— Ramon Foster (@RamonFoster) September 5, 2018
Let me preface this by saying that I completely understand the frustration here. You have a bunch of offensive lineman who have been who have spent the warmest of summer months busting their ass to improve with the understanding that their job would be made easier by the return of their All-Pro running back when it mattered, only to be left in the lurch by said running back just days before the season. Whether Le'Veon Bell's plans were changed by the Todd Gurley extension or the Khalil Mack trade is irrelevant, because feeling as though you've been lied to by a teammate is always going to invoke a certain level of spite. What I also completely understand is that ever since they stop being backed by 'The Bus', the Pittsburgh Steelers have made a damn strategy out of throwing each other under it. In no other NFL locker room would a player who was doing what literally nobody else in the organization ever would by looking out for his damn self be subject to this much public vitriol, but even in prioritizing "the team" the Steelers are showing they are the furthest thing from a cohesive one under Mike Tomlin. Far be it for me to speak on behalf of Le'Veon Bell, but I'd imagine he is remaining silently shady and suddenly non-committal because nothing short of both missing games and having his absence felt to its fullest extent during them has proven successful in getting him the amount of financial security that his physical and statistical impact shows he deserves. Now, the organization rightfully has some hesitancy in giving a player who has a ton of miles on his tires at the most replaceable of position a ton of guaranteed money. Still, the fact that his teammates, who should know full well that it's just business, have taken to siding with the boss when said boss has forced their most versatile offensive player into this form of recourse is so typical Steelers, as pointing their finger at the easiest of targets has become something of a post-loss tradition in Pittsburgh. Honestly, that railroading is just the type of thing that occurs when you create a culture in which accountability is lacking. At the very least, Mike Tomlin should have been stern in demanding his players not make matters worse in the media. Unfortunately, that would require him to take some responsibility himself, which is only about as likely as Ben Roethlisberger admitting any fault whatsoever in defeat. A situation in which one of the most talented players in the league implied, through his agent, a willingness to stand idly by for over half the season somehow got more messy once news of it got to the players that know better than anyone the value of their bell-cow. That could only happen in a building where the standards for professionalism are as underwhelming as the cost of Le'Veon Bell's rookie contract to the team that is eventually going to have to awkwardly welcome him back. Maybe if they had a no-nonsense-type like this running things then some of the things she said might actually be closer to the truth...
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