A Tough Goodbye: The Top 10 Moments of Hines Ward’s Career

Hines Ward will go down as the best Steelers WR in team history. End of story. Problem is, the story for Ward isn’t quite done, at least in terms of playing in the NFL.

The WR, who won’t be back with the Steelers in 2012 (announced on Wednesday by the team), had plenty of great moments in his 14-year Steelers career. Today, we give you the “Top 10 Moments of Hines Ward’s Career” here on Steelers Gab.

Feel free to submit your own as well in our comments section, and we will post some as well!

1. All-Time Great Leading WR 11/13/05 – Ward becomes the Steelers’ all-time leading receiver with his 538th catch against the Browns on ESPN Sunday Night Football surpassing John Stallworth’s record. The Steelers won 34-21 as they continued their run towards Super Bowl XLV.

2. MVP of Super Bowl XL 2/5/06 – Ward takes home the Super Bowl XL MVP as the Steelers beat Seattle 21-10 in Detroit. Ward became the second foreign born player to earn the accolade. Ward scored a 43-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter, thrown by fellow wide receiver Antwaan Randle El. Overall, Ward had five receptions for 123 yards, one touchdown and one rush for 18 yards.

3. Touchdown Leader 12/2/07 – Ward continues to climb the charts, as on this night he became the Steelers’ all-time touchdown receptions leader with his 64th touchdown reception against the Bengals on Sunday Night Football.

4. Yardage Leader 12/20/07 – Ward becomes the Steelers’ all-time receiving yardage leader in a game against the St. Louis Rams. In a 41-24 win to end the regular season, Ward catches 6 passes for 59 yards.

5. 11,000 Yards 9/12/10 – Against the Falcons in the season opener, Ward became the first player in Steeler history to surpass 11,000 receiving yards. He caught 108 yards worth of passes in that game to pass Hall of Fame Steeler receiver John Stallworth for the most 100-yard receiving games all-time for the Steelers with his 26th. His 6 catches against the Falcons gave him 901 for his career, making him only the 12th NFL player of all time to surpass 900 career receptions.

6. 10,000 Yards 9/28/09 – Always stepping up against the Bengals, Ward grabs four catches for 82 yards, putting him over 10,000 career receiving yards and made him the first wide receiver in Steelers’ history to achieve that milestone. On third-and-two Ben Roethlisberger hit Ward for a 14-yard gain, giving Ward 10,001 career receiving yards.

7. 1000 Grabs 1/1/12 – In his last memorable moment as a Steeler, Ward caught his 1000th reception against the Browns in Cleveland with 13:53 left in the 4th quarter of a win. He is just the eighth player in NFL history to do so, but on a down note, he actually lost 3 yards on the play, and it was his final catch with the Steelers.

8. Knockout 10/19/08 – During a Steelers whooping of the Bengals 38-10 in Cincy, Ward crushes first round pick LB Keith Rivers with a block, one that eventually forced a rule change for offensive players not to be allowed to hit defenseless players. Ward broke Rivers’ jaw, forcing him to miss the rest of the season.

9. Touchdown #1 9/12/99 – In the first of what would wind up to be 85 touchdowns as a Steeler, Ward hauls in his first TD, a catch against the Browns, who were playing in their first game back in the NFL. The Steelers would give Cleveland a rude welcome back to the league in the 43-0 domination, and for Ward, the TD was just the beginning of a stellar career in the Steel City.

10. Monster Numbers 10/22/06 – This day at the Georgia Dome defined Ward when it came to numbers, as he totally dominated the Falcons to the tune of eight passes for 171 yards and a career-best three TDs, including a 70-yarder in which he literally ran out of his right shoe. Ward and the Steelers lost that day, but once again the WR proved his greatness for the Black and Gold.

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