Hines Ward
Hines Ward
Hines Edward Ward, Jr.is a retired American football wide receiver, businessman, and television personality. He is the current NBC studio analyst who played 14 seasons for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League. He played college football at the University of Georgia. The Pittsburgh Steelers selected him in the third round of the 1998 NFL Draft, and he became the team's all-time leader in receptions, receiving yardage and touchdown receptions. Ward was voted MVP of Super Bowl XL, and...
ProfessionFootball Player
Date of Birth8 March 1976
CitySeoul, South Korea
I got so upset at myself on the touchdown pass that I dropped. I make that catch in my sleep a hundred times a night.
Of course, all wide receivers want to catch all the balls, ... But the game plan that day was for us to go out and run the ball. I only had two attempts, so I made the most of it.
I can't fault 'Twaan for that. He was trying to make a play. I thought he was going to get out of it and I was going to block, and he ended up pitching to me and I took my eyes off the ball and I wasn't really ready for it. I'm partly to blame. If I catch the ball, we don't turn the ball over and if we don't, we at least get a field goal out of it.
You guys are going to catch him eventually, so he can't run from you. For him, it can be overwhelming, but it's overwhelming for me to look at all you guys. This is what it's all about.
I've got to get on the same page with him, ... Instead of doing gassers, I might as well do route-running for conditioning and catch the ball at the same time. It was tiring, but we accomplished something.
We'll do whatever we have to do to win, ... We like catching the ball, but the big thing is getting that 'W' every week. I'll take that over anything else, any day.
He didn't say, 'Hines, I'm about to pitch it,' ... He saw me and I looked at him. I thought he was going to get out of (the tackler's grip) and I was going to try to block. The ball hit me in the hands, so I needed to catch it, I guess. I take responsibility for that.
Stepping up and making that play, that was kind of Lynn Swann-like, I guess. You watch all the highlight tapes and ESPN Classic and you see him making spectacular catches. That's what I tried to do yesterday - just make every catch I could get my hands on.
We have to count our blessings. The man above, he really looked down on Jerome and said, 'I'm not going to let you end your career on a fumble like that.' ... We're one game away from getting him to Detroit.
We fell one game short (last year). A lot of guys are focused, real hungry. Things didnt go particularly the way we wanted in the preseason, but you dont game-plan in the preseason. Our whole focus now is Tennessee.
We felt we were in control. But they played 60 minutes and we didn't. So now we've got to regroup and let's try to win 13 straight.
We felt we were in control. But they played 60 minutes, and we didn't.
It would truly be a fairy tale story, to go on road, beat Cincinnati and come in and beat Indianapolis, then to get Jerome back to where it all started for him in Detroit. Somebody needs to write a book about that. It would make a lot of money.
It was third and long and we were scrambling around. We practice on the scrambling drill. Ben threw it kind of short; I had to run back.