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
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.
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.
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 got so upset at myself on the touchdown pass that I dropped. I make that catch in my sleep a hundred times a night.
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 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.
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.