Bell and Williams nurse injured pride, among other things...

[wig]

http://steelerswire.usatoday.com/20...e-fun-at-list-of-nfls-best-running-back-duos/

It would seem they feel they ought to be considered the best running back tandem in the league. I would agree with them, should they ever actually PLAY together at one time. Unfortunately, this only happened for a few weeks before Bell was injured. And when the DID play together Coach Tomlin elected to relegate Williams to "Bench Siberia" where he carried only a few times per game and saw virtually no action and had no meaningful impact whatsoever in games.

Thus, it could be argued that Bell and Williams are not the most potent RB tandem in the league to an objective eye.

I'm just sayin'...

 

[slashsteel]

Have to stay on the field to get top billing... I think if heathy one would be hard pressed to find a better duo.

 

[Drink IRON City]

If healthy and able to stay on the field for extended games. I'll add to this...... There would be NO QUESTION if they were actually used in a "tandom" sort of way. OUR OC doesn't seem to think this is a priority as he had a minitue RB to toy with. Bottom line, Must be on field and actually used in unison, to some extent. If all this would occure, even to a small degree, then YES they are the best.




Salute the nation

 

[SteelerSask2]

Tomlin runs with a lead dog only. Which is a big problem twice last year. He is not capable of using a complement back. Maybe if he was the lead dog wouldn't have been the one getting hurt. Twice.

 

[Steelmann]

I could only imagine what Antonio would say if we gave the ball to these 2 ,80% off the time. It's going to be hard to spread the love around.

 

[Steelerfan]

I called them "Thunder and Lightning" (Williams and Bell, respectively) when Williams first joined the team. Now I'm like "Bell who?"

 

[wig]

I ***** about alot of things. But the truth is, you DON'T want both Williams AND Bell to be hurt at the same time, which of course is what we ended up with anyway. So, I suppose playing Williams in very limited amounts while you have Bell, I guess makes some degree of sense if you're trying to make sure he stays healthy and keeps some fresh legs.

On the other hand, if you grind Bell down all season so he's completely used up by the end of the year... Well? But Bell has only played what? 1 full season so far and 2 partials? He's basically a rookie+. He should have plenty of tread left on the tires. One shouldn't have to worry about him running out of steam for another two or three years due to over-use. (I would hope anyway.)

 

[Drink IRON City]

I ***** about alot of things. But the truth is, you DON'T want both Williams AND Bell to be hurt at the same time, which of course is what we ended up with anyway. So, I suppose playing Williams in very limited amounts while you have Bell, I guess makes some degree of sense if you're trying to make sure he stays healthy and keeps some fresh legs.

On the other hand, if you grind Bell down all season so he's completely used up by the end of the year... Well? But Bell has only played what? 1 full season so far and 2 partials? He's basically a rookie+. He should have plenty of tread left on the tires. One shouldn't have to worry about him running out of steam for another two or three years due to over-use. (I would hope anyway.)

I get what your saying, but in a "tired" player is more apt to get hurt than a NON-tired player. You run them both so as to keep them fresh and ready. Though Bell has been hurt, I don't think he is fragil. Williams is older, not fragil, but can get tired from carrying the load. I think this was part of his issue last year. Get them both some use and don't be affraid to use one as a starter and the other as the closer. They'll both stay fresher and the rust won't accumilate.



Salute the nation