Check this quote from Bell out, what an interview. It�s filled with reasons why this defense has played down to teams, why it has the consistency of moist papier-mache.
"BELL: I live for -- what's the word I want to use? -- from a player's standpoint, teammates who rally behind you. You're the guy they rally behind, it's a great motivator. To just continue to play well and help motivate them. After that shot, the next play, me and James (Farrior) made a hit on him and the play after that, Chad Scott took a shot at 86. If it was a second later, he would have scored. We did a good job to focus and making decisive decisions. That's what we need on this team. A[b] lot of times when people make plays on us, we're not decisive. We're trying to do too much at times.[/b] A lot of times, when I take on a lead, I try to get the fullback and the running back. Sometimes they do slip out. That's probably the case in San Francisco. Plays come and go but you have to make the best out of them and you have to make decisive decisions and that's what we did in that game."
Ken Bell comes across as a pretty damn bright guy in this interview, not just because he outs the Lazy-Boy D, but his thoughts seem to be deep on the philosophy of good, solid Pittsburgh defense. I still think he belongs on the field, rushing from the outside, in passing situations. He can kill centers and guards with one hit, why the hell can't he do this to guys like Jonathan Ogden and the no-name "Star Trek red shirted" guys who man most offensive tackle positions? He has DONE IT already and he alludes to how he was just feeling his oats in the Cincy game, where I thought he played well.
And now he has most likely lost what feel for it he gained, and why? Any particular reason? Has there been any rhyme or reason to practically anything the Brain Trust has done this year? Is Jason Gildon, the Man with the Golden Guns (I don�t mean that appreciatively), still on the field, soaking up valuable resources? Does anyone on the Steelers coaching staff understand the concept of "opportunity cost"? I�ll explain it. Simply, it is putting a lazy ass shiftless bum on the field while a guy who is chomping at the bit to crush Offensive Tackles ties his shoes and adjusts his helmet on the sidelines. It is, quantitatively, the number of hits, hurries, sacks, punishing blows that don�t take place. They give up the opportunity to have something positive occur and settle for the resulting ZERO STAT DAYS of the current dead-wood Clapping Moron. We have to assume they get SOMETHING out of having Bell on the sidelines and Gildon on the field, but are we assuming rationality from the Steelers coaches? Maybe that�s a mistake. But hey, not all of us know that Gildon�s responsibility is to jog and watch plays unfold. Obviously, it's his responsibility to stay as far away from the action as possible.
"Q: Were you disappointed being taken out of the dime at rush end?
BELL: Somewhat, somewhat, because I was getting comfortable at it and trying to get a better feel because it's hard to just go out there and rush. I thought it was easy when I first got out there but that's not the case. It's a lot harder for me to play outside 'backer than inside 'backer.""
I wonder how Kendrell would fare against a small FB, like Richie Anderson, or against a receiving TE like Tony Gonzo. Would he put a severe hurting on them like they�ve never seen like a Godzilla on a Gamera? Or would he allow himself to be influenced OOB like a mannequin on rollerskates or one of the players on those old school electric football games, remember those?
(Hey! I got it! That's what Gildon reminds me of, those plastic players on those electric football games, they just sorta went everywhere and it was nearly impossible to figure out what in the hell they were doing, but I digress.)
Imagine the result of Kendrell rushing against a journeyman tight end. If he can take offensive linemen and roll them up into the fetal position in a microsecond, what would happen to little Richie Anderson? Would we want to see the carnage? Would there be sacks and hurries and broken limbs as a result? Would LT�s hit on Joe Heisman (sic) come off looking like a mere flesh wound? Guess we�ll never know, no need to do anything outside the box in week 13 of a 16 week season. The Steelers will just send out their shills like DiPayola and Bouchette, as well as Team Cowher, to scream to us "all is WELL!!!"
But hey, how can anyone criticize a guy (Coach Cowher) who has done so much for the Steelers.
"Q: Did you think that was the game where you were turning the corner at that position?
BELL: Yeah, I think so. I was getting comfortable with that. We went against Baltimore and then we played [the Chiefs]. You have to get a feel for what the tackle's going to do, guys who are going to rough you up or finesse guys or whatever. I had my taste of every technique a tackle would have, so I kind of got comfortable being out there. But now it feels like I never rushed; when I go out in practice and try to rush at end it feels like I've never been out there before."
Kendrell once again outs the incompetence of the coaching staff. The best player on the defense NEEDS to be on the field to be able to produce. Farrior gets much more PT than Bell and it shows. You pull a guy out of the zone he is in, and it takes TIME to get back into the flow. TIME is the enemy of a football team. It is the scarce resource. But I guess since Team Cowher and the Steelers coaching staff think that the season never ends, it really isn�t scarce.
"Time is the fire in which we burn." - Gene Roddenberry