蘑菇视频

Dec 11, 2016 By Jim Wexell for The 5 min read

BUFFALO — In the fourth quarter of what became a 27-20 Steelers win over the Buffalo Bills, Steelers tackle Marcus Gilbert turned to teammate Ramon Foster and asked him about the NFL record for rushing yards in a single game.

Gilbert thought Le’Veon Bell had to be getting close.

“I don’t know,” said Foster. “But it was probably set by O.J. Simpson, ‘The Juice.'”

Actually, it’s held by Adrian Peterson. He gained 296 yards rushing in a 2007 game.

But this was the land of Simpson. But in Buffalo, there’s now another “Juice” who is the rushing king.

Bell — who goes by “Juice” among teammates — set Steelers and Buffalo records Sunday with his 236 yards rushing on 38 carries. He also scored three touchdowns and gained a career-high 298 yards from scrimmage in leading the Steelers to their fourth consecutive win.

The surging Steelers are now 8-5 and lead the Baltimore Ravens by half a game in the AFC North.

The Ravens play at New England tonight.

“Man, that guy’s unbelievable,” Gilbert said of Bell. “He’s a special player. We’re lucky to have him.”

Bell broke Willie Parker’s team record of 223 rushing yards set in 2006 against Cleveland. And Bell also broke Emmitt Smith’s NFL record of 228 yards in Buffalo, where Simpson once reigned as one of the all-time greats.

But on Sunday, there was a new Juice in town.

“He’s young, talented, he has the juice,” was the way Gilbert explained Bell’s nickname.

Maurkice Pouncey simply said, “That’s the name he likes.”

The record performance came as a bit of a surprise to anyone watching a Steelers team in the first half. They came out in a no-huddle empty backfield set to open the game in 18-degree wind chill. The Steelers drove to the Buffalo 15, and on second-and-5 Ben Roethlisberger threw an interception to Lorenzo Alexander.

The Steelers got the ball back, gave it to Bell once, and then threw five times in the next six plays before Bell bulled in for the game’s first touchdown from three yards out.

Bell scored a second touchown, this one from seven yards out, with the help of fullback Rosie Nix, who took part in his first and only offensive snap of the half.

The Steelers led at halftime by 14-7, and Bell had 77 rushing yards on 13 carries, while Roethlisberger had thrown 26 times for 162 yards. But that ratio changed rather quickly in the second half as the Steelers used Chris Hubbard as a third tackle/tight end and a whole lotta Rosie at fullback.

Behind Nix, to whom Bell gave a game ball, Bell scored from five yards out before two Chris Boswell field goals gave the Steelers a 27-13 lead.

LeSean “Shady” McCoy scored late but the Steelers held on for a 27-20 win.

Bell was the bullworker of the second half with 25 carries for 159 yards to finish with his 236 on a career-high 38 carries. The latter number fell three short of Franco Harris’ team-record 41 carries in one game.

“How much can I appreciate it?” asked Roethlisberger. “About as much as any Steeler fan can. Awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome.”

Roethlisberger was asked about the abrupt change in the game plan at halftime.

“Nothing, really. It was working,” he said. “The run game was working. Whether it was weather, whatever. I don’t think we came in here (at halftime) and said, ‘Listen, this is what we’re going to do.’ It just started rolling. When you’re running the ball and it’s going well, you might as well stick with it.”

“At the end of the day we want to reflect balance,” said Mike Tomlin. “So whether we’re running it early or throwing it early, or running it late or throwing it late, at the end of the day we have to be able to beat people multiple ways. That’s been our philosophical approach and it will continue to be. How we choose to start is simply how we choose to start.”

The opposing coach, Rex Ryan, understands exactly the point Tomlin made, because Ryan was confounded by the Steelers’ ability to pass and/or throw.

“You got a choice here,” Ryan explained. “I mean, eight-man spacing or seven-man spacing and we did a lot of seven-man spacing to help in pass defense against Roethlisberger and company. We did go to some eight-man and quite honestly he burned us quite a few times when we did that. You’re playing a chess match with him. Obviously it’s disappointing when you get the ball run at you like that, there’s no question about it. But you’re sitting back and that’s a tough offense. They’ve got a lot of weapons.”

The Steelers, meanwhile, throttled the Bills’ weapons. They came into the game ranked first in the NFL in rushing offense, but the Steelers held McCoy to 27 yards on 12 carries and quarterback Tyrod Taylor to two yards on three carries.

In the end, it was a day made for Bell and the running game.

“He’s a Columbus, Ohio, and East Lansing runner,” Tomlin said of Bell. “That’s one of the things that attracted us to him in the draft process. These environments are not foreign to him. As a matter of fact, he relishes the opportunity to perform in them.”

“My O-line is like that, too,” said Bell. “Pouncey, he loves playing when it’s cold. Guys embrace playing in the snow. When we practice, I make sure I get on guys that are saying it’s cold, and I think it showed today.”