JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Hines Ward was walking through the concourse underneath Alltel Stadium, heading for the team bus after a game yesterday that began with a presidential coin flip and ended in a monumental flop for the Steelers.
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Hines Ward fumbles after being hit by Jaguars linebacker Hardy Nickerson. The turnover led to Jacksonville's second touchdown. (Peter Diana, Post-Gazette) |
Ward was walking slowly, his left ankle taped to protect a sprain that occurred when he landed wrong after a 34-yard catch in the second quarter.
On a weekend when he received a four-year, $9.5 million contract extension and caught a team-high seven passes for 82 yards, Ward was feeling a little gloomy. Not only did the Steelers lose their season opener, 21-3, to the Jacksonville Jaguars. But they might not have enough guys to catch passes in their home opener against the Cleveland Browns Sunday.
"We got a lot of receivers banged up," he said.
Ward, who played sparingly in the second half, appeared to be the least of the worries. He said he should be fine and expected to play against the Browns.
But the Steelers were not certain about Plaxico Burress, their other starting receiver, and were downright pessimistic about No. 5 receiver Will Blackwell, who could be finished for the season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.
Burress, their No. 1 draft pick in 2000, was knocked from the game in the second quarter with a separated left shoulder. Burress said he was reaching back to catch a Kordell Stewart pass when he was hit in the back of the shoulder. It was not known how much, if any, playing time Burress will miss, though he was cautiously optimistic.
"I'll be OK," Burress said. "I'll play [against the Browns]."
Blackwell will have an MRI today to determine the severity of his injury, but he and Coach Bill Cowher each said it appears to be a torn ACL.
In all likelihood, that would end Blackwell's season and force the Steelers to activate wide receiver Demetrius Brown, or even rookie free-agent Tim Baker, from the practice squad.
If Burress is out for an extended period, it's likely both players will be added to the 53-man roster.
"[The doctors] said it looks like a [torn] ACL because of the way my knee was moving," Blackwell said.
Blackwell was injured returning a kickoff in the second quarter and actually came back in to the game for four plays when Ward was injured near the end of the first half. But, once he started running on the knee, Blackwell knew his injury was more serious.
"It was bothering me, but with all the adrenaline and endorphins going, I didn't think about it," Blackwell said. "I just went back in the game. But, when I started running, I knew something was wrong."
Curiously, the Steelers elected to keep just five wide receivers on their roster -- one fewer than normal -- because they did away with most of their five-wide receivers sets in Mike Mularkey's offense. But, after the way they were banged around yesterday against the Jaguars, the Steelers are down to just two healthy receivers -- No. 3 Bobby Shaw and No. 4 Troy Edwards.
"Nothing went right today," Ward said. "We just have to forget about it. As long as we don't start out 0-3 like we did last year, that's our goal. With road games, it's hard to come down here and get a win.
"They didn't go out there and stop us. We stopped ourselves. We shot ourselves in the foot."
But that wasn't why Ward walked with a slight limp after the game.
He was injured when he went up to catch a 34-yard pass from Stewart along the sideline. On the play, Jaguars cornerback Fernando Bryant slipped on the wet field and was helpless to make the play. But, when Ward came down, his leg buckled underneath him and he hobbled off the field.
Burress is a bigger concern. Stewart seems intent on trying to establish a rapport with the second-year wide receiver, looking for him early and often in the past two games. But Burress is still displaying a penchant for dropped passes and, worse, rarely comes up with the ball in one-on-one matches along the sideline.
He had a chance to make a nice leaping touchdown catch in the final preseason game against Buffalo, but had the ball knocked away by Bills cornerback Ken Irvin, who is 6 inches shorter. Yesterday, presented with another chance to catch a high sideline throw from Stewart, Burress got both hands on the ball but had it knocked away by cornerback Aaron Beasley.
"We got off to a slow start and it hurt us in the end," Burress said. "I'm not just one primary receiver. We have several. Everybody has to do their job and if they do, we'll be OK."
Receivers exit game walking wounded 
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