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Le’Veon Bell stunned many by holding firm and sitting out this season. Now it’s up to the all-pro RB to cash in next year and get back to form.
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Week 10 is in the books and now you can rank the NFL teams and compare your picks with those of our USA TODAY Sports NFL experts.
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Take a look at the best images from the 10th week of play during the 2018 NFL season.
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Take a look at NFL games impacted by adverse weather conditions during the 2018 NFL season.
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Steelers owner Art Rooney II expects running back Le’Veon Bell to report by next Tuesday’s deadline for doing so, as he explained on SiriusXM Radio earlier today (link via Austin Knoblauch of NFL.com).
“I don’t know what his plans are, but I would say at this point we expect him to come back next week,” Rooney said. “We know he’s back in Pittsburgh and so we’re hoping to have some communications with him over the weekend and we’re kind of expecting he will be back next week.”
Bell must report by Tuesday in order to play in the NFL this season, but whether he reports or not won’t necessarily affect his financial future. If the Steelers use the franchise tag on Bell in 2019, regardless of whether he shows up this year, it will be considered his third tag and therefore be worth more than $25MM, an untenable amount for any running back. Pittsburgh could still deploy the transition tag at a cheaper cost, but Bell would be free to negotiate with other clubs and the Steelers wouldn’t receive any compensation if he left.
Hypothetically, it’s fair to wonder if Pittsburgh even wants Bell back in the building, given that some Steelers have voiced frustration with the star running back. That’s not the case, however, as Ian Rapoport of NFL.com says (via Twitter) that Pittsburgh does indeed want Bell to return, regardless of how his situation has played out thus far. Nevertheless, at least one anonymous Steeler did express a bit of discontent to NFL.com’s Aditi Kinkhabwala (Twitter link).
“This Le’Veon thing is just a cloud over us at this point,” said the unnamed player. “Just make a decision, sign or not, be in or out, and let’s all move forward.”
While the Steelers think Bell will report by Tuesday, PFR readers do not agree. In a poll earlier today, more than three-quarters of voters said they don’t believe Bell will show up by next week.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
The Le’Veon Bell watch continues. For months, it was expected that the Steelers star running back would report for work by Nov. 13, the deadline for him to sign his franchise tag and play in 2018. However, Bell’s camp only recently confirmed that the running back does not have to show up for work by Tuesday in order to solidify his status as a free agent for next season, which means that Bell could theoretically stay home for the entire season. 
Originally, it was believed the Steelers would have the right to franchise tag Bell again for the same rate as this season if he did not ink his tender by the deadline on Tuesday. As it turns out, the price of the third tag would actually jump to the quarterback level, which would cost upwards of $25MM. The transition tag would technically be in play, but the Steelers are very unlikely to match any offer and such a move would saddle the team with an unnecessary cap hold.
All of this means that Bell can stay at home and preserve his health for free agency, though it would mean losing out on approximately $6MM in salary after already having forfeited $7.7M in game checks. Some say that Bell should get back on the field to prove his commitment to football and reassert himself as one of the game’s best running backs, but the 26-year-old firmly believes that he’ll find a strong market for his services no matter what.
Do you expect Bell to show up by Tuesday to face the Jaguars on Nov. 18? Or do you think Bell will extend his holdout through the end of the season? Click below to cast your vote (link for app users) and back up your choice in the comment section.
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Former Raiders defensive end Bruce Irvin has agreed to a one-year deal with the Falcons, according to a team announcement. The deal reunites Irvin with coach Dan Quinn and gives the veteran a chance at reaching the playoffs this season. 
“This was a dream [come] true,” the Atlanta native told Vaughn McClure of ESPN.com (on Twitter). “The Patriots and Steelers offered more money, but being able to play for my city and my people, you just can’t put a price on that.”
The Seahawks also tried to sign Irvin, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter). But, rather than don his old uniform, Irvin decided to reconnect with the coach who helped mold him into one of the league’s most feared edge rushers.
Irvin’s new deal will pay him $1.5MM for the final eight games of the season, Rapoport adds (on Twitter). He also gets to collect on the full amount of his remaining Raiders salary, giving him a total haul of $9.75MM for 2018.
Irvin, 31, recorded 88 tackles, 8.5 sacks, five pass defenses, three interceptions and two touchdowns in his two seasons under Quinn in Seattle. The former No. 12 overall pick also had some success with the Raiders, but things took a turn this year under new head coach Jon Gruden.
The Raiders’ pass rush has been listless without Khalil Mack leading the charge, and Irvin was not his usual self, despite leading the team with three sacks at the midway point of the season. In his final game with the Raiders, Irvin played only nine snaps.
With the Falcons, Irvin will join a talented pass rush that includes former first-round picks Takkarist McKinley and Vic Beasley. On the whole, it’s a defense that has not been playing up to its potential. The Falcons are among the lowest-ranked defenses in the league and the front seven has registered just 17 sacks on the year.
Because he was released after the trade deadline, Irvin was subject to waivers. He went unclaimed due to his contract which called for him to earn $3.8MM the rest of the way. Naturally, he’ll earn less on his Falcons deal.
