After losing both of their third-down backs to injuries, the Buccaneers will now turn to Le’Veon Bell leading up to the playoffs.
The Buccaneers will be without Leonard Fournette and Giovanni Bernard in three of their most important games of the season. Sure, these games aren’t difficult on paper, but Tampa does need to win all three for the sake of their playoff future.
The top seed in the conference is likely out of reach at this point, but every win going forward will make it that much easier to have home games up until that final matchup if everything plays out as it should.
To win these games, the Bucs decided that Le’Veon Bell is the best way to keep the offense on track in tandem with Ronald Jones, and history tells us that Bell will see a greater role in week one with Tampa than one would think.
We all saw this happen with Richard Sherman earlier in the year. Joining in the middle or the start of the week is no excuse with a team that is banged up as the Bucs.
With all that being said, Bell is in a perfect position to make an impact through the next three games. Tampa loves their short passing game and manufacturing ways to get running backs touches, and Bell has excelled in this system in the past.
Stints with the Chiefs and the Jets may not inspire much confidence in Bell from most Bucs fans, but the offenses are simply different. Brady has a very good deep ball, but the most recent offensive schemes haven’t been filled with as many deep shots.
Fournette gets a mountain of targets in this system, and Bell should be able to move into this role perfectly, especially if the defense is keyed in on Ronald Jones as a runner.
It may be a lot to expect from Bell so early in his Bucs career, but he is probably one fumble or missed block away from moving into the lead role going forward.
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