The OP is suggesting that the best player is Bell rather than Brown.
Exactly. Brown and Bell never get a defense's full attention thanks to the presence of the other -- but thanks to his versatility, Bell is the more consistently threatening player. He is almost as good a receiver as he is a runner and that extra dimension makes him much tougher than Brown to stop.
And Brown's reliance on Roethlisberger is exactly why Bell should be viewed as the bigger threat. Big Ben hasn ust hasn't been himself this season. He's forcing more throws and his accuracy has appeared to regress.
Bell won't get 100+ yards imo. The defense is very good at stopping the run and they will be up for the challenge of stopping that running game.
I'm more concerned about Bell taking a wheel route for first downs. The Pats have been vulnerable to pass catching backs.... let's hope they are just as prepared for that.
Bell is going to get his yards, no matter what. He's just that kind of player. He’s the first player in NFL history to average both 100 yards rushing and 50 yards receiving per game. And the Patriots have not stopped him from accumulating yardages on the ground and on t. Bell had 149 total yards in the Week 7 game, and 139 in a 2013 game. But the Patriots won both games, by an average of 17.5 points, because they minimized Bell’s big plays and blanketed Brown with deep safety coverage.
I would LOVE to have someone break down the inside run game of the Steelers that does so well. On the broadcast they pointed out that they always create 2 double teams and let Bell react off them. One quick way to combat that is to move your DL on the snap of the ball. It makes it difficult to create double teams. The downside is that it can open gaps IF your LB's are less than perfect in their discipline. So it isn't something you want to do every play. Rushing your DL upfield also has its pit falls if a tackle is missed or a gap not filled. But it can be effective in small doses.
Gap discipline is essential in slowing down Bell and his “hunt and peck” running style, as Bill Belichick called it last time. The Patriots held Bell to 3.9 yards per carry and 6.8 yards per reception in October, and got stingy inside the red zone, limiting the Steelers to one touchdown in four possessions. The Patriots held him to one of his lowest YPA of the season, and limited his big home run threat - his longest play of the game was 12 yards. I'd be more than satisfied with that same kind of production.
But the key to containing Bell is with a two gap philosophy. In a two gap, each player is assigned two gaps - so each gap will have two players assigned to it. Bell's bread and butter comes from dancing around in the backfield and waiting for a defender to over pursue. There will be times when he gets that opening, but no coaching staff in the league coaches gap discipline better than NE's. It's a big part of being a NE defender, and why Jamie Collins was shipped out to Cleveland - he was freelancing on a lot of plays, penetrating when he should have exhibited gap discipline (because he was looking to make a big play) and therefore gave up huge plays as a result.
Two gapping + letting the LBs fill the hole should be pretty effective - and it was in the first meeting. Luckily, we've got the personnel to be effective in doing so - Alan Branch, Malcom Brown, and Trey Flowers were all dominant this year against the run (with Valentine substituting at DT on some plays). In PFF rankings, Branch and Brown finished second and third among all defensive tackles in run-stop percentage, while Flowers finished 10th among edge players. And our Linebackers have all been stout against the run - Hightower has been a monster vs the run for the last 3 seasons, while Elandon Roberts has carved out a role as a formidable
run-stopping linebacker, with amazing downhill and tackling ability.
