McCourty on Patriots’ D vs. Bell: ‘It’s going to take all 11 guys’

It won’t be about scheming or gimmicks.

To get Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell to the ground before he does the kind of damage in the AFC Championship Game that he did in Sunday’s divisional-round victory against the Kansas City Chiefs, the New England Patriots will need every defender involved.

‘It’s going to be a true team defensive effort’

“Defensively, it’s going to take all 11 guys,” McCourty told Bruce Murray and Brady Quinn on the SiriusXM Blitz. “It’s not going to be one or two guys that can go out there and just stop those two guys. So it’s going to be a true team defensive effort, but we’ve just got to find a way to limit him and not let him ruin the game for us.”

How much different are the Steelers team that the Patriots faced on Oct. 23 — when the Patriots scored a 27-16 win at Pittsburgh, while holding Bell to 81 rushing yards — from the one they saw Sunday?

‘They’ve just gotten better’

“They’ve just gotten better,” McCourty said. “Every team, between September and October, you’re still finding yourself, you’re still getting better as a team, so what you’re watching, they still do some of the same things, but they just do it better. I think that goes the same for us. You watch us early in the season, it’s the same thing.

“And I think Coach (Bill) Belichick always talks about that. You’ve just got to get better through those months of September and October. You can’t really rely on your record and how many games you’re winning or losing. As long as your team gets better, you’ll have a chance this time of year. And watching them is no different.”