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'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 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'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 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 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 thought we could take some shots in the air. We're an experienced team and we took our chances.
Wow, this is amazing. You guys make us go out and play with passion in our hearts each and every Sunday.
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.
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'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're here without him. We never made it to this point with him. So, I don't think that we miss him. That was a big question mark coming into this year: What could we do in the passing game? Well, consequently, our passing game is the reason why we're here in the Super Bowl. So, I can't sit there and say that we miss him.
We're happy to be going to the Super Bowl, but we want to win. We plan to go there and win the whole thing.
Making the Super Bowl, you are going to have more media requests. For him, it can be overwhelming. It's even overwhelming for me to look at all (the media) here wanting to ask me questions.
Everyone thinks he's tough. He is, but he's a players' coach.