Irvin’s first game with the Falcons will come against the Browns on Sunday.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
The Steelers have not had contact with Le’Veon Bell this week and they do not expect the running back to report in time for Thursday night’s game against the Panthers, Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com (on Twitter) hears. Bell’s debut may come on Nov. 18 against the Jaguars, but some uncertainty’s emerged on this front.
Bell must report to the Steelers by Nov. 13 in order to play this season, but contrary to what ESPN and other outlets have previously reported, he does not have to report to the Steelers by a certain date to get an accrued season to become eligible for free agency. Bell already has played the four-plus seasons he needs to become a free agent after the season.
The two-time All-Pro running back has missed out on more than $7MM and could conceivably wind up on the Steelers’ exempt list, which would allow the franchise to pay Bell at its discretion. Now that Bell has already missed out on half of his franchise tag salary ($14.1MM), would be merely sit out the season?
“[It] doesn’t make any sense for [Bell] to play now,” a source told ESPN. “If he doesn’t want to play for $14.5MM, why would he want to play for $5MM?”
Bell returning would net him millions, but he’s already sacrificed nearly eight figures to stay healthy for free agency. While a return would allow him to minimize his workload, he could still be injured during Pittsburgh’s stretch run and ruin this bold strategy’s purpose in advance of a potential March windfall.
If Bell does not report, the Steelers will have the right to franchise tag him for a third time, but at the rate of a second tag.
Despite his differences with the Steelers, Bell refused to go along with a midseason trade in order to give himself the best opportunity to showcase himself before free agency. It remains to be seen whether that was a smart move. When Bell returns, he may be in a timeshare with his one-time backup, James Conner, and that could hurt his value in the spring.
Even without one of the game’s most talented running backs, the Steelers have looked the part of a contender thanks to Conner’s play. On Sunday, the Steelers improved to 5-2-1 on the year as Conner ran for 107 yards off of 24 carries against the Ravens. His 1,085 yards from scrimmage sit only behind Todd Gurley, who’s played one more game than Conner.
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When did the Steelers start thinking that they could just roll out of bed and win games at home?
The Steelers lost their second straight game at Heinz Field Sunday going back to last year’s AFC divisional playoff loss to the Jaguars.
The Chiefs defeated the Steelers 42-37. In this defeat and in the aforementioned 45-42 loss to the Jaguars, the Steelers started the game as if they were still in their pajamas.
The Chiefs became the second team in history to score 21 first-quarter points on the Steelers in Pittsburgh, jumping out to a 21-0 lead less than 13 minutes into the game. The Jaguars nearly hung 21 on the Steelers in the first quarter in January, taking a 21-0 lead less than four minutes into the second quarter.
Visiting teams are scoring 21 points before the Heinz Field public address announcer has a chance to say that patrons must be 21 to purchase alcohol.
The Steelers drove their fans to drink with the following first-quarter lowlights:
The Chiefs would have had a 28-0 lead in the first quarter if the officials hadn’t bailed the Steelers out of their next pratfall. Justin Houston strip-sacked Roethlisberger deep in Steelers territory and Chris Jones recovered the fumble and ran it in for a touchdown. The play was nullified, however, when Orlando Scandrick was penalized for defensive holding.
The Steelers took advantage of that lifeline and tied the game in the second quarter. Throwing from his heels, Roethlisberger put the Steelers on the board with a 26-yard touchdown pass to Jesse James. He also threw touchdown passes to JuJu Smith-Schuster and James Washington. He was almost over the line of scrimmage on his 14-yard scoring pass to Washington.
Much like their playoff loss to Jacksonville, the Steelers’ rally had a playground sort of feel to it, like their entire offensive gameplan was drawn in the sand.
The defense, well, they did shut out the Chiefs in the second quarter.
Then in the second half, the Chiefs remembered they can use Hill on plays from scrimmage, too. The first play of the third quarter was a 36-yard pass to Hill that led to Kelce’s second touchdown. The Steelers answered with James Conner‘s 1-yard touchdown, but the Chiefs made it 35-28 with Mahomes’ touchdown pass to Demarcus Robinson.
We had always envisioned the defensively-challenged Steelers having to win shootouts like this. Don’t worry about the defense, the offense can carry this team.
Except that it didn’t.
The Steelers went three-and-out on their next possession and the Chiefs extended their lead to 42-28 on Mahomes’ 29-yard TD pass to Hill early in the fourth quarter.
During that drive, Antonio Brown showed he’s in midseason form by screaming at Steelers offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner on the sideline. At least no Gatorade coolers were harmed. Mike Tomlin provided the sideline theatrics in the first half by giving his players a good ass-chewing after they had fallen behind 21-0. Um, maybe he should start doing that before games.
The whole Team Turmoil thing was an entertaining sideshow last year when the Steelers went 13-3, but this year the comedy will turn a lot darker if the Steelers (0-1-1) don’t start winning.
Speaking of turmoil, yeah, it might have helped Sunday if Le’Veon Bell was around. Conner crashed down to earth by gaining just 17 yards on eight carries. But if the Steelers don’t figure out a way to avoid falling behind 21-0 before all their home fans find their seats, they’ll need a lot more than Bell to become any kind of serious championship contender.
