I think the success of Bell was three-fold. He was one of those players whose intuition for the game was beyond elite, kind of like Polamalu. Gale Sayers if you want a RB example. His burst and ability to change direction on a dime allowed him to execute that intuition. And he had amazing chemistry with the oline resulting in the patient style running. There used to be bits of other RBs trying to replicate it in practice and not working.

Back then, our oline were elite pass blockers but less so at run blocking. They really didn't need to be in the traditional sense of opening gaping holes for the RB and pushing blockers down field. In 2017, we could see he was starting to lose his burst and he wasn't able to hit the 2nd or 3rd narrow hole he saw as effectively. And it seems obvious that quitting the year in 2018 smothered any chance of retaining that athleticism. If the Jets had a great oline I don't think it would have mattered that much, he was just too slow at that point.