01-27-2008, 07:55 PM
TROUBLE BREWING BETWEEN HINES, BEN?
Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger recently said he'd like to have a tall receiver. And one of the team's receivers of lesser stature apparently feels shortchanged.
"I'm always going to ask for a tall receiver," Roethlisberger told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "That's just me. Our receivers are unbelievable, but our tallest guy might be Hines. Or Santonio [Holmes]. Hines is going to say he's 6 foot, but he's 5-11."
Said Ward in response: "I don't hear Tom Brady or Peyton Manning asking for that. I don't know, whatever he says. I have no idea. To me, it's a rare combination of receivers out there who are good and tall. We won a Super Bowl, we didn't have a tall receiver then. I don't see Tom Brady caring about who's tall or not. He got Randy this year, but he did it before without him."
We agree with Ward. Height is just one piece of the puzzle. For a quarterback who'd like to get away with being less accurate than he should be, a taller receiver provides convenient cover for off-target passes. Otherwise, it's about whether the guy can get open -- and whether he can make the catch.
The bigger problem with Roethlisberger's comments are that, like Donovan McNabb in Philly, Big Ben shouldn't be talking publicly about things that he wants the team to do. Asking for taller or better players is always going to be interpreted poorly by one or more of the guys in the locker room, and making the request publicly simply isn't the way that a leader of men should behave.
Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger recently said he'd like to have a tall receiver. And one of the team's receivers of lesser stature apparently feels shortchanged.
"I'm always going to ask for a tall receiver," Roethlisberger told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "That's just me. Our receivers are unbelievable, but our tallest guy might be Hines. Or Santonio [Holmes]. Hines is going to say he's 6 foot, but he's 5-11."
Said Ward in response: "I don't hear Tom Brady or Peyton Manning asking for that. I don't know, whatever he says. I have no idea. To me, it's a rare combination of receivers out there who are good and tall. We won a Super Bowl, we didn't have a tall receiver then. I don't see Tom Brady caring about who's tall or not. He got Randy this year, but he did it before without him."
We agree with Ward. Height is just one piece of the puzzle. For a quarterback who'd like to get away with being less accurate than he should be, a taller receiver provides convenient cover for off-target passes. Otherwise, it's about whether the guy can get open -- and whether he can make the catch.
The bigger problem with Roethlisberger's comments are that, like Donovan McNabb in Philly, Big Ben shouldn't be talking publicly about things that he wants the team to do. Asking for taller or better players is always going to be interpreted poorly by one or more of the guys in the locker room, and making the request publicly simply isn't the way that a leader of men should behave.