Throughout his time away watching games rather than playing them, Le'Veon Bell stayed focused on the eventual end of his two-game suspension rather that what serving his time was costing him along the way.
"'I just can't wait to get back out there,' that's the only thing I really kept in my mind," Bell said. "I saw how well the offense was moving the ball.
"I'm eager to get back on the field with the already-explosive offense they already had the first two weeks and just help us be that much more dynamic. I can't wait. I'm just ready to go out there and show people what I can do."
The Steelers averaged 458.5 yards and 32 points during Bell's two-game absence.
Now, they welcome back their MVP from 2014, a first-team All-Pro who set a franchise single-season record with 2,215 yards from scrimmage.
"The sky's the limit," Bell maintained. "I feel like we have play-makers everywhere. I don't feel like a defense can just key in on one area. I don't think they can just try to take away the run or take away the pass because we're so good at both.
"We just have to keep being consistent, keep getting better. Teams are going to try different things against us. We have to be ready to answer whatever they throw at us.
"We have play-makers all over the field, best quarterback (Ben Roethlisberger), best wideout (Antonio Brown), best O-line in the league, so we gotta just keep moving forward and get better."
Bell's return to practice today brought to an end his exile and energized the process of getting better for the Steelers.
"It sucked," Bell assessed of missing the first two games. "But I had to take the good with the bad, learn from my mistake. I'm glad I overcame it, glad I can put all of it behind me, move forward and just get back on the field and start making plays.
"I took some good from it. I made sure I'm in tip-top shape. I'm probably in better shape now than I was in camp because I was working that much harder and working out on my own, not having to go to practice and things like that. I took the good with the bad and kept moving forward."