Entering the 2018 season, the Patriots and Jaguars looked like the biggest obstacles standing between the Steelers and the Super Bowl. Now the Chiefs have become one of those obstacles.
The Steelers had been a wall that the Chiefs couldn’t get over until Sunday. They ousted Kansas City in the playoffs two years ago and handed them their first loss last year.
So far it looks like Mahomes is the solution.
No other quarterback has thrown 10 touchdown passes in the first two games of a season, according to ESPN. The Chiefs moved up 17 spots in the first round of the 2017 draft to take him at No. 10, then traded away Alex Smith this past offseason and handed Mahomes the keys to the offense.
Those moves look brilliant so far, the kind of moves that have altered the AFC power structure much like the Jaguars’ hiring of Tom Coughlin as executive vice president before the 2017 season.
Before last season’s AFC divisional playoff game at Heinz, the NFL Network showed Coughlin walking into the stadium. The Steelers had been tweeting away about their inevitable rematch with the Patriots, and there was Coughlin, no-nonsense personified, reporting for work. It was an ominous scene for the Steelers.
The Steelers thought they could just show up and win that day, and it looks like that’s what they thought on Sunday.
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Perhaps you’ve heard a million or so times that the Steelers have had only three head coaches since 1969.
Well now, they’ve had three ties during that same time period after playing to a 21-21 stalemate with the Browns in Sunday’s 2018 season opener at Cleveland.
Chuck Noll and Bill Cowher both have one tie on their resumés, and now Mike Tomlin can put himself in the same class as those coaching legends.
He must be thrilled.
Rare as they are, when ties do happen they leave us wondering how we’re supposed to feel. It’s not a win. It’s not a loss. It’s quite literally something in between.
In this case, it’s a lot closer to a loss for the Steelers and it’s a lot closer to a win for the Browns.
This is the first time the Steelers have failed to defeat the Browns in a game since 2014. It’s also the first time the Browns haven’t lost a game to any opponent since Week 16 of the 2016 season.
There’s also this whole blown-lead thing on the Steelers’ side. They led 21-7 with 7:44 remaining when James Conner fumbled and Jabrill Peppers returned it 36 yards to the Steelers’ 1-yard line to set up a touchdown that got the Browns back in the game.
It’s unfair, of course, that the first mention of Conner involves his fumble. Replacing holdout Le’Veon Bell, Conner ran for 135 yards and two touchdowns and caught five passes for 57 yards. That’s 192 all-purpose yards. Bell has surpassed that only six times in his career, according to Pro Football Reference.
For more than 52 minutes Sunday, Conner was helping the Steelers beat both of their opponents.
What other opponent did the Steelers face other than the Browns?
Well, until Bell ends his holdout, the Steelers will be up against not only the opponents on their schedule but also Bell. If the Steelers struggle, then refusing to meet Bell’s contract demands will look like a bad idea. If they can win games without him, it will show that they’ll be ready to move on when some other team signs him to the megadeal of his dreams.
Does Bell win Round 1 of this standoff because of Conner’s fumble? It’s hard to say because this particular game isn’t decided on a scoreboard. Like the tie between the Steelers and Browns, we’re left wrestling with mixed emotions when it comes to Conner’s performance.
Would Bell have fumbled in that situation? Who knows? But it’s not like he hasn’t let the Steelers down before. This is the fourth time in his career that he’s missed Week 1. He missed two other openers because of suspensions.
Despite the fumble, the Steelers come out of Sunday’s game looking OK on the Bell front. And there is plenty of blame to go around, like Ben Roethlisberger‘s three first-half interceptions and his inability to hold on to the ball on two of his four sacks. It’s not like he hasn’t been sacked before.
Myles Garrett, the No. 1 pick in the 2017 draft, had two sacks and forced two fumbles, including Conner’s game-changing fumble. Garrett vowed that he was coming for Roethlisberger on the day he was drafted, and with both players finally on the field at the same time Garrett backed up his words.
Garrett is someone the Steelers will have to deal with if they want to keep the upper hand in this rivalry, but let’s not forget that T.J. Watt had four sacks Sunday. That’s the most by a Steeler in a single game since Joey Porter had four at Tampa Bay in 2001. It’s also the first time the Steelers have failed to win a game when a player gets four sacks.
The Steelers had seven sacks as a team and allowed the Browns to convert just five of 18 third-down attempts. One of the touchdowns the defense allowed came when the Browns took Conner’s fumble to the 1-yard line. The defense doesn’t look like the kind of liability that it was after Ryan Shazier went down last year.
That improvement was in vain, however, because of the Steelers’ sloppiness on offense. It also didn’t help that the Steelers committed 116 yards worth of penalties.
They’ll need to clean up their act, because their Week 2 and Week 3 opponents pulled off upsets on Sunday over teams that got a lot of preseason hype. The Chiefs, who come to Heinz Field on Sunday, defeated the Chargers 38-28 at Los Angeles. The Buccaneers,who the Steelers visit on Monday Night Football in Week 3, won 48-40 at New Orleans.
That first win won’t be easy to get.
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