Chaka, I don't think it's fair to say the Bell is an unknown talent. He's looked pretty good this year and played enough last year to show he's talented enough to make plays. He's not Spiller but he's not unknown either.
I like the way he has looked too and I think he could be very good in this offense, I just think it is a mistake to start him over Spiller. Bell hasn't flashed anything like Spiller's talent.
Talent times opportunity. Spillers talent is greater than Bell's. Won't argue that. But Bell's opportunity is far greater this week than Spillers. Plus Spiller usually has trouble with the Jets. Granted, this is a new offensive scheme that Rex hasn't coached against yet, but the Jets usually shut Spiller down.
Far greater? Spiller is getting 21 touches/game. How many touches do you expect Bell to receive today? I imagine they will receive similar opportunities today.
Again there is no question that Bell
could outperform Spiller but that doesn't make it a good decision IMO. And if Bell does outperform Spiller it wouldn't make it a good decision in retrospect, just a lucky one. Spiller is one of a handful of guys who can single handedly win your week (or if you must qualify it "he has a far greater
probability to single handedly win your week than all but a handful of guys").