And what did he do when the deal wasn’t finalized? Wore a T-shirt in the locker room implying that he had to sell drugs to make ends meet.

“Leadership”

You have no point. You think Leftwich is better.

Which kills any credibility you think you have.

Simply put? Over 50 year old Yinzers have no place in discussing the current NFL.

Either way, as an outsider, I never thought Hines & BR got along. Hines sniped about BR and vice versa. It’s not really surprising Hines wouldn’t think of BR as a leader.

Passion? His passion came at a price.

He was perfectly willing to sit at home while UNDER CONTRACT and risk the 2005 season until Dan Rooney gave him more money.

Go away Bobzilla, your dream of having Byron Leftwich be the #1 QB on this team isn’t going to happen.

He’s doing the same thing that his buddy Jerome Bettis did when he retired: Downplay the other members of this team while at the same time promote his own self-worth.

Hey Hines, how much of a “leader” were you when your late night carousing led to your divorce? And then later a DUI? How much of a “leader” were you when you ran a sports bar with a CONVICTED drug dealer named Korry Pitts (This isn’t rumor btw, it’s fact, look up the name)?

That’s leadership? Spare me.

Do “leaders” hold out while under contract? And then imply that they have to sell dope to make ends meet like you did in 2005 (Considering Pitts’ past maybe that was true)?

Do “leaders” demand that their quarterback (Roethlisberger) lie to doctors about a concussion and then go on TV and say Ben should be playing in this game but yet can say that Ryan Clark, who was cleared by doctors (Ben wasn’t) shouldn’t play in Denver because of his condition?

Would Hines ever answer why he values Ryan Clark’s life over Roethlisberger’s?

Hines Ward needs to realize one simple fact:

Before Ben Roethlisberger arrived Ward was a good receiver on mostly bad Steelers teams.

Then Ben shows up, and only then did Hines Ward win anything of his significance in his career.

And his constant digs at Ben will never change that.

To put it into perspective under Cowher Earl Holmes once threw a chair at a teammate and had to be restrained…it was all forgotten.

Is this what fans do to former Steelers? Love them while they are here, hate them when they are gone. You people are no different than the fans of any other team.

Hines knows a majority of those guys in the locker room, are you telling me he doesn’t talk to ANY of them? Someone isn’t telling him the stuff that goes on in there? The lack of leadership?

But Ben, the paragon of moral virtuosity, tells you there is leadership and you blindly believe him?

I am sure the truth is somewhere in between, as it is for most teams. They obviously didn’t have great chemistry last year. In previous years chemistry made up for a team getting old and losing some talent, but not last year.

@welcomeback85 how do you justify our organization not resigning a washed up vet who should’ve been out of the league after ’10 season as B.S. ??? We barely have cash to keep the players we had this season.

I Believe that if there was even ONE team willing to sign him this past season he would’ve went there. But no one is going to pay an aged wideout who can’t play special teams and be maybe 4th best wideout in rotation last season on any squad. Would you? Tell me how it is b.s. this guy got his 1000th reception on a shuffle pass for Christi sake. This is all from a Steeler fan who doesn’t live life through black and yellow sunglasses.

I guess that does leave “little” Ben with a shoulder that will never heal.

Ward’s comments hold little to no water and stink of hypocrisy. This is the same guy who publicly ridiculed Ben when he didn’t play through a concussion against Balt.

I agree with you but would go much further. Ward also complained to the media when Tommy Maddox got a slight pay increase when he was starting for a couple of years while being paid as a third stringer. He complained to the media when Ben said it would be nice to have a tall wide reciever. He complained to the media about every first round reciever the Steelers drafted since Ward was drafted. Ward complained to the media about being moved to slot reciever earlier in his career. These are just off the top of my head. Ward did a crapful of complaining while he was a Steeler. He should be thankful it hasn’t seemed to hurt his legacy.

Ben not the most mature person but don’t think Ward is the man either.

I’m not saying he’s wrong, though. Clearly something went off the rails for the team last year. I doubt that there was the “schism” or fracture that the media is trying to promote as The Agreed-On Narrative, the story everyone is supposed to go with regardless of any correlation with the truth, but it’s entirely possible that more vocal leadership was needed and no one stepped up.

Many years of great service for the Steelers, but as a huge Steeler fan , even I say… Go away Ward, enjoy the memories and your rings and stop hurting the current team( they have enough problems )