I tore my ACL in the fourth quarter of the Ravens game. I had 80 yards at halftime and for the most part thought I was having a pretty good game. It’s crazy that in a blink of a second, you’re down and it’s over for you.

When it happened it was the worst thing I ever felt. The pain was literally breathtaking. I thought I was going to have a heart attack. No one touched me, it was a non-contact injury, but I knew when I fell that I messed something up in my knee. I didn’t know what I did exactly but I knew it was something serious, because I’ve played through a lot of injuries and I had never felt anything like that.

It was heartbreaking. It took me about 24 hours to get my mind back together, and now I’m in good spirits and just anxious to get through my rehab and come back stronger than ever. In my third year I want to get back into the race in my running back draft class, with Chris Johnson, Rashard Mendenhall, Matt Forte, Tim Hightower, Ray Rice, Jonathan Stewart, Darren McFadden, Steve Slaton and Felix Jones. Down the road they’re going to be talking about this draft class of running backs as one of the best, and I want to be part of that conversation.

But right now I just have to focus on myself, getting back together, and I have all off-season to do it. I recover pretty quickly. Sometimes I’m like a medical miracle. I keep my faith in God and I know he’s going to see me through if I keep up my spirit and my faith.

As far as my rehab goes, I’m tuning everybody out when they tell me how long it’s going to take before I can come back full strength. I’m going to talk to some players who have had torn ACLs and take their advice, like Daunte Culpepper, my old college roommate Mike Sims-Walker, and Frank Gore. As far as recovery time, I don’t want to hear it from anyone. I won’t put a timetable on myself. When I’m ready, I’ll be back.

I walk with crutches now, and I get in trouble with my trainers for trying to walk without them. During rehab I take off the brace and I can walk with a limp. I think I’m doing pretty good for where I’m at right now. I think I’m a little ahead of schedule.

This season did not go as well as we had hoped. I didn’t come in and play as well as I had anticipated, and as a team we definitely did not make the strides I thought we would make. But football is a year-to-year thing. You have to roll with the punches. The season was what it was. Right now I’m just focused on myself and getting back to football as soon as I can.

Kevin Smith is a starting running back with the Detroit Lions. His blog for www.playerpress.com runs at www.smith34.com. Find him on Twitter as kevinsmith34.

It was cool to get away and kind of clear my mind during the bye week, get ready for the last 10 games. It was refreshing, but obviously we didn’t come off the bye week like we wanted with a win. But we still have 9 games left to prove ourselves and so we just have to keep working.

The Rams wanted to come out and get their first win and they accomplished their objective. They were hungry for that win.

We have to get back to practice, correct our mistakes and get on a roll.

It’s going to be a long trip to Seattle, hopefully we can come out fast and get something established. Hopefully we’ll get Calvin back, that will be a big boost for our offense. We want to put a complete game together, offense, defense and special teams. We have to get on the ball.

The bye week is a good time to evaluate yourself and I’m not too happy about my performance. But all I can do is get better. I’m definitely not where I want to be right now so I will strive to get better during the later part of the season, get a good push and get some things going on offense.

Our offense really hasn’t gotten into that rhythm yet. Usually when you start rolling, you get 1-2 games into it and you just keep rolling. But we have been inconsistent and I’ve been inconsistent. Things don’t get rolling so well when you’re not playing consistent football.

I’ve been catching a lot of passes lately, there have been a lot more screen passes and a lot of checkdowns. But I want to get a lot more rushing yards to balance that out. I’m a runner first. I don’t play wide receiver.

Kevin Smith is a starting running back with the Detroit Lions. His blog for www.playerpress.com runs at www.smith34.com. Find him on Twitter as kevinsmith34.

It’s our bye week, so I’m just going to try to totally relax. But my mind will still be on our next game, because honestly I’m anxious to get back on the field. We have 3 or 4 days off to rest the body, relax and get off our feet a little bit.

Friday I’m going to go to the Big Apple, New York City, to spend some time with friends and family. I haven’t been out there in a long time. I’ll probably do some shopping, eat, check things out. Nothing in particular.

We’ve got the Rams at home when we get back, and I’ll think about them, but not really until we start game planning. I’ll peek at them and watch some film but I’ll really get into it when we get back.

