Ward's retirement

I am not a fan of the way Hines has been phased out. I understand the young talent we have but if you look at the numbers for the year Hines was tied for second with 2 touchdowns at the wide receiver position in his reduced role. Wallace led the team with 8. The so called young guns with talent were thrown too many more times than Ward and here are the numbers

Brown - Thrown to 60 more times than Ward (2 TD's) Targeted 123, Catches 69, not caught 54
Wallace - Thrown to 50 more times than Ward (8 TD's) Targeted 113, Catches 72, not caught 41 (Scored 5 of his TD's in games he had less than 100 yards receiving)
Sanders - Thrown to 20 Less times than Ward, (2 TD's) Targeted 43, Catches 22, not caught 21
Ward - (2 TD's) Targeted 63, Catches 46, not caught 17

Stats were obtained from ESPN
http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/stats/_/nam ... h-steelers

Don't get me wrong I like the talent we have at the wide receiver position and feel they are the future. What bothers me is Arians/Tomlin are caught up in the sizzle factor and not respecting the complete package Hines brings to the organization and what we need from our young talent moving forward.