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
The fans here know football. They know the guys who produce and give it all they've got, and they appreciate it. To sit there and say the city had it out against him, I don't really go along with that. I saw a lot of No. 80 (Burress) jerseys in the stands.
As far as the city and him with cornrows and stuff, they love everybody,
This is where the championship truly belongs, in the city of Pittsburgh.
There's excitement that builds up when you have an opportunity to bring another championship back to the city of Pittsburgh. Everybody joins in. I'm a big Crosby fan. I have his jersey. You just hop on. You want to be part of the excitement. We'll be right there with our jerseys on supporting those guys as well. That's just how the city of Pittsburgh is. We're all one big family.
You don't really realize you're playing with a Hall of Fame running back until it comes to the end. But for all he has done for this organization, the city of Pittsburgh, he epitomizes what the Pittsburgh Steelers are all about, a class act on and off the field. I don't even think he realizes how much of a role model he is. Guys just feed off him as far as how he handles situations, how he approaches each and every Sunday, how he approaches practice each and every day.
Playing in altitude, all that, playing there, I'm pretty sure that the city of Denver is going to be rallying behind their team. It's one game away from the Super Bowl. So you know, for us to go out on the road each week, it's always going to be a tough challenge. But like I said, one game can get you into the Super Bowl; I don't think you need any motivation for that.
The guy is just special. He's touched lives of everybody in the city of Pittsburgh in some way, somehow, some form.
Initially we did not know what to expect out of him. He kind of got thrown into the fire and it is kind of hard to really see and envision what a rookie can do, because not too many rookie quarterbacks can come into the league like he did and win ball games like he did.
Everyone put overwhelming pressure on us. It was overwhelming for everyone, including the veterans.
Nobody believed in us, but we believed in ourselves, and now we're in the Super Bowl. These last three games on the road show a lot about our team and this coaching staff.
The ball is getting spread around, and everybody's happy. We're still trying to find our identity. We're still a running team, but, when it's time to make plays in the passing game, we've got confidence all three of our guys can go out there and get the job done.
It was just deflating. He rarely fumbles the ball and if this had been his last game, you would have hated to see him go out like that. ... I truly believe the man up above had something to do with that.
They won the division. We really wanted to do that, so congratulations to them. But we've got another shot at them and the loser goes home.
They won our division. It's redemption time. We get that opportunity, and we feel good because we won in Cincinnati.