Bell and Roethlisberger are having an outstanding season. (Getty Images)
Bell and Roethlisberger are having an outstanding season. (Getty Images)

Want to start a nice argument? Ask this question: What set of triplets would you rather have on your NFL offense: Ben Roethlisberger, Le'Veon Bell and Antonio Brown or Tony Romo, DeMarco Murray and Dez Bryant?

Only one group leads the NFL's top-ranked offense, and it isn't the team with the stars on the helmet.

The Steelers are the NFL's top-rated offense and it's mostly because of the big three. Those three are having record-setting seasons and have the Steelers two victories away from an AFC North division title.

This might sound strange coming from me, but offensive coordinator Todd Haley deserves credit for what he's done with this offense. The Steelers have used no-huddle much more in the past -- I thought it helped Roethlisberger a lot -- but they haven't needed it much this season. That's how good they are playing. Haley wanted more balance, and they have it.

The Steelers are sixth in the NFL in scoring, first in yards, second in passing and 10th in rushing. It is a tough offense to stop.

Roethlisberger, who already has two Super Bowl rings, is having his best season. He can set new franchise marks for completions, yards and touchdown passes, all marks he already owns. He has thrown for 4,400 yards, 29 touchdown passes and just eight interceptions. He has a passer rating of 103.4, which would be a career best if it stays that way.

The clutch factor shows up as well. He is tops in the league in fourth-quarter passing (with at least 100 attempts) with a rating of 112.0 with 10 touchdown passes and one interception. On third down, he is sixth among passers with 100 attempts on third down and has eight touchdown passes and one pick.

Then there's Bell. He has 1,278 rushing yards, but he is second in the league in all-purpose yards with 2,043 yards, which is a Steelers single-season record. He has become a force in the passing game with 765 yards. Think Marcus Allen.

Bell has been on a tear lately, going for over 200 yards from scrimmage in three of his last four games. That streak was snapped last week at Atlanta in a game in which his two touchdown runs helped the Steelers beat the Falcons.

Brown has cemented himself as one of the league's best receivers. He leads the NFL in both catches (115) and yards (1,498) and has 11 touchdown catches. He also leads the NFL in third-down catches with 33.

Brown can kill teams with the deep ball, but he's also good catching quick screens and accelerating for big plays.

There are other reasons why the offense has played better. The line is markedly improved over last season and earlier this season. Former Titans coach Mike Munchak, now the line coach, has done a nice job with the schemes, including using more zone-blocking schemes than in the past. The Steelers are also getting contributions from young receivers Markus Wheaton and Martavis Bryant, which they had to get with Emmanuel Sanders moving on to Denver.

Mostly, though, it's about the big three. They are the reason the Steelers are in position to win the division, even though the defense is tied for 20th in the league in scoring defense.

I took a hard look at the Steelers offense the past few weeks and came away impressed in a big way. If teams load up to stop the run, Roethlisberger and Brown will kill them. If they back off, Bell will just keep pounding the football. His ability in the passing game is also huge.

I picked out a few plays from the past few weeks to highlight here in After Further Review, plays I think speak to the makeup of this offense.

The first play I wanted to highlight came against the Bengals in Week 14. It was a big run by Bell. It shows off his ability to be patient in the hole -- his delay skip in the hole is unique to his style of running -- and explode once he does decide his path.

  • Play: First and 10 at the Steelers' 30 with 15:00 left in the fourth quarter
  • Offense: Heavy set (1WR, 1RB, 3TE)
  • Defense: Base 4-3, two-deep look

The Steelers killed the Bengals with this simple power play. The key part of the play was the line blocking down to the right with Bell taking a step that way to start his motion. The Steelers then pulled right guard David DeCastro, one of the league's best on the move, to the left along with tight end Heath Miller. They led Bell into the hole. Both got good blocks, with DeCastro taking out force corner Adam Jones and Miller getting a block on safety George Iloka. Fullback Will Johnson, lined up as an extra tight end, and Matt Spaeth, the other tight end, got good blocks to seal the edge. Bell tip-toed when he took the handoff and then exploded to his left when Vincent Rey started to come off his block to Bell's right. That was a great design to go with a great piece of running. They ran this play over and over again in the fourth quarter, and the Bengals never seemed to adjust to it.

The second and third plays here focus on Bell the receiver, the second one focusing on what also makes Roethlisberger so special.

The first play is a touchdown throw from Roethlisberger to Bell against the Bengals.

  • Play: Third and 10 at the Bengals' 10 with 5:32 left in the third
  • Offense: Posse (3WR, 1TE, 1RB) --shotgun, back offset
  • Defense: Nickel, quarters coverage, linebackers match-up man underneath

On this play, the Bengals dropped to quarters, which a lot of teams do on the goal line. That left Bell to come out of the backfield and get matched with speedy linebacker Emmanuel Lamur, who is a quality cover linebacker. But on this play, he had no chance. Bell faked him inside, planted and easily beat him to the outside for the score. Roethlisberger did a great job stepping up to make the throw.

The next Bell reception, which came against Atlanta last week, is more Roethlisberger than Bell, but he turned it into a big play. Here's a look:

  • Play: Third and 10 at Steelers 16 with 3:34 in the first quarter
  • Offense: Posse (3WR, 1TE, 1RB) three by one -- Bell in the backfield next to Roethlisberger
  • Defense: Nickel -- man under, single-safety -- six-man pressure

On this play, Roethlisberger wanted to go to his right to Brown. But the coverage was solid and he had some pressure in his face. With the Falcons closing in on him, Roethlisberger did what he does best, which is extend the play. He moved slightly to his left, kept his head and found Bell in the left flat. Bell turned it into a 44-yard gain. A potential punting situation was turned into a big play because of Roethlisberger's ability to move in the pocket and understand where Bell was on the play.

