Article on ward gets it right

Read a very good story on ward by Ron Cook. He speaks to exactly how I feel.
I love ward but we saw him he's done, like cook says it was everything the steelers could do to get ward those last couple of catches for 1000. Why would they go through all that trouble if they didn't respect him? They did it so he could retire and now ward is forcing them to cut ties with him. I feel ward is making this hard.

Here's the story sorry dont know how to link it.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12045/1210001-87.stm

 

i think we did already enough for ward , this year he was payd like a 2 wr when he was the 5 th , same with a.smith , if they don't want to retyre they can go to another team to play a couple of years at half speed , i don't have any problem , and the steelers too

 

I agree that the steelers bent over backwards to get Ward to 1,000. I also think Hines was injured. He was already playing at half speed last year. You all know about 3 years ago how Hines always showed up for training camp with his name taped to his helmet. That was symbolic. Nothing was to be given to him even though he was our #1 WR. Well don't give him a roster spot this year either. Let him rehab his repaired ankle and restructure his contract and come to camp and compete. How can you not give a future HOFer that opportunity. I know everyone remembers the heart this man has. He can do this and be productive on this team!!

 

I wanted Ward back before I heard that Cotchery wants to be here long term. In my mind that means he'll take a modest contract to be here. If Cotchery is gone I like having Ward in case on injury, and to work the slot position on spread sets...

But as much as it hurts to say this, Cotchery is much better than Ward at this point in their careers and it wouldn't make sense to keep both.

 

Arians completely wrote Ward out of the play book. He can still be very effective if utilized correctly. His skill, knowledge of the game, and leadership would be stupid to waste especially when he's already said he'd take the bare minimum pay wise.

 

I say sign him for the minimum,the guy can still play and block like h_ll.
Someone will get injured during the year and he will step right in.
Besides I wear his jersey and dont want to retire it this year.

 

I love Hines,But I feel his time is up.The Steelers did everything last year to get him his 1000 catches.That was a struggle.
Football is a business.It's nothing personal.Everyone,I'm sure loves Hines Ward in the Organization.One player is not bigger than the team.If they resign him,I hope it's for the league minimum because there's a great chance he's not going to get alot of playing time? JMO

 

Darn right it was a struggle...didn't he lose 2 yards on catch #1,000? Love you Hines but it's time to go brutha.

 

So, it was Hines' fault that Arians called that play to get Hines #1000?
That was another reason to be disgusted with Arians.

OK, enough Arians hate, but seriously, I was steamed when they 'forced' Hines to get #1000 on that type of play.
They could have done better, can't blame Hines for one second.(if you actually seen and remember the play, it was terrible)

 

1. He was hurt last year and recently had to get surgery on his ankle. Let him come into camp healthy and lets really find out where he is.

2. Arians' playcalling bite. Heath and Ward should have been targeted much more.

3. You can get him for vet minimum or overpay to keep Cothchery. I choose the cheaper option.

 

I totally agree. I couldn't believe they called that. I felt like it was a little disrespectful. I know he's not our #1 wr nor would I want him to be with Wallace and especially Brown out there but Ward should have had more catches this year as well as Heath. I say bring back Ward for the league minimum.

 

Everyone keeps saying that Ward and Miller need to be targeted more. Why target Ward more? What does he now do special? Speed is necessary; what little he had is gone and was gone all last year. That is why he was not used more. Miller needs to be targeted more consistently or regularly, but he is a tight end. Tight ends need to block and he is good at it. He is not just a receiving tight end; he is both. The defense has to guess if he is blocking or receiving which may determine a linebacker or nickle back on him. With his physical skills after the catch I think more short throws to him would be good.

 

Then, I fear you'll get what you pay for. I'm just confused because we all saw him last year, he wasnt hurt enough for the annoucers of the game to ever mention he was hurt, and he would probably now lose a foot race with Heath. I'm just saying us fans dont know everything that goes on with a player and the organization, but we can use the eye test....and ward didnt pass even that last year. He looked like a shell of himself and it was sad, You steeler fans saying bring him back, because you love him and respect him, I do too and i dont want to get to the point this year where we're all screaming GET HIM OFF THE FEILD!!!! that'd be even more heart breaking than watching him leave now in my opinion.

 

Ward deserves 1 more year, if used properly he can still catch 40-50
Just once lets have a happy ending?

 

I'm telling you his ankle was hurting him most of the year. He had to get his ankle scoped right after this season ended. He probably had stuff floating around in there that was painful enough to slow him down. Many players have down years because of similar things with their knee and are able to bounce back the next year. Yes, the writing is on the wall, but he might be able to bounce back and give us 1 or 2 more decent seasons. What can it hurt to give him a vet minimum and if he performs very well in camp to keep him? Give him some competition in camp, but to not bring him back at all to at least see would be foolish.

 

Just once? Spoiled man... spoiled lol

JB got the greatest ending you could imagine, rode off with a Superbowl in his hometown.

 

3. You can get him for vet minimum or overpay to keep Cothchery. I choose the cheaper option.[/quote]

first there is no write anywhere he would accept the minimum ,while i read somewhere he is willing to cut 50% his pay ,so he wants 2 milion , second let's see how much cothchery will ask