PITTSBURGH — Le’Veon Bell considers the first injury of his NFL career — a sprained foot in a preseason game three years ago — a freak accident.

The last two? Not so much.

The Pittsburgh Steelers running back took the field with his teammates Tuesday for the first time since tearing the MCL in his right knee last November against Cincinnati. Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict twisted Bell awkwardly as the two tumbled out of bounds just a few yards away from where Bell’s 2014 season ended after taking a shot to the same knee from Cincinnati’s Reggie Nelson.

Burfict celebrated openly as Bell writhed in pain, a memory that lingers even after Burfict reached out on social media in March to express support as Bell worked his way through rehab.

“Obviously it looked like they were happy about it,” Bell said. “I’ll take the liberty of just thinking everybody plays just football to love the game. But people aren’t out here playing like that. People are playing to take people out. Obviously I know that now.”

Bell didn’t single out Burfict specifically, calling the play symptomatic of life in the AFC North.

“I feel like there’s a lot of teams that do that, try to take me out of the game,” Bell said. “I don’t think it was just him. I feel like the whole team was trying to twist my ankle and do dirty stuff between the piles.”