LATROBE, Pa. - They've picked up where Antonio Brown and Ike Taylor left off and Le'Veon Bell is convinced both he and Lawrence Timmons will be better for it in the long run.

"Me and L.T. go at it," Bell confirmed regarding his almost daily St. Vincent showdowns with Timmons. "He's a guy who I feel like can help me be a lot better running routes or blocking him and vice versa. He feels like I can be a guy who's tough to cover so he wants to cover me every time. He wants me to block him every time.

"That's the way we are. Me and him are definitely trying to sharpen our iron together."

Brown, a wide receiver, and Taylor, a former cornerback, used to engage in legendary battles after seemingly always winding up opposite of one another in practice reps.

This summer Bell, a running back, and Timmons, an inside linebacker, have taken center stage.

When the pads came on last week it was Timmons vs. Bell on the first rep of Backs-on-'Backers.

And when the linebackers have been asked to cover the backs one-on-one it's been Timmons repeatedly chasing Bell all over the field.

The Steelers ran that drill again today and Bell came away with four receptions on the six passes thrown his way with Timmons in coverage.

"Sometimes it's stacked against you Law Dog," head coach Mike Tomlin offered.

The highlight play was a tumbling catch Bell was able to finish in the corner of the end zone with Timmons draped all over him on a fade pass lofted by Ben Roethlisberger.

"The blitz pick-up is more slanted to the defense," Bell said. "Obviously, us running routes with all that grass is more slanted towards us.

"If he wins a rep or I win a rep in the opposing drill, we're proud of it. L.T. is a Pro Bowler, he's a great player. And he looks at me as a Pro Bowler, a first-team All-Pro and a guy who's tough to cover.

"We both make each other better."