November 19, 2004 - It feels good to be back. I'm back in the game, I'm back to hitting people, and I'm back with my new column.

Sometimes when a player is out for an extended period of time, it's difficult for them to come back. It wasn't tough for me, though, as anyone who has been reading "The Hit Man" knows, it's been driving me crazy standing on the sidelines and not being able to play. I can't even explain how good it feels to just be out with the guys and playing the game I love to play. When I wasn't playing, I just focused on every play, tried to pay attention to all of the details of every down, every opponent, so when the time came to get back in the game, I could play at a high level. I used to go through the motions of each play in my mind while I was standing on the sidelines, and now, even though I'm still not 100%, I think I've improved as a football player because I'm able to better analyze what's going on out on the field.

In terms of our season, what can I say? We're on a roll. We're just trying to keep our heads on our shoulders, not trying to fall into the traps of predictions and getting too far ahead of ourselves. I've been in the league for a few years now and I've seen how fast things can turn. You can be playing great, winning all of your games, then the next thing you know, you're going the other way. That's why we're looking at it as just one game at a time. It's really hard to do that, to be honest, but I think everybody is buying into it. You can easily get complacent. You can easily start making predictions about victories and all that stuff. Last year, it was like everybody was guaranteeing a victory, that was the trend. We're not falling into that. It starts from the top with Coach Cowher, and he's emphasizing to the team every day that we haven't accomplished anything yet. I mean, yeah, we've accomplished a few wins, but we haven't accomplished what we want, and that's a World Championship.

All of us are in that mood right now, and that's to take care of business.

Kendrell Bell stars in NFL Street 2.

Speaking of taking care of business, everyone seems to be asking me for the scoop on what happened between Joey Porter and William Green. William Green got knocked out, that's what happened. I can't recall a game, though, where there weren't any words exchanged. It's just the nature of the game. Before the game, people go out and get themselves pumped up by trash talking back and forth. This is a competitive game and you need to stake your claim to what you're going to do, and the guys in the other uniform want to do the same thing. In this game, it got a little more physical. William Green was out there talking, then Jerome (Bettis) was out there talking to one of their guys and Green started banging on Joey. There was some pushing, then the next thing you know, Green got fired on. That's just how the game goes sometimes, and along with that comes fines. That's a risk you have to think about. Sometimes it's worth it, sometimes it's not.

This week we're playing the Bengals and Chad Johnson has already started talking trash. That's just Chad. Whatever Chad says and does, that's just the way he plays football, but he's the type of guy who will come up and congratulate you after every game. I think it's more of him just entertaining the people around him and motivating his teammates than anything. I think it's similar to what Gerard Warren was doing last week. He was trying to make a statement of how he was going to go hard. He was hoping his teammates were going to pick up on what he was going to do and play just as hard, play with that type of intensity, but they didn't. To me that's what Chad's doing. Sometimes the media puts the words into the player's mouths, sometimes they don't, but those are just some of the things that happen in the NFL.

Street Stories
Off the field, as many of you know by now, I'm a big gamer. I just got Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Halo 2, and X-Men Legends, and I'm actually going to spend tonight playing all of these. Another game I'm really looking forward to is NFL Street 2. I used to play street football all the time as a kid. We used to call it Renegade Football. There would be kids from middle school out there playing with grown dudes…I'm serious. I had to stop playing after I saw some people get tackled into cars. People would show up to the game and park by the sidelines. Next thing you know, you're running with the ball and BAM! These guys would send you into the side of a Honda. You had guys who were out of high school out there playing, trying to relive their high school years, trying to make a point to the youngsters. That's when I knew it was time to quit. I wasn't about to end my career before it started by running into a car or a mailbox.

K-Bell climbs the wall.

But in a video game, I'm all about Street. My character can get tackled into a wall by Joey Porter, get up, and I don't feel a thing. I love it. The game is 7-on-7 football where everyone plays both offense and defense. The game actually got me thinking about my dream NFL Street 2 team, so here it is. Here are the seven players I would want on my team.

Me: I used to play running back in high school. This is my chance to get a few carries.

Joey Porter: I have to go with my teammate. Besides, is anything more Street than what he just did to William Green?

Hines Ward: He used to play quarterback in college, so he's my quarterback in Street. I trust him on defense as well because anyone who watches the Steelers knows this, Hines will lay you out if you're not paying attention to him.

James Harrison: This boy is crazy. He's seriously as rough as they come. I don't know if he's going to be in the game, though, so I'll also take Duce just in case.

Ed Reed: He's the kind of player who makes big plays with the game on the line. I need a guy like that on my team.

Terrell Suggs: I need someone wild on my team.

Rodney Harrison: He plays street ball every Sunday.

This game is wild. They even got guys running up the walls on the sidelines and pulling off moves like The Matrix or something. I can't wait to get my team together and see what we can do.

Thanks for checking out my column. If you get a chance, head over to www.kendrellbell97.com to check out my new Web site and register for a chance to win an autographed helmet.