The Pittsburgh Steelers successfully made it through the first two weeks of the season without running back Le'Veon Bell, but they're going to get him back in Week 3 when they face the St. Louis Rams.
DeAngelo Williams has been starter while Bell served a two-game suspension, and he's carried the ball 41 times for 204 yards and three touchdowns. That's about as effective a fill-in as the Steelers could have hoped for, but Bell was in another league last year. He ran the ball 290 times for 1,361 yards and eight touchdowns, and also had 83 receptions for 854 yards and three touchdowns.
Bell's value cannot be overstated, and the Rams can't be happy about being the team to welcome him back to the NFL. St. Louis had to face Marshawn Lynch in Week 1, allowing him to put up 73 yards and the Seattle Seahawks to compile a total of 124 rushing yards. Against Washington in Week 2, the Rams allowed 182 total rushing yards, 123 of which went to rookie Matt Jones.
In other words, it could be a long day for that run defense if it can't stop Bell early and force the Steelers to throw the ball. St. Louis' defensive front is among the best in the league on paper, and it should be good at stopping the run. Bell will be its toughest test yet, provided there's no rust to worry about.
Basically, the Rams will look to do the exact opposite of what the San Francisco 49ers did in Week 2. Ben Roethlisberger completed 21 of 27 passes for 369 yards and three touchdowns in a 43-18 win over the 49ers in Week 2. It was a disaster of a game for the 49ers and the Steelers have as much momentum as possible heading into this game.
Over at CBS Sports, their experts are nearly unanimous in picking the Steelers to win Sunday's game. Seven of the eight picking went with Pittsburgh, and ESPN had a similar spread, with 11 of the 13 experts also picking the Steelers to win it.
At SB Nation, five of the seven experts picking went with Pittsburgh, with the remaining two plus the OddsShark Computer going with the Rams to score the upset.
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