Le'Veon Bell just received the exclusive franchise tag and is in negotiations for a mega long-term deal to stay with the Pittsburgh Steelers. So you’d have to believe he’s all about the future, right?
Wrong.
Because earlier this weekend Bell was on the air lamenting Pittsburgh's disappointing defeat to the Patriots in the AFC Championship Game, a contest that he says could have turned if not for his untimely injury.
"I think we beat them," Bell proclaimed, when prompted to imagine an alternate injury-free timeline. "When I was out there, I wasn't feeling well at all. The fact I was out there (early in the game), their game plan was so different just because of the fact I was out there.”
"If I go out there healthy and we go out there and do what we do, the way we've been doing it the whole season, especially in the playoffs, running the ball, running play-action, leaving (Antonio Brown) one-on-one ... I think the outcome would have been different. We'll get back to that next year," he said.
Bell recorded just 20-yards on the ground before going down with a groin injury late in the first quarter of the Steelers' 36-17 loss. Without Bell in the lineup, Ben Roethlisberger lacked the firepower to keep pace with Tom Brady and Co., and Pittsburgh went quietly into the night.
Source: NFL.com