Gene Collier: For a Night, It Was Hines Field

Monday, November 14, 2005
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Looking intently around the Steelers' first offensive huddle, Hines Ward might well have foreseen a bumpy night.

There was Charlie Batch, fresh off an 0-for-8 third-down performance at Green Bay. There was Matt Kranchick, the anonymous on-and-off-the-practice-squad tight end. There was mildly disillusioned wideout Cedrick Wilson. And just over the jagged horizon of their black helmets, there was a 7-0 Cleveland lead on the Heinz Field scoreboard.

If someone was going to point this episode toward typical prime-time predictability, it would like have to be No. 86.

Two hours later, it was indeed Ward's supremely polished, record-breaking performance that put this game in Pittsburgh's pocket. History will show that it was a fairly pedestrian short-side screen from Batch in the second quarter that was Ward's 538th career reception, one more than John Stallworth collected across 14 memorable autumns a generation ago.

Even in only his eighth season, no Steeler ever, as of that moment, had caught more passes than Hines Ward, and Ward didn't seem to want to allow Stallworth's record to fall on a night when he was anything less than spectacular, so that's what he was.

"Orpheus Roye, who was a year ahead of me with the Steelers, was the first to congratulate me," Ward said of the Cleveland defensive end. "He said, 'Who would have thought a guy from those old special teams would have broken this record.
That's what makes this especially gratifying for me, the fact that I was a third-round pick, the fact that I had two first-round receivers drafted while I was here, and the fact that I just kept workin' my tail off when people said I was only this small and only this fast.

"To be able to do [this] in front of my family and friends who came up for it, and on national TV against the Browns, that was great; it's always great to beat the Browns."

Ward appeared to have scored on that first possession, when he got behind Daylon McCutcheon at the right edge of the end zone, wrestled for Batch's pass, tipped it into the air and caught it just as he fell over the sideline and McCutcheon fell away in pain. It was then that Cleveland coach Romeo Crennel unveiled the only defensive gambit that would be effective on this night against Ward, namely the red flag he threw to trigger a replay challenge. It was a temporary fix for a defense Ward would slash for six catches before halftime.

When Joey Porter's interception set the Steelers up at the Cleveland 40 with only 1:19 left in the half, Batch went to Ward to complete a third-and-3. Ward beat corner Ray Mickens off the line and sliced into the Browns for 14 yards to the 19. Twenty seconds later, it was third-and-3 again, and there wasn't much question what was next. Batch hit Ward for 7 yards to the 5. After Batch hurried for the spike that stopped the clock at 0:16, Ward shook free again near the goal line for what looked convincingly like another touchdown, but again officialdom said otherwise.

From the 1, Batch sneaked home. Ward's three catches had accounted for 27 of the 40-yard drive that made it 17-7 and put Pittsburgh in command. But the play that will help fuel highlight reels for most of the week came early in the third period, minutes after the Steelers' huddle withstood another convulsion. Ward looked to the spot where Batch was supposed to be, which had been the spot where Ben Roethlisberger was supposed to be, and identified one Tommy Maddox.

Batch had injured his throwing hand, and before things started to deteriorate back toward a competitive evening, offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt identified the precise spot on this particular tapestry for a defining flourish.

For first-and-10 from the Steelers' 49 -- it was only the third offensive play of the second half -- Whisenhunt sent Duce Staley left with a pitch, brought Antwaan Randle El back against the flow for a handoff from Staley, and had Randle El roll right while looking to throw. Ward was running what looked like an indifferent post pattern from the right edge. Maybe that's what gave the play its slow-motion feel because Ward sold the Cleveland defense on the dubious notion that he was not at all dangerous on that play. A split second later, Randle El's majestic pass was in the air, and Ward was flashing past the startled Mickens yet again for a touchdown so elegant it had instant validity.

"The 50-yard line is the criterion," Whisenhunt said sometime after midnight. "I didn't want to use it before that. Hines had blocked on the play at Green Bay, and that's why it worked."

It measured 51 yards, this scoring play on which four Steelers touched the ball, and it pumped stats to 115 yards on seven catches long before the night ended. Funny how it seemed to end for the Browns right at that moment.

(Post-Gazette sports columnist Gene Collier can be reached at gcollier@post-gazette or 412-263-1283.)