Kawann Short Jersey , Steelers running back Le'Veon Bell either will show up, or he won’t. If he does, the Steelers will have Bell to pair with AFC offensive player of the month James Conner. If he doesn’t, the Steelers will have a big decision to make in the offseason.Although it would make sense for the Steelers to strike a wink-nod deal with Bell’s agent, Adisa Bakari, that would entail Bell not showing up and the Steelers not re-tagging him in 2019, the current thinking is that the two sides won’t be taking this path.So either Bell will show up, get credit for the contract year, and most likely hit the open market in 2019 or he won’t, allowing the Steelers (as one league source has predicted) to tag Bell again (at the same $14.54 million franchise tender as in 2018) and trade him.Of course, Bell would still have to agree to a trade, because he can’t be traded until he signs a tender. This means that the Steelers, after tagging Bell, would simply say, “Go find a trade partner.”The Steelers also could choose to avoid any further headaches and not tag Bell in 2019 Vernon Butler Color Rush Jersey , allowing him to leave and getting credit for the departure when calculating compensatory draft picks for 2020.There’s still a slim possibility that the Steelers would rescind the tender before Bell can sign it. That’s highly unlikely, since the Steelers then would get nothing in return for Bell, who potentially would make a beeline for Baltimore.Finally, it’s important to remember that the Steelers have two games in the next five days, at Baltimore on Sunday and at home against the Panthers on Thursday night. If Conner suffers a potentially season-ending injury in either of those two games, Bell would acquire plenty of leverage over the Steelers, which could suddenly be interested in offering him more than $855,000 per week to return to the roster — and to his role as the team’s workhorse tailback for the stretch run.By Friday, it will be known whether Conner is, or isn’t, good to go for Week 11. That will frame up the final analysis that will lead to Bell signing by next Tuesday, or not. The Carolina Panthers defense looked a little better for parts of Sunday’s game against the Buccaneers, but that’s not saying much. They’ve been among the worst units in the league over the last several weeks. Bill Barnwell of ESPN wrote about teams collapsing out of the playoff race, and he had several stats that illustrate that reality. There’s more to the Panthers than that. Those are just a few highlights on the defensive side of the ball. The group has been horrible, and it led to Ron Rivera shaking up the coaching staff on that side of the ball. The first test for this newly coached defense is a Cleveland Browns team coming off a brutal loss to the Houston Texans. They fell behind 23-0 in the first half while generating just 74 yards of offense while rookie quarterback Baker Mayfield turned the ball over three times. They piled up yardage and added a couple scores in the second half Cam Newton Color Rush Jersey , but they were never close to being in the game. In the Browns previous three games, they averaged 386 yards of total offense and 28 points, both of which would rank seventh in the league if maintained for a full season. All of those games were against bad defenses, but the Panthers are a bad defense, so the comparison is apt. Rookies Baker Mayfield and Nick Chubb are making waves, and that brings us to our keys. Keep Nick Chubb bottled up. The scintillating rookie has wowed with his big play ability this season, but he’s been rather inefficient outside of the big plays. Since taking over as the full time starter six games ago, Chubb has averaged over four yards per carry just twice. He’s still managed to find the end zone seven times over that stretch with one of those visits at the end of a 92 yard jaunt against the Falcons. The Panthers need to keep him contained and force him to grind out yards. Force Baker Mayfield into mistakes. Baker is having a fantastic rookie season. He’s averaged over nine yards per pass in each of his last three games and has tossed eight touchdowns in that time. He has all the makings of a future star. But he’s still a rookie. He threw three picks against the Texans last week and still has moments where he tries to make plays that aren’t there. Asking this defense to force a turnover may be asking too much, but we can try. Take away the underneath passes. The appointment of Freddie Kitchens to offensive coordinator has given new life to the Cleveland offense. He’s placed more of an emphasis on quick throws to keep his quarterback clean and make his decisions easier. Running backs Nick Chubb and Duke Johnson Jr. have hauled in 26 passes since Kitchens took over. Wide receivers Jarvis Landry and Antonio Callaway and tight end David Njoku all have the ability to turn short passes into big gains as well. This Browns team is young and full of promise, but they’re not good yet. The Panthers need to win this game, and they should win this game. With Ron Rivera now acting as the de facto defensive coordinator, it’s all on his shoulders now. Let’s see how the team responds.