Don't look now, but a Steelers receiver is on pace to catch 112 passes this season.
"Wow," said Hines Ward.
Wow, indeed, since Ward led the Steelers with only 48 receptions last year, which tied for 37th in the AFC. Today, he's tied for sixth in the conference.
It's only one game and not even Ward believes he can keep up his pace of seven receptions on average, but he has loftier goals than last season.
"If I catch six a game, I'd be happy," Ward said. "Six a game times 16 games, what's that come to?"
It comes to 96, which would shatter Yancey Thigpen's team record of 85 receptions in 1995.
"That's a possible goal," Ward said of the team record. "I think I can catch 80 balls. Last year, I only got four opportunities a game. I'll have a lot of opportunities this year, and you have to take full advantage of them."
Forget what everyone saw Sept. 9 in Jacksonville, Ward said, when the Steelers lost, 21-3, and the offense looked like the Little Train That Couldn't. Ward still believes in his team's offense.
"I like this offense, it's going to give me opportunities to make some plays. We're going to try to make first downs and still set you up for the long pass."
The long pass also was missing in the Steelers' opener. Ward had a catch for 34 yards, but the team averaged an anemic 8.6 yards per reception. Halfback Amos Zereoue wasn't far off that with his 6.7 yards per carry.
Ward blamed the lack of deep passes on the rush the Jaguars put on Kordell Stewart, who was hassled most of the game. Stewart had Ward and Plaxico Burress locked in for deep balls but he never got off the pass.
"We had our opportunity," Ward said. "There were a couple of plays in the Jacksonville game where Plax and myself were open, but Kordell couldn't get it to us because there was too much pressure. Plax had one that was an easy touchdown, and I had a post for a touchdown but he got sacked. We had our shots."
Ward's seven receptions tied his personal high, set against Cincinnati in 1999. On both occasions, he did not get 100 yards receiving. He had 82 against Jacksonville. That made it 17 consecutive games in which a Steelers receiver has not produced a 100-yard game, dating to the finale of 1999 when Bobby Shaw caught seven passes for 131 yards against Tennessee.
That's the Steelers' only 100-yard receiving game in two seasons, and Shaw is the only receiver on the team who has one at all. Ward's best came Oct. 15 against Cincinnati, when he caught two passes for 91 yards, including a 77-yard touchdown. Neither Burress nor Troy Edwards has come close. Each has a personal high of 77 yards.
Ward predicted that Shaw will average more yards per reception than any Steelers receiver, as he did last year, because he plays in the slot. That once was the spot for the team's possession receiver, who would catch the short passes over the middle for first downs and thus have a small per-catch average.
But defenses play the Steelers a little differently, and because of it, Shaw has more room to run his routes. It's called Cover 2 with two deep safeties.
"When you play against Cover 2, we're taking the outside guys out so Bobby can run down the middle," Ward said. "The safeties split, and Bobby runs down the middle. He's going to get all the deep ones."
It's important for them to throw the ball deep, Ward said.
"You have to take your shots deep so the defensive backs and cornerbacks don't sit on a lot of routes. You have to make them play honest. At the same time, we're the Steelers, we're going to pound it. We're trying to get 3, 4 yards every play, and that's our mentality. Even if it's a catch, you get 5 yards, it's second-and-5. Get another catch, first down. We're trying to ball control that way."
Against Jacksonville, it did not work. Receivers dropped passes, blockers could not hold off the pass rush, and Jerome Bettis was ineffective, running for 28 yards on 12 carries.
But somehow, Ward got off to his fastest start, something that Stewart believes can continue because he has a rapport with Ward like he had with Thigpen and Charles Johnson in 1997.
"By him being dependable, sometimes you have a tendency like I used to do with CJ and Yancey, that when things get hairy, you want to thread that needle to him," Stewart said. "He's developed to be a tough, strong, physical, fast, feisty guy who just wants to be part of the mix. When you find a receiver like that, you know that's one side you never have to worry about."
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