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Monday, February 6, 2006
Ward takes his place in Steelers lore
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
Detroit — If only for a while, those in charge of such things in Pittsburgh should put a bronzed image of Hines Ward next to the one of Steelers icon Art Rooney at Heinz Field. Suddenly, it’s like this among the Black and Gold faithful: Many are glowing over Willie Parker’s run for the ages. Others are glowing over Deshea Townsend’s sack in the clutch, or the successful homecoming for Jerome Bettis, or Bill Cowher doing what he should have done before — not blowing a world championship.
Well, they’re all glowing over Ward, the former University of Georgia standout via Forest Park. Against the pesky Seattle Seahawks on Sunday at Ford Field, he kept saving the Steelers from themselves in the biggest game of his life. You could tell that he knew as much after he did the most to wake up the Steelers’ dormant offense in the second quarter of Super Bowl XL with an end-around sprint of 18 yards before running with a shovel pass for 12 more yards. That was before he put the Steelers in position for the game’s first touchdown when he ignored the grip of Seattle’s Michael Boulware on the ball and leaped to complete a 37-yard pass play at the 3-yard line of the Seahawks.
When The Ward Show was over, the undisputed star had more than his five catches worth 123 yards and the touchdown that he caught after fellow wide receiver Antwaan Randle El heaved a 43-yard pass his way on a reverse. He even had more than the keys that he received to a 2007 Cadillac Escalade for earning the Most Valuable Player award.
He had immortality, which is why he never lost his smile while swinging those car keys on his fingers after the Steelers’ 21-10 victory.
“Lynn, of course, he was here tonight,� said Ward, referring to Lynn Swann, the Steelers’ Hall of Fame wide receiver who is so popular among The Faithful that he is running for governor of Pennsylvania. “You look back through Steeler history, I mean, Swann and [John] Stallworth, those are the guys who made the spectacular catches in Super Bowls, and I wanted to be compared to those guys.�
There was a pause, before Ward’s smile grew while telling the truth: “I think you can put me on the list now with those guys, and I never thought I belonged on that list, because they had Super Bowl rings.�
Now Ward has at least one in his eighth NFL season, and so do the rest of the Steelers from his generation. Finally. The last time the Steelers fulfilled their birthright by winning a Super Bowl, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and the rest of the Rolling Stones actually were relevant. So, 26 years later, with the old guys of rock still trying to sing young at this Super Bowl, the pressure was on Cowher’s latest group to make The Faithful not even think about claiming that they can’t, well, you know, get no satisfaction.
Actually, the Steelers had to win for a reason bigger than trying to pacify all of their fans who have spent recent decades worshiping Franco, Terry and Mean Joe more than Hines, Ben and Jerome. The Steelers had to win for the good of mankind. Just the thought of saying “Seattle Seahawks� and “world champions� in the same sentence is enough to knock the earth off its axis and send us spinning toward the other side of Jupiter.
The Earth is just fine now, because Ward is a perfectionist who even preferred to remember what he didn’t do as much as what he did. For instance: With the Steelers still sputtering along late in the second quarter, he allowed a catchable pass from Ben Roethlisberger to slide through his hands in the corner of the end zone. “I was too worried about my feet, trying to stay in bounds,� he said. “I took my eyes off the ball, but I really don’t get too caught up in drops, which is why I went out to try and redeem myself.�
Exhibit A: Ward’s 37-yard gem occurred two plays later.
By the end of the night, amidst the slew of Terrible Towels swirling through the air, the Steelers had a fifth Vince Lombardi Trophy for the franchise and the Super Bowl ring that Cowher had lacked despite 10 trips to the playoffs during his 14 seasons with the Steelers. Plus, this was the classic sendoff for hometown hero Jerome Bettis, who said this was his last game.
“We were winning this for a lot of people,� Ward said, with his smile growing wider below twinkling eyes. “It’s also for my hometown of Forest Park, Georgia. I won it for those guys who helped support me my whole career.� Then he added, with emotion in his voice, “We all won.�
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