Hines Ward Quotes (179 Quotes)

This is what the whole thing was all about, to get the opportunity to retire as a Steeler,

When I signed the deal, I wasn't a Pro Bowl player, ... To go to four straight Pro Bowls, you deserve some type of raise. They said, 'Come into camp and we'll continue negotiations,' and that's why I'm here.

I do want my fair market value, ... The Marvin Harrison, Randy Moss, Terrell Owens numbers out there are ridiculous. I wouldnt try to ask for that. Not to say that Im any less of a player than those guys but I know how this organization is run, how the offense is, for me, its all about getting the opportunity to start his career in one place and end his career in one place and what a better place to do it than in the Black and Gold. Thats all I want is a commitment from this organization that I can retire as a Steeler.

We were down 10-7 for the longest time. We had chances to make some plays, but we just didn't do it. Their defense had a lot to do with that. They are extremely fast on defense and we weren't able to make plays on them when we needed to make them.

I truly can't believe it. It's a dream come true. As a kid I remember watching Jerry Rice and Joe Montana in the Super Bowl.

He laid it on the line. He's lying there hurt on the ground, and he said to me, 'At least we're in field goal range.

He's probably the best cornerback in the league, so it's another challenge for me. He'll probably be locked up on me the whole time. In the playoffs, I've been double covered a lot of times. Other guys just have to come up and make plays and that's what they've done. We've stepped up big and that's what we have to continue to do.

Hearing it from Jerome, I really didn't worry about the dropped pass.

You always know when he's really angry. He says, 'I'm mad as hell and I'm not gonna take it anymore.

I didn't sleep much. I had nerves. It didn't hit me until the second quarter, 'I'm playing in the Super Bowl.' I left some plays out there I usually could make in my sleep. But I have no complaints.

We didn't convert third downs. They sacked our quarterback and put us in second and long, third and long that's hard to convert, especially against the champions.

We learned a lot this year from the wins and losses. Hopefully in the playoffs it will get us where we want to go. That was our goal all year, to get another opportunity to try to make that run.

He's the catalyst of our offense. The offense has to go out there with confidence and he leads with that. It was truly a team effort today, but it was Ben who was leading the way out there.

We didn't really plan to go this way. It's been twice I had home-field advantage, and we came up short both times. We're one game away from the Super Bowl. We're right back where we were last year.

If this is going to be his last year, what better way than to finish his career off where it all started in Detroit Last year, we were one game short. This year, we're back to that and that's all we ask for is another opportunity. We're in that position to put him back in the Super Bowl.

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.

Can we win three road games We can't look that far down the line. We just have to take it one game at a time.

We proved all the prognosticators wrong. This is a big win for us.

They're a family-owned business, and they don't like to mess with the traditions of the team. When you have a good nucleus and stability at the owner's position, it just trickles down to the rest of the organization.

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

The thing about having Willie is that, if we just get people blocked up front, he can run a long, long way. He forces defenses to play us a little bit differently than in the past. Defenses know now that, if they miss a gap and Willie gets into the open, it's all over.

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.

Are you a little envious Yeah, I can say that. Everywhere I go, those guys are flashing it every time. It's always motivation.

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.

For me, I needed to hear that from my head coach, this support that's all a player can ask for. If your coach doesn't have confidence in you as a ballplayer, maybe you need to part ways. It's been a long time since we had a conversation like that. ... That's why I'm here, showing good faith, because I want to retire a Steeler.

It has been a heck of a ride. We get the opportunity to go down in history among some of the greatest players. This is what the Super Bowl is all about.

The play-calling was aggressive. They thought all we can do is run the ball. We can pass the ball, too.

The thing with the holdout from camp and all that, this was the first time in my career when I had to make a business decision. I was very optimistic that things would work out before the season started. I want to thank Mr. Rooney personally. I never meant the holdout to show up this organization. It was strictly business. I didnt want it to get personal, because I want to be here. Im excited. My whole family is excited. I called my mom last night to tell her the news, and she broke down crying. She told me, who ever wouldve thought a kid from Forest Park, Ga., would get the opportunity to make the money, to stay with one organization throughout my career. I look good in black-and-gold.

I've never done anything like it before, ... I've never had a hamstring injury before, so I've been asking guys how to handle it.

You just sit there and watch Ben, he played night and day from last year's playoff time to this year's. Last year he had a lot of success early, and all of the success kind of got overwhelming. He's been more calm and collected this year.

If that's how you judge me as a football player, then you need to go continue judging me. Me not hitting 1,000 yards doesn't make me any less of a receiver. It would have been an accomplishment to go over 1,000, but we didn't even pass the ball but once or twice in the fourth quarter.

I was just joking. I take great pride in my appearance.

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.

Jerome sort of acted as the mediator. One thing he mentioned during the holdout - and he's been through them - was not to make it personal because eventually it was going to get done and you have to come back and play for the team. You hold your ground but understand that it's a business.

We practice that. He gave me a chance to make a play.

No team ever won all three games on the road and won the Super Bowl. Why not try to make history

It felt good. It's still only my third day of practicing and getting a chance to get out here and participate in a live game. It's good to be back.

We fell one game short (last year). A lot of guys are focused, real hungry. Things didnt go particularly the way we wanted in the preseason, but you dont game-plan in the preseason. Our whole focus now is Tennessee.

He's the catalyst of our whole offense. The quarterback has to have confidence, or how else will the rest of the 10 guys follow him He's going out there confident and having trust in his teammates to make plays.

It's great to be back - I missed it. It was just day three for me, and we're getting better. Ben is making good reads and we need to make some plays for him.

I thought he was going to be here, but obviously he's not, ... It's sad. I don't think it had to come to this. ... I've got to prepare like we're going into the season right now without Plax we don't know what is going to happen.

Only in football, as I say, you can get (from) that all-time high to that all-time low back to that all-time high.

Every time coach puts on the highlight tape, Casey is a force to be reckoned with.

And if anyone still insists on believing the Steelers arent competitive when it comes to paying their players, Ward answered that as well. I think they went out of their way, ... This (contract) was far more than what I expected.

Just hit it down their throats. They've got great team speed. When we were down 10-7 against them before, we still had a chance in that ballgame to go out and make plays. We just didn't do that.

You are based on what you do in the Super Bowl. Those guys had the opportunity to win four Super Bowls, and getting this opportunity is a dream come true for me.

I don't know how (the Seahawks) can feel disrespected when everybody had them going to the Super Bowl, anyway. We feel like we're the underdog. Nobody was talking about us. For us to do what we have done, people want to jump on the bandwagon now.

He's a threat, no question. If you put eight in the box, and we block all eight, you are going to give up a big play. How do you deal with Willie His speed has to be accounted for. I don't know how teams will defend him in the playoffs. He can go the dist

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.