped preseason camp. What does that do for the morale of the team, regardless of how good you are?

After he skipped last year, Tomlin did not discipline him. Just as he did not discipline Antonio Brown for his Facebook fiasco prior to the AFC championship game two year ago. Just as he …. in short, Tomlin, who came in as a tough disciplinarian 11 years ago, has lost control of his team.

And Bell’s teammates are outraged: “He’s making 7 times what I make twice as much as Al (Villanueva) is making and we’re the guys who do it for him.” That is from guard Ramon Foster, who is outraged, along with center Maurkice Pouncey, who praised James Connor, who will take Bell’s place in the starting lineup against the Cleveland Browns on Sunday.

"A star is born every year in the NFL. Did anyone know Kareem Hunt would be an All-Pro before last season? If James Conner didn't have cancer, he'd have been a first round pick. Just watch him."

Even his QB is disgusted

Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger tried to focus on the team aspect of the situation. “Football’s the ultimate team sport. One guy doesn’t make or break you,” the QB said on Wednesday. “So, I’d like to say that the linemen are more important than any skill position player, including myself, on this team. This offense is more than one guy.”

Ouch.

Bell had yet to show on Wednesday, upset at his franchise tag that will pay him more than $14 this year, the highest paid RB in the NFL. In his mind, though, he is worth as much as Bell, who signed a $17 a year contract two years ago. Bell is just hoping that he can make it on the free-agency market after this season, but in reality, who would want this guy? He is a cancer on the team. 

Will Tomlin discipline Bell?

It is time to discipline Bell, suspending him without pay for three or four games. However, after Brown filmed the post-Kansas City locker room talk by Tomlin on Facebook Live, something that outraged the coach. He said that he would discipline Brown, but instead, the club made him the highest-paid WR in the league.

It is that lack of discipline that has created this chaos right now. Tomlin has been mum on the situation, trying to fast-talk his way out of trouble.

At one time in his career, he was able to do that. But, that was then — winning a Super Bowl in his second season and making it back two years later — and this is now. The Steelers have been struggling in the postseason.

Did dissension cause the loss to Jacksonville?

Last year, they lost to a wild-card team, Jacksonville, at home, in the first round of the playoffs. Is that because of dissension in the ranks?

That is what occurs without discipline. It is tough to discipline wealthy players, but the most successful coach in the NFL for the past decade and a half, Bill Bellichick, is able to do it. So, no excuses.

Roethlisberger expressed confidence in James Conner, too. “I think we’re all excited for what he can bring to the offense and this team,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of weapons. We like [Bell] out there, but we’ve got guys who can make plays for us.”

You’d better believe that the linemen are hoping for Conner to have a big game on Sunday. “What do you do? Here’s a guy who doesn’t give a damn, I guess, so we’ll treat it as such. I just hate it came to this.“
Even the fans are sorry that it has come to this, but it is time to move on … without Bell.