Le'Veon Bell Reveals Steelers Great Ben Roethlisberger Definitely Ignored Todd Haley's Calls 'Yeah, Let's Ignore The Call'

Pittsburgh Steelers former running back, Le'Veon Bell is well known for his outspoken personality. Bell and Pittsburgh were a match made in heaven, with Bell delivering incredible performances and the Steelers providing him with the supporting cast that he needed to get it done. Recently, Bell spoke up about his time in black and gold and he revealed that he and his teammates didn't always play by the rules. 

Bell recently joined his former teammate and current Steelers defensive tackle Cam Heyward's podcast, Not Just Football With Cam Heyward. While on the show, Heyward and his co-host Hayden Walsh, asked Bell about his favorite play when he was with the Steelers. While taking that trip down memory lane, Bell shared that quarterback Ben Roethlisberger would ignore the coaches and call the plays himself. 

Steelers' Le'Veon Bell And Ben Roethlisberger Wrote Their Own Plays

Heyward was drafted by the Steelers in 2011, so he was already on the team when Bell joined in 2013. He said one of his favorite Bell performances was the game against the Buffalo Bills in 2016, where the Steelers won 27-20 in large part because of Bell's three touchdowns and his franchise-record 236 rushing yards. His other favorite game was a Monday night game against the then-San Diego Chargers where Bell had a walk-off touchdown. 

Bell said those were both good, but neither was his favorite. He said it was 2014 and they were playing the Cincinnati Bengals late in the season. This game was the true definition of AFC North football - it was early December in Cincinnati and cold. Two tough teams came together to battle it out smashmouth style.  

It was Bell's second season with the Steelers and he was coming off an excellent rookie season, despite suffering a foot injury during a preseason game that sidelined him initially. His year one performance and his year two work in camp earned him the starting spot. He had a remarkable season thus far in 2014 leading up to the Bengals game. He was the first Steelers running back to have seven consecutive games with at least 100 yards from the line of scrimmage.

Bell told Heyward they seemed to be unstoppable that year, especially in that game against the Bengals. He said the play they were running was called "Georgia" and they ran it over and over. Bell said it didn't matter that the Bengals knew what they were doing, they still couldn't stop it. 

"The Bengals were literally like, 'They're running right here (pointing in imitation of a player pointing to the line)! They are running right here!' We like, 'Yup, yup, yup! We're running right there, stop it,'" exclaimed an excited Bell.

Walsh said he could certainly understand why that was Bell's favorite game. He had 26 rushes for 185 yards and two touchdowns, as well as another six catches for 50 yards and a touchdown. It was a three-touchdown game for Bell. 

According to Bell, that game was his favorite because they were so unstoppable. He said the Bengals knew what they were going to run and usually if an offense gets called out, they would adjust - not that game. He said the Bengals slid down the line, trying to adapt, and still couldn't stop them. 

"We'd get like eight yards, we come back to the huddle like, 'Hey y'all, they know our play, but they can't stop it.' We're in the huddle just talking s**t. We kept switching it up between counter and Georgia. They know we're running counter or Georgia they just can't stop it. So let's just keep running it," chuckled Bell.

At the time, the Steelers offensive coordinator was Todd Haley. Haley knew they were having a great deal of success with the two run plays, but he wanted to get some other players involved and mix it up a bit. Bell said that was when Roethlisberger just ignored him and ran the offense. 

"We'd have plays coming in and Ben [Roethlisberger] would change it. He be like, 'Let's run Georgia and see if they stop it.' That's how you know Ben is smart, because he was the one who kept that s**t going and then we all just were just like, 'Yeah, let's ignore the call.' Then we get over to the sideline and [Todd] Haley ain't saying nothing."

When the offense came off the field, he said Haley finally asked if they were just going to keep running Georgia and the offense told him yes, they were "eating on that." He said the fact that the Bengals knew what they were doing, but couldn't stop them, made that the most fun game of his career. 

Bell spent five seasons in Pittsburgh and was truly an exceptional back. He was durable, reliable, hard-working, and consistent. He played and started 62 games in Pittsburgh. During those games, he attempted 1,229 rushes for 5,336 yards. He had 35 rushing touchdowns. He had an additional 312 receptions for 2,660 yards and another seven touchdowns. He was a First Team All-Pro in 2014 and a three-time Pro Bowler. 

Sadly, Bell got some bad advice from his agent who made him feel Pittsburgh was disrespecting him by not agreeing to the gigantic new contract he wanted after his rookie deal ran out. He sat out for a season and then bounced around the league for a few years, he was never able to recreate the magic he had with the Steelers. In 2021, he left football to become a professional boxer and rapper.

Are you at all surprised that Roethlisberger would just do what he wanted during a game?