Yeah, we’re 1-5, but we’ve got 10 games left. That’s what it is in a nutshell, you don’t have to expect or say anything, just go out there and do it and know there are still 10 games left. I just hope that everybody is excited to play those 10 games left in the season and put it all out there on the field.

In those 10 games, you can show who you want to be when it’s all said and done.

Kevin Smith is a starting running back with the Detroit Lions. His blog for www.playerpress.com runs at www.smith34.com. Find him on Twitter as kevinsmith34.

Against Minnesota we did a good job of managing the game in the first half, then we came out in the second half and had a chance to set the tone when we got the ball first. Obviously, that didn’t happen. I think we have to develop a killer instinct.

It’s going to happen, we are going to win a game. We had the Vikings in check the whole first half. We need to come out fast in the second half and win the fourth quarter and we weren’t able to do that.

On the fumble I just blew it. I guess I was holding the ball poorly, it came out and it was tough to swallow. You never like to drop the money on the way to the bank.

Hey, we’ve got 14 more games. If we start winning we still have a chance to catch up in our division. We just have to do our work tomorrow and we’re definitely going to play well against Washington.

I don’t even think about our losing streak. I’m thinking about win number 1, forget how many losses we have. We came out the way we wanted to and now we just have to finish better and keep the same intensity throughout the game.

We have to sell out on every play on Sunday and get into it early, especially at home. Our fans play a big part in the game and we definitely want to get them involved. We just have to come out and play better, play with urgency and we’ll get that win.

Kevin Smith is a starting running back with the Detroit Lions. His blog for www.playerpress.com runs at www.smith34.com. Find him on Twitter as kevinsmith34.

I’m 0-0 in my career as far as I’m concerned. That 0-16 is so far behind me it’s out of my mind.

This team is feeling good, riding high confidence-wise from the preseason, though that meant absolutely nothing. I’m anxious to see what my new teammates are like, their emotions, how they approach a real game.

It’s all coming together, this is a closer unit than last year. We’re definitely ready to go to New Orleans and make a statement. We still have a couple of days to prep that are very important, the last couple days of practice before we travel. We will practice Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and leave Saturday. That’s just enough time to get our game plan in and execute it in practice.

Man, it would feel so good to get our first win in the first game of the season. We want to start fast and finish even stronger.

Personally I’m feeling good, I got out of training camp healthy and that’s a blessing. In the NFL you don’t feel 100 percent for very long, maybe a game or two, then you get dinged up and that can stay with you the rest of the season. It’s a blessing to be healthy, hopefully it will last but it probably won’t.

Matt was picked to start at quarterback, and truth is I think the team is behind all three of our quarterbacks, whether it’s Drew or Daunte or Matt. The decision is made by the coaching staff whether the team likes it or not, and I’m not saying the team doesn’t like it. The team and I personally are very supportive of Matt. Hopefully the wide receivers will help make it a smooth transition for him so he can go out and play relaxed football.

With me, Matt and Calvin starting we’re very young on offense. That brings a lot of upside but could have some downside. Calvin has matured very fast though, and I think I’ve grown a lot since last year. I learned a lot about the NFL and I think I have a little veteran attitude in there.

What do I think our fans can expect on Sunday? Just a gutsy performance. We know we have to lay it all on the line from Game 1, we can’t leave anything out there. And we can’t have an attitude like, it’s just the first game. It’s a one-game season right now, and it’s going to be fun to get back to football.

Everybody’s been waiting a long time for this.

Kevin Smith is a starting running back with the Detroit Lions. His blog for www.playerpress.com runs at www.smith34.com. Find him on Twitter as kevinsmith34.

The win in our first preseason game won’t go on our resume, but it’s important to win anytime you compete. So from that aspect I’m excited about it.

It was a good experience for me even though I was in for just about seven plays. I got a good feel, I was comfortable and relaxed. I didn’t do anything spectacular but all of my assignments were correct. Overall it was a pretty good game, we learned how to win when we were behind. It was a test so I’m just happy with the results.

Training camp went well, my body is holding up. I trained my body right in the off-season and it’s doing a good job of responding to practice and two-a-days. Training camp is not beating us down, it’s getting us physically ready for the season.

It’s been fun. The coaching staff has a lot of energy, they’re preparing us for a lot of situations, the things we’re going to see, not necessarily during the preseason but along the road. It’s been fun to do things in practice and to compete. Football should be fun.

