Le'Veon Bell: Bengals tried to injure me

It's no secret that the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals have a rivalry filled with hate, but the actual degree of hate has surprised running back Le'Veon Bell early in his career.

Bell had his season ended early by a hit from Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict in November, which the 24-year-old believes was done purposely.

"I don't think it was just (Burfict); it was like the whole team was really out there trying to like twist my ankles and do little dirty stuff in between the piles," Bell told Chris Adamski of the Pittsburgh Tribune.

Burfict also infamously ended the season of Steelers receiver Antonio Brown in their January playoff matchup. Bell says the Bengals aren't the only team who use dirty tactics - something he was unaware of before his time in the NFL.

"I feel like there's a lot of teams that do that, try to take me out of the game," said Bell. "A lot of teams in our division really play that same way, so obviously I know that — I just was kind of ignorant to that at first because I didn't think people played like that.

“I never was injured in football (before getting to the NFL)."

Bell returned to the practice field for the Steelers OTAs on Tuesday and expects to be fully ready to play by training camp.