Hines Ward Ball Quotations

We're still going to run the ball first and set up our pass game through the run game. That's our identity, and we're not going to change that because Duce or Jerome's injured.

Since then, we've played in every type of ball game you can think of. We've learned a lot from it and hopefully it'll carry over into the playoffs and get us to where we need to go.

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.

He was trying to make a play. If he had fallen down on the ground, we're in the red zone. But we tried to press too much and make too many things happen. We end up fumbling the ball and you can't do that.

We can look back at that game all we want, but I think there was a lesson to be learned in it. You can put up all the numbers, but if you don't hang onto the ball and you shoot yourself in the foot, you're not going to win. It's something for us to keep in mind when we play them this time.

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.

I think when Champ intercepted that ball and ran it all the way back and (almost) scored, Denver had the game in control.

I thought it was over when we had the ball at the 2-yard line. Didn't you? Of course, I thought it was over. Everyone did. Then a guy who very rarely fumbles fumbled, and Ben did a heck of a job to tackle the guy. He saved our year. It was a great play. When you're in your goal-line offense, you have all big guys out there and the only guy with any speed is the quarterback.

That was a rocket. I made an adjustment on my route. He had to make an adjustment and somehow he got the ball to me. That was amazing.

We'd love to have more pass attempts, but it all depends on how the game is going, ... If we run the ball well, why stop? But when we're called upon, we've got to make the plays in the passing game.

We beat the stuffing out of them, but turned the ball over too many times. (It was) frustrating because they didn't win the game. We lost the game. We did everything to lose the game and we did that. We shot ourselves in the foot.

We're not just a one-dimensional team. We can throw the ball down the field. Now we're one game from the Super Bowl, and we're taking the mentality that it's us against the world.

Everybody gets excited seeing him throw. But in our case Tommy right now gives us the best opportunity to go out and win ball games. You can't blow off a year in this league. I'm glad I don't have to make the decision, but right now Ben's not comfortable enough to go out and lead our team just yet. But when he's ready, he's going to get his opportunity.

They're fast, from the front four to the secondary, and we've got to counter that. Their linebackers are really strong safeties, they rally around the ball real fast.

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.

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.

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.

Not too many rookies can come into the league like he did and win ball games. I tell him, 'You're the captain. Let us work the ship, just steer us in the right direction.

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.

He threw a hell of a ball to me, and I think that sealed the game for us. It got our crowd back into it.