We’re not allowed to haze the rookies in training camp – coach’s orders. Not even making them sing in the cafeteria. This isn’t a fraternity, it’s a football team, so I’m cool with it.

Well, I got practice in 30 minutes so I gotta go.

Kevin Smith is a starting running back with the Detroit Lions. His blog for www.playerpress.com runs at www.smith34.com. Find him on Twitter as kevinsmith34.

Training, training, training. That’s what I’m doing almost all the time.

Actually I just came from a celebrity weekend for Ernie Sims’ foundation. I got a chance to hang out with Leon Washington of the Jets and a couple of my teammates. We had a celebrity flag football game, that was fun and exciting. Kept our cardio up. We also had a football camp for the kids, a track event, and we all just hung out. It was great just to hang out with the fellas in Tallahassee, Florida, on a weekend, to get away from the Monday to Friday grind.

Besides that I’ve been going hard, trying to stay disciplined to my diet and do different kinds of workouts. I do boxing sessions here and there just to get out of the element of football, football, football all the time. If you can box, you can play football, as far as discipline and conditioning go.

While I’m in Florida I’m trying to soak up as much sun and family as possible while training before I go to Detroit and everything pops off.

So before I get there, here’s my five favorite places to hang out in the Detroit area:

1) MGM Casino. Just to play a little blackjack.
2) Southern Fires. A soul food restaurant. I like the short ribs.
3) Floods. Another soul food restaurant, with music and live bands.
4) Somerset Mall. It has every fly store. If you want to get fly, you go to the mall.
5) My house. Where I hide and chill, no one knows where I live.

Kevin Smith is a starting running back with the Detroit Lions. His blog for www.playerpress.com runs at www.smith34.com. Find him on Twitter as kevinsmith34.

I just got off the bus after helping Moran Norris run a kids’ camp here in Houston and I am beat up. It’s so hot, like 90 degrees, and humid.

But I know no matter how tired I am, I have to be in tip-top shape come training camp.

We have our last mini-camp on Tuesday and then I’m headed down to Miami to train and get ready. I’ve got about 4-5 weeks until our reporting date on July 31 and I’m going to start training the day I get off the plane in Miami.

I’m already in pretty good shape but I’m going to train and get on the right diet so I can get my legs strong and condition myself and perform at a high level all through training camp. Most guys know enough to show up in shape but there’s always a few who just aren’t ready.

For me being in shape and ready to go is a must. It’s not even an issue. I feel I’m a tempo-setter, so I have to be in great shape and looking and feeling good for this training camp.

I feel I have the mentality that I’m the lead dog and I’m going to set the tempo. It’s a mentality I like to take on and you can do it if you have the killer instinct. When you lead by example, there are always some guys who notice you and want to go in the same direction, which is great as long as it’s a positive direction.

We have more than a few guys like that. Daunte, Calvin, Dominic Raiola – his tempo in practice is like nobody else’s. It’s good when you can look at the majority of the players on offense and say that you can follow any man.

That’s what you want to be able to say. Then you know you’re working towards some good things as a team.

Kevin Smith is a starting running back with the Detroit Lions. His blog for www.playerpress.com runs at www.smith34.com. Find him on Twitter as kevinsmith34.

One thing that really has surprised me so far in OTAs is how good Matthew Stafford has looked.

This is my first experience playing with a guy who was the first overall pick in the draft. It’s not like I was doubting him at first. But when you have the top draft pick, it’s a big deal because everyone makes such a big deal about it all the time.

So far, so good for Matt. He’s very poised for a young quarterback and very smart from what I can see. He reads coverage and can deliver the ball. I didn’t get a chance to watch him at Georgia, and in the highlights it looked like he could just do what all quarterbacks can do. So he’s really impressed me now that I’ve had a chance to see him up close.

It’s important because the quarterback is the general of the offense. If we can throw the ball downfield it will open up the running game.

Matt also seems to be learning a lot from Daunte, taking bits and pieces from him. Matt didn’t tell me that but it’s obvious that when there’s a veteran at your position you pick things up, like how to prepare for practice, how to read film.

Daunte is a great teammate and a great professional. I know he’s not going into practice worrying about whether he’ll be starting or not. He goes into practice throwing the ball with strength and accuracy because he wants to be a better QB and help this team win more games. All of the quarterbacks here are great professionals willing to help each other.

