A little bit of this, and a little bit of that as the Steelers prepare to take on the Indianapolis Colts.Well played: Le'Veon Bell accounted for 201 yards of total offense against the Browns last week, carrying the ball 28 times for 146 yards and a touchdown, and eight receptions for 55 yards. But despite the high number of touches, he is feeling good this week because he played it smart against the Browns.
"I knew in the game I had a short week, even though I had a lot of carries, I was getting down, I was taking care of myself," said Bell. "When I came out of the game I felt good. I felt amazing on Monday. My body felt great. I am going to do my same things I do. Everything will just be sped up."
Despite feeling good, having a short week isn't an easy thing to deal with for any player.
"They are tough because when you wake up after the game you know you only have a few more nights to sleep until the next game," said Bell. "After it, it's great because you know you get 10 days until your next game." Do your job: It's natural to always want to do more when you are struggling, but for Steelers players, doing too much could have been a bad thing recently. Ryan Shazier said everybody 'did their job' against the Browns last Sunday and that helped lead the team to their first win in five games.
"That is the type of game we strive to play and have consistently," said Shazier. "We have to continue to push and play like that this week. It was great to see the sacks, to see we can get at them. It shows the team what we are capable of. It holds us to a standard to keep that up.
"Everybody has to continue to do their job. Everybody did their job against Cleveland. Nobody was trying to do too much and that allowed us to play at the level we did. When things aren't going the way you want, people start trying to do extra and it causes you to get out of position. It makes one small thing a big problem. We didn't do any of that last week and have to keep going like that." Even keel: Linebacker L.J. Fort was happy to be back in action against the Browns on Sunday after dealing with a tough few weeks.
Fort was inactive against Baltimore on Week 9, and was released the day before the Steelers Week 10 game against the Dallas Cowboys when the team activated Ladarius Green. Fort was re-signed the following Monday, but it was still a tough road for him.
"It was just up and down," said Fort. "You have to keep an even keel, roll with the punches and deal with whatever comes your way. You just do that by staying grateful with this opportunity in the first place."
Fort said he gets a lot of his inspiration from William Gay, who like Fort began his career on the practice squad and had to pay his dues.
"He is definitely an inspiration and a guy I look up to," said Fort. "I am observing him, trying to pick up everything I can and do what he does. I just watch him. I ask him questions. He told me about not starting until he was 27 and what he did to get where he is now."
*They said it: *
Ramon Foster on playing on Thanksgiving Day: "This is one of the times when everybody is off of work, you sit down with the family, and it's when football is at its best. A lot of implications in these games. It's always great for everybody watching."
Mike Mitchell on having a short week: "It's the crappy part of the business. You have to be mentally tough and push through. You try to push your body as much as you can early in the week to get the soreness out. You have to keep the body going. You can't heal and recover like you normally would because you have to get your body accelerated up because you have a game so soon."
Sean Davis on the physical play of the defense last week: "From what I learned about the Steelers defense, the history and tradition is being very physical. I like to hit. I just want to add on to that. As an overall defensive unit we do pride ourselves on being hard-nosed athletes." * *
