Who Won The NFL Weekend? Le’Veon Bell, And His 298-Yard Masterpiece

As the playoffs draw near, the AFC looks like a mess. The Patriots look pretty comfy as the top seed, but they’ve also faced the easiest schedule in the NFL, according to ESPN. We figure they’re for real because they’re the Pats, but beyond that, anybody looks liable to throw up a stinker on a week-to-week basis, setting the stage for a truly unpredictable postseason. In such circumstances, it helps to have one guy who can drag you to a win when everyone else lays an egg, like Le’Veon Bell.

In yet another year when the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens are locked in a struggle for AFC North supremacy, Bell saved the day against the Bills, who have played this entire year extremely tough but never quite good enough. Ben Roethlisberger was downright awful, throwing three interceptions and putting up a QBR of 18 even without getting sacked and only getting hit once. But Bell was an old-school workhorse, carrying the ball 38 times for 236 yards and three touchdowns. He even added 62 receiving yards, if only to remind all of us that there isn’t a phase of the game in which he doesn’t excel.

This season has seen a minor resurgence of the do-everything running back, with Bell, Ezekiel Elliott and David Johnson of the Cardinals all carrying larger loads than we’ve seen in a while and doing it while putting up spectacular efficiency numbers. Bell lags behind in counting stats due to his four-game suspension, but he’s now rushed for at least 100 yards in each of his last four games, with his most recent performance being his best when it was needed most. The Ravens will play the Pats on Monday night, and if they can’t pull the upset, Le’Veon will have carried Pittsburgh into the division lead.

Of course, for all this talk of standings and playoff position, there’s a postseason happening right now in the shadowy parallel universe that is fantasy football. In a week when studs like Drew Brees, Russell Wilson and Roethlisberger himself put up duds, and with stalwarts like Julio Jones and Rob Gronkowski having succumbed to the injury bug, Bell had the highest standard point total anyone has seen in nearly three years. As you can imagine, there were a lot of sentiments like this being expressed online:

https://twitter.com/jared_lamberg/status/808310523272036352

And, of course, in more entertaining fashion, Bell put a lot of folks away.

https://twitter.com/BradyB726/status/808308147475673088

The Steelers’ remaining schedule is all against their division rivals, which means two eminently winnable games against the Bengals and Browns sandwiching an all-important matchup against the Ravens. The purple ones’ run defense is stout, but right about now, Bell feels like a trump card.

Other Week 14 Winners

DeMarco Murray: The AFC South may not produce a deep playoff run from any of its members, but it’s still completely up in the air with the Texans and Titans both sitting at 7-6 and the Colts hanging at 6-7. After years of being an excruciatingly boring team, the Titans have managed to be fun this year, on the strength of young QB Marcus Mariota and the resurgent Murray. Mariota only threw six passes against what was thought to be a likely playoff team in the Denver Broncos, but that was all he needed as Murray buried the stout Denver defense. Ninety-two yards may not look like much, especially compared to this week’s headliner, but his consistent ability to move the chains kept the Titans offense on the field even though they couldn’t complete a pass. With a better offense than Houston (by a mile) and a stronger defense than Indianapolis, fans of fun should be rooting for the Titans to come out of the South.

Steve Spagnuolo: The New York Giants managed to end the Dallas Cowboys’ 11-game winning streak without being able to put together one sustained scoring drive, and they also did it without their star, Jason Pierre-Paul. Though their high-priced free agent acquisitions in Olivier Vernon, Damon Harrison and Janoris Jenkins all played excellently on Sunday night, it was defensive coordinator Spagnuolo’s exotic scheming and aggressive blitzing that was the star of the day. Dak Prescott finally looked like a rookie again, as he was made uncomfortable in the pocket all night, causing missed throws and turnovers. Spags oversaw the defense that took down the Patriots’ 2007 juggernaut in the Super Bowl, and after a prolonged sojourn, he’s back. Who knows what they can do in the playoffs.

Aaron Rodgers: With Earl Thomas no longer roaming the defensive backfield for Seattle, Rodgers absolutely decimated the once-proud Seahawks defense. Even with a bum left hamstring entering the game, and even after injuring his right calf during the game, Rodgers was the laser-accurate legend we’ve come to expect over the last decade or so, one that was frustratingly absent most of this year and last. With 246 yards passing and three touchdowns on more than 10 yards per attempt, this is the Rodgers that can lift the Packers into the playoffs. They’re on the outside looking in at 7-6, but they’re riding a three-game win streak and face all three of their division opponents over their last three games. To an extent, it doesn’t matter how bad their running game is or how injured their defense is — if Rodgers is playing like the all-time great he is, the Packers can strike fear into anybody.