Bell Tolls: Versatile RBs prove key X-factors in chase for titles
Dion Lewis has had quite the progression from the NFL scrap heap to the NFL record book.
Last weekend, the electrifying running back became the first player in NFL playoff history to score touchdowns by rushing, receiving and on a kickoff return in the same game, helping push the New England Patriots into a sixth consecutive AFC Championship Game.
How fitting.
For all of the buzz about the marquee quarterbacks who will be on display Sunday — Aaron Rodgers vs. Matt Ryan, then Tom Brady vs. Ben Roethlisberger — the versatility of the running backs represent an undeniable X-factor for Championship Weekend.
Sure, there is still immense value in fielding a reliable running game in the playoffs. Ask the Pittsburgh Steelers, with Le’Veon Bell heading to Foxborough as the first back in NFL history to rack up back-to-back 150-yard rushing games in his first two playoff contests.
Yet the manner in which the marquee quarterbacks rely on the running backs in the passing game is essential to the matchups.
In Pittsburgh’s case, Bell — who caught 75 passes during the regular season — looms as a matchup headache when lining up in the slot or out wide with the capability of running his routes with the precision of a wide receiver.
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And look at how the Patriots offense has evolved for the stretch run, with Lewis getting more into the flow after missing the first few weeks of the season while returning from a torn ACL.
The past four games, Lewis has had nearly an equal amount of carries as 1,116-yard rusher LeGarrette Blount (58 for Lewis, 59 for Blount). During the same span, Lewis has had nine receptions while Blount has been strictly a runner with zero receptions. And Brady’s other TD pass against the Texans went to another running back, James White.
In other words, running is better when complemented by passing.
No, this is hardly a new twist for the Patriots. In the past, Kevin Faulk and Danny Woodhead handled the passes out of the backfield. Now Lewis and White pick up some of the slack for a unit that lost its biggest threat with Rob Gronkowski’s season-ending back injury.
Then there’s the team with the most prolific set of threats out of the backfield: The Atlanta Falcons.
Devonta Freeman and Tevin Coleman combined for 85 receptions during the regular season and had seven more during last weekend’s divisional playoff win against Seattle. Accounting for Julio Jones is just one issue when facing the NFL’s highest-scoring offense. Freeman and Coleman provide a complementary dimension by stretching the defense down the middle of the field.
The Green Bay Packers, meanwhile, have had the least-productive running game of the teams left in the playoffs, having had to adjust to an assortment of injuries. But the resourceful manner in which they have survived illustrates another type of versatility.
Ty Montgomery switched from wide receiver to emerge as the Packers’ featured runner, averaging 5.9 yards per carry during the regular season. During the playoffs, he’s logged just 22 rushes. But two of his runs went for TDs at Dallas last weekend, and Montgomery has nine catches in the postseason.
In other words, he’s a double type of threat with another type of upside when considering the banged-up receivers corps that the Packers are bringing to Atlanta.
Other items of interest on the on the ramp to the Championship Games:
Who’s hot:
Jared Cook. The 35-yard catch by the Packers tight end that set up Mason Crosby’s winning field goal at Dallas underscored a connection with Aaron Rodgers that has gone up a notch in the playoffs.
Cook has caught 11 passes for 151 yards in the Packers' two playoff wins, marking his most productive two-game stretch since signing as a free agent last offseason. Injuries disrupted his flow early, a reason why Cook — like Randall Cobb, Clay Matthews and Ty Montgomery — was not on the field for the Packers when they lost at Atlanta in Week 8.
Pressure’s on
Dom Capers. Long regarded as one of the NFL’s sharpest defensive minds, Green Bay’s D-coordinator has his stiffest challenge yet this season in trying to devise schemes for his injury-battered defense against the NFL’s most prolific offense. With his secondary hit particularly hard, Green Bay brings the NFL’s 31st-ranked pass defense to Atlanta.
And on the other side is an offense triggered by the league’s top-rated passer in Matt Ryan and a lengthy list of lethal weapons that allows hot coordinator Kyle Shanahan to attack from so many angles. Capers is pressed to find a way. Again.
Maybe the best description of his work this season came before the playoffs from Hall of Fame GM Bill Polian, who said Capers has been using “bailing wire and Scotch tape” to get it done. Well, now he may need a staple gun and duct tape, too.
Key matchup
Antonio Brown vs. Malcolm Butler. The Steelers’ all-pro receiver and high-profile movie maker carries a streak of four consecutive 100-yard receiving games that matches Larry Fitzgerald’s mark as longest in NFL postseason history. And he fully expects to see a lot of Butler, who became the Patriots’ Super Bowl 49 hero with his game-clinching, goal-line interception of Russell Wilson.
Brown lamented during the week that Butler uses his hands as much as any cornerback in the league, which might have represented a way to get a message out to officials without putting it out on Facebook Live.
Rookie watch
Keanu Neal. The first-round safety has had quite the presence. After forcing five fumbles during the regular season (most by an NFL defensive back since 2008), he led the Falcons with nine tackles in his playoff debut against Seattle. One of three rookie starters on a young defense, he also draws raves for possessing the maturity of a veteran. That will be put to a test in matching wits against Aaron Rodgers, one of the craftiest quarterbacks in the game.
The road to Super Bowl LI goes through …
Foxborough, Mass. Again. It’s a familiar spot for the Patriots, in the AFC title game for the sixth consecutive year and hosting the AFC Championship Game for the seventh time since Bill Belichick and Tom Brady joined forces. That’s usually the ticket. New England is 5-1 in AFC title games under Belichick.
The first trip to the Super Bowl with Brady, coincidentally, went through Pittsburgh in the AFC title game. Time for the Steelers to return the favor? After all, as Belichick reminded this week, top-seeded Dallas and No. 2 see Kansas City both lost at home last weekend.
Did you notice?
The four teams playing in the Championship Games are a combined 29-1 since Week 12. This marks the first time since the 1970 merger that all four conference finalists are on winning streaks of at least five games.
Stat’s the fact:
After ranking tied for last in the NFL with 13 sacks through Week 10, the Steelers have generated an NFL-high 31 sacks since Week 11. Inside that heavy rush is 38-year-old linebacker James Harrison, whose 2 ½ sacks during the playoffs have pushed his streak of consecutive playoff games with a sack to four — the NFL’s longest active postseason streak.
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