The last play I wanted to show highlights the Roethlisberger-Brown connection. Here's a look:

  • Play: Second and 10 at the Atlanta 29 with 37 seconds left in the second quarter
  • Offense: Posse (3WR, 1RB, 1TE) -- Shotgun, back offset
  • Defense: Nickel, four-man pressure. Combo coverage (zone and man)

The Falcons decided to zone the three-receiver side of the field opposite Brown and left Desmond Trufant in man coverage with Brown. The design of the defense gave the safeties no chance to get over and help. Trufant actually did a solid job in coverage, but Roethlisberger did a great job of putting the ball where only Brown could catch it. And then Brown did a nice job of toe-tapping to get his feet inbounds. This was initially called incomplete, but a review gave him the catch. Bell scored on the next play.

With Roethlisberger, Bell and Brown -- the Killer Bs (OK, I stole it from the old Dolphins), the Steelers are a real force in the AFC, even if the defense isn't as good as in years past.

More observations from studying the tape this week:

J.J. Watt play of the week: Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt now has 16 1/2 sacks on the season to go with 40 hits on the quarterback. He is sensational, and is a lock to be the NFL's Defensive Player of the Year. He's in the MVP mix as well, but I think that will go to a quarterback.

I highlight Watt here every week since he is such a special player. It's a treat to watch every one of his plays, focusing on his tricks of the trade. Against the Indianapolis Colts last week, I thought the Colts did a solid job on Watt for the most part -- by his standards, anyway.

Watt still had two sacks, drew a key holding penalty to wipe out a touchdown pass, a batted-down pass and five tackles. Watt wasn't as good in the run game as he was in other games, and I thought he was handled some a few times in one-on-one situations by Indianapolis tackles Gosder Cherilus and Anthony Castonzo.

The Colts used a bunch of different looks to try and slow him down. On one pass play, they kept two tight ends in to block and those two doubled him -- doing a nice job.

They also used the backs, slide protections and doubles with the linemen on him. But Watt always seems to fight through it all to make plays. That's why he's so great.

Watt got one of his sacks by using his hands and quickness to jump inside Cherilus, who made a hard outside set. It was vintage Watt.

The second sack came one play after he drew the holding call on Castonzo to wipe out the touchdown. He beat him in a one-on-one situation to draw that hold, but the sack came from Watt's relentless approach to the game. Take a look at the sack, which came on a second-and-27 play at the close of the first half.

Watt lined up outside Castonzo's shoulder. At the snap, he charged up the field at the tackle, but then looped inside around Brooks Reed. When Watt came charging inside, he was picked up by center Jonathan Harrison. But he used his great swim move, exploding out of it, and was able to dump Andrew Luck for a 7-yard loss.

This week will be an interesting one for Watt. He faces a Baltimore line that is one of the best in football. Watt usually lines up at left end, but he can move around. If he spends time at left end, he will be matched against Ricky Wagner, like him a former Wisconsin player. Wagner has quietly been one of the best right tackles in the league in his second season. This should be fun.

Johnny be bad: Johnny Manziel's stats were terrible last week in his first NFL start. He was 10 of 18 for 80 yards with no touchdowns and three interceptions. He clearly had problems hitting receivers, but I wanted to go back and see why.

What I saw was a quarterback who lacks pocket awareness, doesn't anticipate receivers coming open, leaves clean pockets too soon and has flawed mechanics, and his arm strength is lacking because of it.

Other than that, Manziel was OK.

I know piling on him is the thing to do now, but it will take a few games, maybe even midway through next season, before we can really gauge him as an NFL passer. Some knee-jerk reactionaries have already labeled him a bust, but let it play out for at least 16 games before we say that.

There were a lot of things on the tape that were discouraging, things I didn't expect to see from a quarterback who some in the league have told me is a "football savant."

The play that stood out to me was his interception late in the second quarter. It shows how a young quarterback can struggle with anticipation and timing. Here's a look:

  • Play: Second and 10 at the Cleveland 20, 11:30 in second quarter
  • Offense: Regular (2WR, 1RB, 2TE) (Diamond Formation)
  • Defense: Base 4-3, Cover-1, single safety

On the play, Manziel faked a handoff to Isaiah Crowell to hold the linebackers, which it did. That left a cavity in the middle of the field for him to make a throw and have good vision. The protection was good. Manziel had Andrew Hawkins run a cross from the right slot in man coverage against Dre Kirkpatrick. Hawkins beat Kirkpatrick inside, but Manziel was late with the throw. He needed to let it go when Hawkins hit the hash closest to the sideline he was running toward. But he waited. And when he did, it gave Kirkpatrick a chance to jump the route and pick him off.

In college, that throw is complete. The defensive backs don't break on passes like that. But this is the NFL. That's why anticipating receivers coming open is so important. It's a big part of the growth of young quarterbacks.

There were a handful of other plays in the game where Manziel failed to anticipate a player coming open. When that happened, he panicked and left what were clean pockets. That can't happen. He has to stay on the spot and make the throws.

As he continues to play, he will get a better feel in the pocket. It takes time. As for those who say his arm isn't good enough, that's not true. From what I saw, his velocity was impacted by poor mechanics. That also takes time.

It can be overwhelming for a young quarterback to decipher all the coverage that is thrown at him in an NFL game. That's when mechanics can fail. They failed Manziel last week.

I can't wait to see how he responds this week. Does he make progress in anticipating receivers coming open? That has to happen, or he could be in for another long game.