Le'Veon Bell's Back at Perfect Time with Ben Roethlisberger's Health in Question

It's the one thing the Pittsburgh Steelers could not afford to have happen this season: Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger suffered a knee injury that knocked him out of the game on Sunday.

Though the Steelers did defeat the St. Louis Rams, 12-6, bringing their record to 2-1 on the year, the win was cold comfort, with the team staring down the possibility of not having its starting quarterback for the rest of the season.

For now, Roethlisberger's status is unknown. After the game, head coach Mike Tomlin said that Roethlisberger would undergo an MRI on his left knee that will reveal the nature and extent of the damage the injury caused and will determine how much time, if any, he's expected to miss.

But with the Steelers taking on the Baltimore Ravens on Thursday night, it's hard to imagine Roethlisberger will be ready for at least that game. And if that's the case, the reins of the offense will belong to backup Michael Vick.

But it isn't Vick whom the Steelers will lean on, especially not at first. Instead, the focus of the offense should shift to the run game and Le'Veon Bell. And, in this instance, the timing couldn't have been better.

Bell made his 2015 debut on Sunday against St. Louis after sitting out Weeks 1 and 2 while serving a two-game suspension for violating the NFL's substance abuse policy in 2014. And his impact was felt right away, with Pittsburgh's first pass sent his direction.

Bell's return was a good one, especially considering how stout the Rams are up front on defense. He totaled 62 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries and made up every rushing yard earned by the Steelers on Sunday, with DeAngelo Williams' two-yard run negated by Vick's two-yard loss.

Atts.	Yds.	YPA	Long	TD	Tgts.	Rec.	Yds.	YPR	Long	TD
19	62	3.3	23	1	8	7	70	10.0	20	0

The 3.3 yards per carry were pedestrian for Bell, but again, think about the defense he faced—62 yards is a pretty good output. But where Bell really earned his keep on Sunday was in the passing game. He was targeted a total of eight times by Roethlisberger and Vick and had seven receptions for 70 yards, the second most among Steelers skill players on Sunday.

That receiving ability in particular will help the Steelers deal with a Roethlisberger absence of any length. He's a yards-after-catch machine (much like Antonio Brown), but it's much easier to get the ball into his hands on short throws at or behind the line of scrimmage and allow him to do work than to lean on Brown instead.

This doesn't mean, of course, that Brown will be completely neutralized without Roethlisberger under center. But it will take time for Vick to develop a rapport with Brown similar to the one Roethlisberger has established over the years. Vick won't have to overthink the passes he throws to Bell, in contrast.

Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images

Also helping matters, at least against Baltimore on Thursday, is that the Ravens ranked 18th in passing yards allowed to running backs through their first two games and allowed another 34 yards to the Cincinnati Bengals' Giovani Bernard (along with 49 rushing) in Week 3.

One running back alone won't be able to compensate for any time Roethlisberger misses, but Bell does help create another dimension on Pittsburgh's offense that can at least make Vick's life easier for however long the Steelers need him.

If there's one silver lining for Pittsburgh's offense moving forward, it's that Bell's suspension wasn't for longer. Williams has proven to be a capable runner, but Bell's receiving prowess will be needed moving forward.