Time is up on the Steelers Way. At least it is if LeVeon Bell and LeGarrette Blount play Sunday. Make them watch, Dan Rooney. Make them pay a price, Kevin Colbert. Make your wrong a right, Mike Tomlin. This is an easy decision despite ridiculous verbiage in the labor contract. The Steelers should look for loopholes, and if there arent any, they should just go ahead and do whats right. Bell and Blount should be deactivated for the regular-season opener against Cleveland. No win is more important than the integrity of a flagship franchise. No loss would be tougher to overcome than losing the publics faith. Its no longer just about what Bell and Blount are accused of doing Aug. 20, though what Bell is charged with doing — driving under the influence of marijuana — was worse. Its about what the Steelers have done since. Nothing. Tomlin said Bell and Blount playing in the teams third exhibition game could be considered a form of punishment. What was he smoking? Troy Polamalu played. So did Ben Roethlisberger, Antonio Brown and Lawrence Timmons. Dick LeBeau and Todd Haley coached. Bell and Blount were busted for pot possession about an hour before the Steelers scheduled flight to Philadelphia a day before that exhibition game against the Eagles. They should not have played at Philadelphia. They certainly shouldnt have been the only running backs to carry the ball. Now the plan is to hand it off to them against the Browns in a game that counts. What about taking a stand? What about sending a message? What about the standard being the standard? The Steeler Way is all talk, and its talk their fans are fools to believe. James Harrison stayed, Bell and Blount will play, and guys like Cedrick Wilson and Santonio Holmes were exceptions to a rather obvious rule when youre in Steelers Country: Winning is more important than anything. Thats not necessarily the worst approach to take in the NFL. Its just not different than ones taken by the other teams. The Steelers arent special. What are they? Ideally, they would be the team that employs a future Hall of Fame safety who is so proud and competitive that he cant hide his dissatisfaction when the defense is being carved by the first- and second-team Eagles offense in an exhibition game. Except that before Polamalu lost it (by his normally reserved standard) in that game at Philadelphia, TV cameras caught Tomlin congratulating Blount as he jogged off the field after a run. That was no way for the head coach to behave given the circumstances, and not because families — including Tomlins — were watching. Tomlins other players were watching, and thats about all theyve looked to be doing since the incident involving Bell and Blount. Nobody can convince me that didnt contribute to the completely flat Steelers performance at Philadelphia. Nobody can convince me that incident might not have set a deafening tone for an important season. Consecutive 8-8 seasons dont cut it for the Steelers. What also shouldnt cut it is failing to make public any discipline dolled out to Bell and Blount. Tomlin reiterated Tuesday that he wont say how his running backs will be punished. “Thatll be between us, and Ill stick to that,” Tomlin said. Dont. Deactivate Bell and Blount against Cleveland. That should be the Steelers way.
Posted on: Fri, 05 Sep 2014 13:20:46 +0000
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