Le’Veon Bell shoots on previous injuries, Bengals rivalry

Pittsburgh Steelers running back, the out-of-this-atmosphere Le’Veon Bell, has had his previous two seasons ended by injuries at the hands of this Sunday’s opponent, the Cincinnati Bengals. He’s determined to not let that happen again.

In 2014, during the last week of the regular season, Bell was lost for the playoffs from a hit to the knee by then Bengals safety Reggie Nelson. In 2015, in only his sixth game back from suspension, Bell was injured on a legal hit from linebacker Vontaze Burfict. However, the subsequent celebration of the injury from Burfict and Co. was quite the display of poor sportsmanship.

Bell, who set a single-game Steelers record last Sunday at Buffalo with 236 rushing yards, knows it will be a physical game but doesn’t seem too worried about the injury aspect.

Via Steelers.com:

“For me, it’s not going to be a challenge at all. I’m going to go out there and beat them with my football play. I’m not going to really get into all the trash talking and all the dirty play that they want to do. I’m going to go out there and play football.”

Pittsburgh is riding a four-game winning streak, and they are currently alone in first place of the AFC North at 8-5 with three games remaining. Cincinnati comes in at 5-7-1, and with their playoff hopes all but lost, they would love to derail the momentum the Steelers have going and play spoiler.

Bell has had success against the Bengals in his career. He rushed for 185 yards against them in a 2014 contest, and was on his way to a big day before the Burfict hit in 2015.

Coming off the best game of his career, Bell has arguably established himself as the best all-around back in the NFL, and he thinks Cincinnati might just be looking to injure him again:

“I’m not necessarily worried about trying to be dirty or do anything to try to hurt those guys,” Bell said. I’m pretty sure they’re going to try to do whatever they gotta do to try to get me off the field. It is what it us, I understand it.”

“I’m obviously not going to let it happen a third time. I’m going to be prepared for everything. That has to be my mindset. I have to be smart about it.”

Bell has obvious reasons to be concerned, but in all reality his previous injuries were a combination of fluke hits and bad luck.

Regardless of their records and recent history, the first matchup between the two teams in September went smooth, with no extra-curricular activity in a 24-16 Pittsburgh win. Let’s hope both teams have put the personal animosity behind them and we see a good, clean, physical AFC North game.

After all, how long does Burfict want to proudly carry his “dirty” label, anyway?