With 6:38 remaining in the third quarter, Ben Roethlisberger hit Le'Veon Bell for a 16-yard gain. Bengals safety Reggie Nelson brought him down with a submarine shot into the legs.
After receiving some help to the sidelines, and a little work on the training table, Bell was eventually taken to the Steelers locker room where the team announced that his return would be doubtful with a hyperextended knee. After the game, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin and Reggie Nelson got into it. Tomlin said that Nelson had heard that the Steelers head coach was trash talking him, which he denied. Tomlin added that he has "a lot of respect for Nelson" and that the confrontation wasn't about the hit on Bell -- more a "he said, she said" type of thing.
Cooler heads have since prevailed. In the meantime, Pittsburgh signed former Texans, Browns and Vikings running back Ben Tate off the street while Bell props the door open about playing this Saturday when the Steelers host the Baltimore Ravens.
Bell called the hit from Nelson a legal hit. "It’s a dangerous sport. He got me down the way he could," said Bell via ESPN.
"I don’t know why he did that later in the game," Bell said of the hit that was a direct shot on his knee. "I feel like [defensive backs], a majority of them, they all go for my legs because I’m a bigger guy and they’re kind of smaller guys. To get me to the ground, they usually go for my legs.
"But a lot of times it’s different because I actually got the ball and I’m trying to run and I see them and start preparing for it. It was different this game because I didn't see him. When I caught it, then he hit me in my legs. That was really the only difference. DBs usually go low on me all the time. There’s not anything new about it."