Most of the people who watched Steelers tailback Le'Veon Bell last season would admit he had a breakout season. He produced 2,215 total offensive yards and 11 touchdowns, named by more commentators than not as the best rusher in pro football.Not that Bell himself would agree.
"A lot of people talk about the season I had last year," he told Jeremy Fowler of ESPN. "They call it a breakout season, but I don't look at it like that. I look at it as me just getting started."
Pittsburgh posted the second-best total offense in football last season, behind only the Saints, and Bell himself accounted for the second-most rushing yards behind DeMarco Murray.
"I still feel like I can do a lot of things better," he added. "Last year wasn't even close to me being my best."
Bell said he lost four pounds this offseason and now accounts for only 2.9 percent body fat, an effort he says will improve his speed.
"I watch myself now and I look at last year like I wasn't really quick," he said. "Feels like it was [slow motion]. I'm a lot quicker, a lot more explosive now."
His humility is the typical, cliched athlete fare about their not proving themselves yet and how they have a long way to go. Which is always welcome -- humility, after all, is a virtue. But it would be foolish to deny the mastery of the gridiron Bell showed he could achieve, and with the improvements on the Steelers' front protection and the overall talent on the offensive side of the football, the question now is whether or not Bell can build on that campaign going forward.
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