Oh stop. He was excellent but Franco was better. And he maintained it. Don't just go by stats. In the 70s the carries were distributed more among Franco, Rocky, Sidney Thornton and earlier with guys like Preston Pearson or Frenchy Fuqua. Its hyperbole to say not even close. Bell was better than a HOF player? Just a dumb take.
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A lot of what made Bell perceived greater than many, was the number of touches he got.
Tomlin ran him till his wheels fell of as Coach didn't know anything else to do.
Bell missed (injury) / sat out a game and still had more than a game and a half more worth of carries than the nearest RB.
His work load is what put him up in the total yards, not his average per carry.
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Thats right. The not even close part got me. Cmon, Bell was a heck of a player but if words mean things, Franco wasn't even close? Franco was an underrated receiver, too. They just didn't do it as much in those days. But I remember a game against the Bengals in the early 80s in which he had 11 catches. And Franco was always there in big games.
Franco was by far the most loved rb in my humble opinion. But They definitely used Franco rushing the football. Bell also had more yards rushing than Franco did in his prime years. Where he absolutely smoked Franco was obviously receptions. In those 4 years he had 45,83,75,85 receptions. For over 2500 yards. Incredible. Bell also had to share the spotlight. Not just Franco AB,Heath,Wheaton,Bryant, heck even Dri caught a couple,they all wanted the ball. As much as I loved Franco,Bell was on pace to smash every stat.
Except for longevity of course.
By the way in a 5 year span with the Steelers Jerome had 320,375,316,299,and 355 rushing attempts. Bill Cowher definitely ran the bus till the wheels fell off.
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Franco Harris 1975. 262 attempts. 14 games
1976. 289 attempts 14 games
1977. 300 attempts 14 games
1978. 310 attempts 16 games
Leveon Bell. 2013. 244 attempts. 13 games
2014. 290 attempts. 16 games 2015 injuries
2016. 261 attempts. 12 games
2017. 321. Attempts. 15 games.
2018. Year off to fine tune Canabbis cultivation
Good points. And seeing that maybe I am off base somewhat as per usage. But in no way do I feel Bell was the best RB, and "it's not even close." I'm not diminishing Bell. He was a hell of a player. But Franco shouldn't be diminished, either.