Everybody here works together for a common goal. Our short-term goal is to win as many games as possible. Next goal is make the playoffs or win the division, then get to the Super Bowl and win it. That’s the ultimate goal for every team, to win the Super Bowl.

OTAs are almost over, there’s only three left, then another mini-camp, then a break where we train for 4 weeks leading into training camp and preseason. It’s coming really fast. I can’t believe it, here I am in year 2 already. They say your career goes by very quickly, hopefully mine won’t be short.

I’m excited about what’s going on here. We’re a work in progress but we’re moving forward.

Kevin Smith is a starting running back with the Detroit Lions. His blog for www.playerpress.com runs at www.smith34.com. Find him on Twitter as kevinsmith34.

I won’t make a prediction about how many games we’re going to win, but I will say this: We will definitely make the playoffs this season.

Believe it or not we weren’t far off last year. Almost every game we could have won, we were one play or one player short. Except for Tennessee on Thanksgiving, they just came out and beat us to sleep. They manhandled us, but nobody else did.

We’re going through OTAs right now, doing the off-season thing. Everybody is working hard to prove themselves to the new coaches and the coaches are doing all they can to prove themselves to the players. I’m just working, getting in a rhythm, very anxious to see what the new draft picks will have for us when they report to camp.

I followed the draft through our first three picks. Stafford of course, Pettigrew the tight end and Delmas. Me and Louis go way back and it will be great to have another guy from Miami with us. Also, he’s a heck of a player. We both graduated from high schools in Miami in 2005. We never played against each other but I knew of him.

Having a tight end in here who can stretch the field can change the game, open it up for the running game and I think we were missing that last season.

As a rookie last year my head was going 100 miles per hour. This year its definitely slowed down for me but I still have a lot to learn. We have a brand new offensive coordinator and a brand new playbook. Every day I’m studying the book so I’ll be able to take it in and execute on the field.

They’re basically installing the playbook right now. Every day we get 5 or 6 new plays and we go out on the field and walk them through. The rookies will be a tad bit behind when they come in here but they will be expected to step right in. Hopefully they’ll be able to learn fast and execute.

Right now it’s all football for me. Every three weeks or so I take a break, go down to Miami to get on a jet ski, hang with my family and play with the dogs. In 3 or 4 weeks there will be a change of pace and a sense of urgency will set in.

I don’t by any means think they will hand me the starting job. There are four other running backs here and they drafted a guy out of TCU. Maurice Morris is here, Aveion Cason. Even if I was the No. 1 pick in the draft I wouldn’t think I had anything locked up. Even if you’re a household name, if you let down just a little bit someone else will step in and take your position and try to make themselves a household name.

Everybody is replaceable in this league.

But this is definitely my year. I’ve been thinking about how it’s been kind of similar to my experience in college, which would make this a breakout year for me. I’m working toward a Pro Bowl, working toward a championship.

Last year we didn’t play a lot of football. We gave games away as soon as we went to practice. This year everybody wants to win, we have new players and new coaches and a new attitude.

It’s going to be a long ride, and there are lots of sleepless nights and lonely days, but if this team can all work toward a common goal, we can make it happen.

Kevin Smith is a starting running back with the Detroit Lions. His blog for www.playerpress.com runs at www.smith34.com

We’re ready to come out of the trenches of 0-16.

We’ve got new coaches who I really like and everything is different. We’ve got different spots in the locker room, different rules, even different parking spots. With the players we’ve acquired through free agency and hopefully the draft we can be a kind of Cinderella this season.

We were on ESPN for being 0-16 enough last season, this year we’ve got a chance to make a different kind of history.

Last year was horrible, torturous. Imagine not having the chance to celebrate a win even once, every time we sat looking around after the game, eating dinner with the same disgusting appetite after every game. And it didn’t stop because we didn’t win.

I would rate last season a 5 for me from 1-10. I finished fourth in rushing among rookies. I would have given myself a 7 if I had finished first.

This year will be better. I’m working on my NFL strength, definitely my speed and explosiveness, and now I know how to prepare for games.

Lions fans can expect everything I’ve got, a hard worker every Sunday who is going to put on a show and get our fans as many wins as possible.

Kevin Smith is a starting running back with the Detroit Lions. His blog for www.playerpress.com runs at www.smith34.com