NFL icon says 'darkest moment' in career was when team WON the Super Bowl
Jason Bell won the Super Bowl with the New York Giants in 2007, but the former NFL star has revealed that the championship game was the lowest point of his career
Jason Bell clinched the Super Bowl with the New York Giants in 2007 but saw his career cut short by a back injury that robbed him of what could have been his finest moment in the NFL. The former defensive back was initially signed as an undrafted agent by the Dallas Cowboys and had a six-season stint in the league - including spells with the Houston Texans and the Giants.
Despite securing a Lombardi trophy in New York alongside big names like Eli Manning, Michael Strahan and Plaxico Burress, the ex-NFL star admitted that the championship game was the hardest part of his career. Bell explained how he watched from the sidelines as his team triumphed over one of American football's titans in Tom Brady's New England Patriots - but deep down, he knew his career was finished due to his back injury.
He said: "The low would probably be when I was injured and watching my team win the Super Bowl. That was quite difficult. I was there, and I knew my career was over. I was watching the game live in Arizona, and I saw them score the final go-ahead touchdown. I stood up to cheer. I was happy for everybody.
"I remember watching Osi [Umenyiora] and my boy Antonio Pierce and [Michael] Strahan just out there. Plaxico Burress had caught the ball and all of a sudden, I sat down in my seat, and just, I felt it was a dark moment because I wanted to be out there with them and I feel like I should have.
"But I overcame that and then celebrated their victory and have been happy for it ever since. I'm glad with everything that happened because of that. So, yeah, but those are, I remember those two things - the beginning and the end."
Despite the initial setbacks, Bell's journey through the NFL was far from ordinary. After going undrafted, the defensive back was picked up by the Cowboys. A year later, he made his way to Texas and established himself as one of the top players across various areas of the field.
Bell went on to say his entrance into the NFL was the highest point of his career, adding that he had to really "fight" for his place in the league. He said: "Oh man - biggest high would probably be... First of all, it's been a journey. Sometimes I randomly think about things that have happened and I'm just in awe and overwhelmed by the luck that I had and it took.
"So I'd say the biggest high would probably be finally making the Dallas Cowboys, that first year when it was quite difficult. I was at the bottom of the roster when I came in to training camp and to finally be announced as one of the 53 on the roster.
"That was huge for me. I'd overcome an injury in college that kind of, that held me back; I would have been drafted probably really high if it wasn't for that. But, you know, I had to really fight and grind to make it. And once I did, that was as big as it got for me."
Bell formed many long-lasting friendships during his NFL journey too, highlighting his "big guy" group from the Giants as people he'll keep around for life. He added: "I have several that I'll speak to for the rest of my life. When I got to New York, I'm very close with that team because Antonio Pierce, I grew up with him.
"So when I got to the Giants, I knew immediately who I was going to be friends with, because he basically told me. He was like, 'This guy's cool. This guy's cool. You're gonna hang out with them,' and that's how it was.
"So, lifelong friends, I mean, Osi obviously, Antonio Pierce, Michael Strahan, a guy named Carlos Edmonds, who played like 15 years at linebacker. Those are the guys from the Giants and they're all defensive guys, linebackers and defensive ends. I hung out with the big dudes because I talked so much craziness. I needed, like, security, and that's what I felt like they were. So those guys were lifelong friends."
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