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 liked our chances against No. 22. He's a great, talented kid. He's just young and inexperienced and we wanted to exploit that. He's going to be good, but (Sunday), we wanted to do what we needed to do (against him).
We liked our chances against No. 22. He's a great, talented kid, just young and inexperienced, so we wanted to see if we could exploit that.
We were desperate. It's a one-game season every week for us. We've got to play like it's the playoffs, because we don't have a lot of room for error.
We didn't want to go through this by choice. That is how it went. Last year, we were a No. 1 seed. This year, we had to win our final four games just to get here. So we've been on a playoff mentality the last four weeks of the regular season. It's win or go home, so we've gotten used to playing with pressure.
We tried to come out and punch them in the mouth early. And they punched right back. They played an excellent game. They can win a lot of ways.
We knew it was going to go for a touchdown. The great ones don't drop balls in the Super Bowl, and I want to be considered one of the great ones.
We started off fast. And for the most part, we made plays when we needed to make them, but we didn't convert third downs and were in too many third-and-long situations.
We're in a rhythm now. I'm playing full-time now - we're not coming off the field after one quarter or one half. ... Ben's getting on the same page as everybody, and now everybody's playing full-time.
We're just having fun, and that's what it is about. There are 20 teams out there who wish they were in the playoffs. For us, you have to enjoy it while you are here. And, as players, you have to make sure you enjoy that.
We've got a more confident Ben. He's been there before. He's not overreacting. He's prepared now, he's not out there winging it - he's a leader now.
We don't just want to be happy to be there. We're going there to win.
We're still a great team. It's one loss. We didn't play particularly well but still had a chance to win the game against the Super Bowl champions. We've got to learn from it and get better, and get a lot of guys healthy and come back and make this 13-game run.
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.
Wow, this is amazing. You guys make us go out and play with passion in our hearts each and every Sunday.