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The team announced Friday that it ruled out Bell.
Bell, who was second in the league in rushing and also a dangerous receiving threat, suffered a hyperextended knee in last week’s win over the Bengals, and he hasn’t practiced this week. That will leave the Steelers trying to run on the Ravens with behind rookies Josh Harris and Dri Archer, as well as veteran newcomer Ben Tate, who was added this week.
Harris will likely see the bulk of the backfield action Sunday. Archer can play a role as pass catcher out of the backfield on passing downs.
I'll remind you that head coach Mike Tomlin cautioned against expecting too much from Tate, cast off by both the Browns and the Vikings this season, earlier this week. Ben Roethlisberger said at most, there might be a package of "a few runs here, a few passes there" for Tate.
In the end, Bell's absence is going to make things tougher against a Ravens fefense that’s getting defensive tackle Haloti Ngata back this week.
But, from a fantasy perspective, it's not horrible news for a passing attack led by Roethlisberger, who had the second of his back-to-back six-TD games against Baltimore in Week 9 (he also threw six scoring strikes against the Colts the week before).
That Baltimore game was one of Bell's least productive rushing games (20 yards on 10 carries) of the season, by the way.
Antonio Brown had 11 catches for 144 yards and a touchdown in that meeting with the Ravens, which like Saturday's game, will be played in Pittsburgh.