|
|
 |
|
ARTICLE
HINES WARD POST-GAME QUOTES
Q. You broke up that ball that was almost an interception by Champ
Bailey.
HINES WARD: Champ, playing with him for so many years in
Georgia, Ben looked to the left, and when he came back to me, I
figured he was already driving on it. That's not how you want to start the
game off, so I kind of grabbed his arm a little bit, and I think I grabbed his
left arm, and he tipped the ball up with his right. I stayed with the
play.
You always know where Lynch is. I figured I might as well
catch the ball since he's going to knock the crap out of me. Luckily for
us, it wasn't a turnover and it kept the momentum going.
Q. Is it an exaggeration to say it's a game changing play that
early?
HINES WARD: I don't know. Me knowing Champ, I knew he was
driving on that ball. If he would have picked that ball, it would ‑‑
I don't know how the outcome of the game would have changed because the crowd
would have got right behind it.
Q. Hines, how happy are you for Jerome Bettis to be going
home to
HINES WARD: It's gratifying. Hell, I almost cried. We both almost
cried just going back to
Jerome, he has affected, in some way, everybody on that
team. Someone you can count on. I think more players were more
trying to rally behind them, and make sure they did their job to get him back to
Like I said earlier, what a better way, if this is his last year, to finish his
career off where it started in
Q. Can you tell us what he said before the
half?
HINES WARD: Kimo and Jerome got up, very
emotional. All you can think about is guys sitting there and saying, if I
could have done this different, or better, maybe I would have got the
opportunity to get to the next level.
Guys will say, remember that feeling and go out, and Jerome said
"Go out and give 110 percent on every play and we'll be fine." I think
today we did that. Truly, it wasn't one individual today. It was a
total team effort today. From offensive line, special teams, everybody
went out there and gave 110 percent, and we're moving on.
Q. How well did Ben have to throw that pass to get it to
you?
HINES WARD: He had a rocket. The play was designed to go to me on a post
route. I ended up running out to the corner. I adjusted my route,
and he seen what I was doing, it was that trust factor that Ben
and I started to come along over the season.
He had a small window to get it there and he got it in that window. It
went for a touchdown, but I was teasing Jerome, he had a false
start penalty on the touchdown that we wanted to get, and I ended up with the
tight end on the line. We made a big laugh about it on the
sideline.
Q. Can you talk about the maturation process of
Ben?
HINES WARD: It's his confidence. I heard Jerome mention
earlier, it was last year when you're trying to put it all on your shoulders,
where I have to go out and make plays by myself. I think this year is
totally different. He's starting to have trust in everybody.
He's not going out and saying "I have to put it all out on my shoulders."
He's playing football and letting his team work for him. He does a great
job managing the game, throwing the ball where it is supposed to be thrown.
When you do that, you gain a lot of confidence. Guys are going to do
whatever it takes to make a play for him. It's like night and day.
He's playing with a lot of confidence.
I know he's not putting up a lot of stats like Peyton Manning and
Tom Brady, but he needs to be mentioned with the great
quarterbacks of today. He's been the leader on this
team.
Q. How is Ben a more improved quarterback this
year?
HINES WARD: I don't know. I actually think last year he wanted to make
sure ‑‑ he wanted to see you throwing it. Now he's throwing it before
we come on our breaks. That's where you can see the maturity of him
growing as a quarterback.
Today on third down we completed some huge third downs. I know I had a
deep end route. He threw it before seeing it. You can see the
maturity, and I know he's going to get better and better.
He's always talking to me on the sidelines about certain stuff. He's doing
that with all the receivers. He's becoming his own leader himself, getting
guys going and trying to get them on the same page.
Q. Does this team feel confident enough that you almost feel like you
can't lose?
HINES WARD: Yeah. We have a lot of confidence. Maybe the world
doesn't believe we can go out and win but to beat the number 1, 2, 3 seeds, you
got to have confidence. We felt like we can get the job done. We
have to go out and execute our game plan and make plays and everything will take
care of itself. When you truly believe in it, things turn out, and we're
still in it.
Q. You seem like you guys were able to complete passes to number 22
(Foxworth) all day. Was he their
weakness?
HINES WARD: It's not a weakness. He's still a great cornerback. He's
young, doesn't really have that experience in the playoff situation or the
magnitude of the game.
When you get some balls caught out, you tend to play a little soft or loose and
not take chances. We wanted to exploit that. On the sidelines guys
were talking about let's see if we can have a match‑up problem on
Foxworth. We took our chance on Champ.
He's a game‑changing guy, though. We have confidence in our passing
game. I know people don't talk about us all. They talk about we can
run and things like that. Big Ben, that's why he's
Ben. The receivers, we get paid, too, we go out and make
plays.
Q. Are you amazed that he was the third quarterback
picked?
HINES WARD: No, you always see talent in training camp. It was just a
matter of transferring it over to a game type situation. Now, he's
becoming a leader. Guys, we go ‑‑ if he's out there enthused, guys
around him will be enthused. He'll yell at you to make a play.
That's the mentality the quarterback has to have.
Q. Is he a star or is he close?
HINES WARD: My opinion, he's a star. I don't know what more you have to
be. He knocked out the top three quarterbacks that are going to the
Pro Bowl. I would think he's a star
quarterback.
Q. Compare and contrast last year and this year.
HINES WARD: It was tough, I heard Jerome saying that
Ben took that last AFC championship game hard.
And he said "Come back the next year I'll do whatever it takes to get you back
there." Jerome has touched everybody on this team, but I
told him I wouldn't cry for him this year whatever the outcome. I got
killed for that.
Like I say, it couldn't happen to a greater guy. Jerome is a
true champ. In my opinion he's done wonders for me in my career. I
want to do whatever it takes to win the game. We're happy to go to the
Super Bowl but we want to go win it and bring the championship
back to the city of
Q. Hines, coming into this whole season, Cowher never won a
road playoff game. Did he approach it any
different?
HINES WARD: A little bit, as far as a sense of practicing and how he ‑‑
they seem to say a lot of coaches get real uptight. We're out there joking
and laughing. Maybe that's a different approach.
I think a lot of credit goes to the veteran leadership on the team. It
seems like this year in all playoff games, the teams who turn the ball over the
least wins the ball game, and that's something Coach Cowher has
always kept preaching to all of us.
When Willie fumbled the ball, he got chewed out, but just to get
that monkey off his back saying he couldn't do it on the road, he was 1‑4 in the
championship game, it was a gratifying feeling to prove everybody
wrong.
Q. Do you feel it's easier playing the role of the
underdog?
HINES WARD: Yes, because of expectations. We were 15‑1 last year. We
didn't go out there and perform like we were supposed to. We were really
supposed to have lost the Jets game last year and didn't play
particularly well.
This year there was no expectation. We were the 6th seed. Nobody
expected much out of us. Going to
Q. Have you ever seen Ben make that kind of a
throw?
HINES WARD: Yeah, we work on scrambling drills all the time. If you watch
him in the pregame warm‑up, he's always rolling out, always trying to throw it
out in the air, and we had a little small window. He hit the middle of the
bulls eye. That's something he practiced on as far as because that's the
type of quarterback he is. He can make plays outside the pocket more like
Jake. He practiced on it.
|
|
|||
