Steelers’ Le’Veon Bell declared out for wild-card game against Ravens

Le’Veon Bell led the AFC in yards from scrimmage and rushing yards this season, but the Pro Bowl running back won’t be able to help the Pittsburgh Steelers in their wild-card game Saturday against the Baltimore Ravens.

Bell has been ruled out for the game after hyper-extending his right knee against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday night, the Steelers announced Friday.

Voted the team MVP in his second NFL season, Bell finished the regular season with 1,361 rushing yards and 2,215 total yards from scrimmage, both second in the league to Dallas’ DeMarco Murray (1,845 and 2,261).

Rookie Josh Shaw showed some flashes after replacing Bell in the third quarter against the Bengals, including a 59-yard run that was called back due to a penalty. But he has only 16 carries in his NFL career, and fellow rookie Dri Archer was the only other running back on the Steelers’ roster before they signed Ben Tate earlier this week.

Tate has now been on three NFL rosters this season, following the Cleveland Browns and Minnesota Vikings.

The Steelers will also miss Bell’s production in the receiving game, where he served as quarterback Ben Roethlisberger’s security blanket and often was able to turn easy dump-off passes into significant yardage.