Ward shows Falcons what they missed

By Darrell Laurant  |   Thursday, October 26, 2006  |  Comments( 1 )

Pittsburgh Steelers
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At one point in his youth, Pittsburgh Steelers WR Hines Ward liked to pretend to be Billy "White Shoes" Johnson.

On Sunday, playing for the first time as a pro in his hometown, he became Hines "One Shoe" Ward.

After grabbing a pass over the middle from backup quarterback Charlie Batch, Ward beat two Falcons (including DeAngelo Hall) to the end zone on a 70-yard run, losing one of his shoes en route. By the end of the game, he had made eight catches for 171 yards and three touchdowns.

Unfortunately for Ward, who grew up 11 miles from Atlanta in College Park, Ga., there was a sour ending to his homecoming story. Pittsburgh failed to get a play off from the Falcons' 33 with nine seconds left and the home team won, 41-38, with a Morten Andersen field goal in overtime.

It was fellow wideout Nate Washington who jumped offsides as Batch was trying to spike the ball, and Ward slammed his helmet to the turf in disgust.

In 1997, knowing that the team he grew up cheering for needed a wide receiver, Ward waited for them to call his name in the third round. Instead, Atlanta chose Jammi German of the University of Miami, and Ward went to Pittsburgh on the last pick of that round -- arguably one of the steals of the draft.

German managed 13 catches in three NFL seasons. Ward now has over 600.

"I was looking forward to a chance to stay home," Ward said, "but I've had a great career in Pittsburgh."

At the University of Georgia, Ward played three different positions -- flanker, quarterback and tailback. As a sophomore, he started at all three in the same season.

"I was a 'Slash' before Kordell Stewart," he said.

The Steelers are now 2-4, and they've had their offensive problems this year. One of those problems, however, appears to have been alleviated -- if Ward had any lingering effects from the hamstring injury that sidelined him throughout the preseason, it didn't show on Sunday. With more than 70 family members and friends looking on, the 6-foot, 205-pounder caught an 11-yard TD pass from Ben Roethlisberger in the first quarter, the bomb from Batch in the third and a 17-yard pass from Batch that tied the game at 38 in the fourth.

Roethlisberger went out with a concussion in the third quarter after throwing for over 200 yards.

"I got to do the Dirty Bird dance in the end zone, like the old Falcons," said Ward. "That was a great moment."

Original Pittsburgh Steelers commentary, courtesy of RealFootball365.com
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