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<p>The NFL is looking into whether the Steelers failed to list running back Le&#8217;Veon Bell on the injury report last week in advance of the AFC championship against the Patriots, according to a report by ESPN.</p><p>Bell said after the game and coach Mike Tomlin confirmed after the game that Bell had been &#8220;managing&#8221; a groin injury in the previous weeks. Bell, who didn&#8217;t miss a practice all season, began to take Wednesdays off during the playoffs, but with a &#8220;not injury related&#8221; designation on the injury report.</p><p>The only day Bell practiced during the week before the AFC title game was Friday.</p><p>&#8220;He was doing a great job of managing it,&#8221; Tomlin said Tuesday at his season-ending news conference. &#8220;It didn&#8217;t cause him to miss any practice time, let alone game time. It was just something to manage. I think when you look at the journey that is the season, I think that just about every guy down there is dealing with and managing something in an effort to stay on the grass. I was aware of it. But it wasn&#8217;t significant to the point where it affected planning or the anticipation of planning in any way. It was unfortunate that it became an issue in-game. But it wasn&#8217;t something that was on our radar from that perspective.&#8221;</p><p>Tomlin later said he would have to list almost every player on the 53-man roster on the injury report late in the season because most players are dealing with some type of injury at that stage of the season.</p><p>&#8220;Just about everybody in that locker room has things they&#8217;re managing in an effort to stay on the field,&#8221; he said. &#8220;To my estimation, he was managing it extremely well. It didn&#8217;t cause him to miss any practice reps, so I didn&#8217;t list it. But I can go down a myriad of other people that have similar things they were working to manage.&#8221;</p><p>The NFL also is looking into whether the Seahawks violated the injury policy by failing to list an injury to Richard Sherman.</p><p>The Steelers will argue the injury did not adversely affect Bell in previous weeks when he rushed for 167 and 170 yards against the Dolphins and Chiefs, both franchise records.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le&#8217;Veon Bell missed most of the AFC Championship game against the Patriots due to a groin injury. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/web1_Bell-SteelersInvestigation.jpg</photo0><caption0>Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le&#8217;Veon Bell missed most of the AFC Championship game against the Patriots due to a groin injury. </caption0><photoCredit0>Steven Senne | AP file photo </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Ray Fittipaldo</p><p>Pittsburgh Post-Gazette</p></bylineMeta></div>

NFL to investigate Steelers for Bell injury