Ward will play the ultimate chip Sunday

Ward will play the ultimate chip Sunday
January 30
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette columnist Ron Cook

"It's not exactly a breaking story that Hines Ward's troubled right knee will have a big impact on Super Bowl XLIII Sunday night. It has been talked about all week, hasn't it? It has been talked about almost nonstop since he sprained the thing in the first half of the AFC championship game. "So much that I think my knee deserves an Oscar award or something," Ward said yesterday.

But the impact won't be what you think. It's not going to be the bum knee limiting Ward's effectiveness or failing to hold up for four long hours, which would sabotage the Steelers' chances of beating the Arizona Cardinals. It's going to be the knee inspiring Ward to play one of his greatest games.

Read this next sentence twice because it's so important:

Ward's knee injury is the best thing that could have happened to the Steelers.

Again:

Ward's knee injury is the best thing that could have happened to the Steelers.

"The ultimate chip," he called it yesterday.

"It definitely adds a little fuel to my fire. I want to prove to the naysayers that I can play in this game. I know they're saying I can't do this and I can't do that. I know they're saying I can only run this route or that route because my knee is hurt. No. I want to run all my routes. I want to show the world I can play and help my team win."

That's good enough for me.

I'm not going to predict another Super Bowl MVP award for Ward, but I am convinced he's going to have a big night.

Clearly, Ward is thinking the same way.

"I'm not going to make any bold guarantees," he said. "But what if we win and I have a big game? A 150-yard game? What if I go out there and really rip it up? On one leg?

"That would be a great story, wouldn't it?"

Don't tell me you will be surprised if it happens. C'mon, you know Ward, too. You know how he thinks. You know what drives him. You know he has built a Hall of Fame career, one chip -- real or imagined -- on his shoulder at a time.

Being drafted in the third round in 1998. "Nobody thought I was going to make it," he has said dozens of times since.

Watching the Steelers take not just wide receiver Troy Edwards with their No. 1 draft pick in '99, but Plaxico Burress at No. 1 in 2000. Where are those guys now? Who's still producing big time for the Steelers?

Being told that he couldn't make a Pro Bowl. He has been to four and, on top of that, owns just about every Steelers receiving record."
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