Steelers' Le'Veon Bell: Teammates 'not ready to play' vs. Jaguars

Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le'Veon Bell admitted that some of the members of his team didn't appear ready to play in their AFC divisional-round playoff loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars last month.

The slow start doomed the second-seeded Steelers, who surrendered the game's first 21 points before their second-half surge fell short in a 45-42 setback. Bell said that he "had a sense" that the Jaguars just had more energy from the onset.

"I did (have energy), but you can't control everybody," Bell said on CBS Sports Radio's 'Tiki and Tierney.' "I did. I wanted that game badly. Certain guys out there were not ready to play football. I mean, don't get me wrong, guys woke up in the second half, but it's kind of too late."

Bell also noted that some of his teammates may have been "complacent" after receiving a first-round bye.

"I don't know. Maybe it was the bye week. I don't know. Maybe we needed to play," the 25-year-old Bell said. "I mean, last year, the three seed just like the Jaguars were, we came out there, we're going out there beating everybody because we had that little swagger about us.

"I feel like, yeah, guys got complacent. We have the bye week. We have home. We're playing against the Jaguars. It's whatever. That's how guys looked at it, you know?"

Bell rushed for 1,291 yards in 2017, the second straight season and third time in his five years as a pro that he has gone over 1,000 yards. He added nine touchdowns, giving him 35 in his career.