A Celebration of Hines Ward

Oz, when it has to be pointed out that a good hit by a player wasn't dirty, he's probably known as a dirty player.

 

I love watching Hines play. As a Steelers fan, I like watching defense more than offense, and I get a visceral thrill from watching Hines blow people up. If you take a look at one of his nastiest hits, a straight shot at Ed Reed's chin last year, it was a face-to-face attack, early in the play, a few seconds before the ball got to that side of the field. And surely, no one can feel sorry for a Ravens defender.

here's more from Hines from the above story. I think it accurately depicts what it's like to play professional football:

"They all hate me in the division," he said yesterday. "I don't worry about someone trying to take me out. I don't even think about it. I know they're going to try to hit me hard any chance they get. That's why I always try to hit them hard first."

But this bothered Ward greatly: "I hate that they're saying I'm a dirty player when I didn't do anything wrong. How can it be a dirty play when I don't get penalized? How can it be a dirty play when all I'm doing is playing football and trying to help my teammate get extra yards?"

 

When he has been fined by the league twice recently, that helps add to the perception. One of those fines, which was initially said to be for "unnecessary roughness," turned out to be for taunting.

 

Goldeaston, there's some truth to that. But usually, there's a unified feeling that the player -- whether it's Rodney Harrison or Roy Williams -- is dirty, even among fans of that team.

Hines hits people in the chest time and time again. I would hardly call that dirty.

 

Hines Ward does his job. He blocks.
Calling him dirty is an absolute joke. He's never cheap-shotted a player in his career. He plays to the whistle. He hits hard, but not low. He plays the game the way it is supposed to be played. Because he's a WR, everybody expects him to be a weenie. Because he's not a weenie, we get clownish comments like "dirty player."

 

outofplace, I don't know how many times I've posted about the Steelers. Three or four, maybe. And I don't like them. Not because they're bad guys or Republicans or anything like that, I grew up at Municipal. It was kind of a genetic trait not to like the Steelers. And Hines Ward over the years has always gone out of his way to blast a guy. You guys like it cuz he's on your team. I don't like it because he's doing it to guys on my team (which hasn't had a whole lot of luck against the Steelers lately).

 

So during, let's say, a punt return a member of the kicking team is ear-holed like that. It's celebrated on JACKED UP!

Hines Ward does the same thing, but it's a dirty play?

Puh-leeze. The exact same kind of hit happens in every NFL, college and high school game. Keep your head on a swivel during the play, or it'll happen to you.

 

That's all I was saying, prez. Sorry if I was overly snarky about it at first.

There is a part of me that hopes the Browns get to the point of being consistently good enough to make it a good rivalry again. There is another part of me that likes things exactly as they are.

 

I wouldn't say he has never cheap-shotted anybody. I think he has. But Ward does take an inordinate amount of shit for hits that are legal because opposing players just don't expect it from a wide receiver. You'd think they would learn that things are going to be a little different when Ward is on the field.

 

Yet another reason why football > baseball. Ward has to face these guys again. The shortstop doesn't get to take one in the back because of him.

 

I have no problem with any WR or TE or RB or OT or C blocking hard until the whistle.

Reason #1 - Defenders love to pile onto a ballcarrier. How many hits to the back of the head has every offensive player in this league taken when they were six inches from the ground on the way down?

If Hines hits a guy to prevent him from hitting Hines' teammate, then he is doing exactly what he is supposed to do on the football field.

 

And that is why the Bengals talk seems very hollow (as if it isn't always hollow); they had the entire game to get Hines back.

It's not like Hines made this hit with 1:30 left in the fourth quarter.