Now that I’m fifty, I’ve matured, and my reactions have calmed down considerably compared to my younger days. That includes watching football games, even when it involves my beloved Steelers. I enjoy the wins, I’m bummed after a loss, but age and experience brings a much needed perspective about it all. I’m not falling out of my chair and screaming into the carpet after a play, as I was known to do in the past…I’m looking at you, Bettis fumble at the goal line in Indy.

There’s only one thing that stirs that old passion in me now and makes my blood boil in frustration and anger. It’s the analysts and HOF voters that refuse to acknowledge the career of Hines Ward based on an argument that his stats aren’t worthy of getting past the semifinalist stage.

Back when I was just discovering that Steelers focused podcasts were a thing, my first search brought up a different group that dedicated a show to why Hines should not be voted in. I guess in hindsight I should be grateful, because that’s what made me search again and find the now rebranded SCN family of podcasts and articles. It wasn’t long after that I heard Jeff Hartman doing a fantastic job breaking down exactly why the stats argument keeping Ward out of the hall is (long pause here so I don’t type the word I really want to use) ridiculous. If you have not listened to that podcast episode, it is in the player below this article.

I won’t go into the detail here that Jeff called out on his show, but Hines has more receiving yards than Michael Irvin or Calvin Johnson, his 1000 receptions put him 18 ahead of Randy Moss, and he is ahead of several current hall members with 85 TD catches. Irvin, Johnson, and Moss have well deserved gold jackets. Add in two super bowl wins, a super bowl MVP, and four pro bowls, and tell me again that Hines Ward doesn’t have the numbers. His postseason stats and accomplishments are even more impressive compared to the all time greats.

There is a recent story I read that revealed the Steelers had planned to take Jerry Rice until San Francisco made a trade to jump ahead and steal him in the 1985 draft. The story went on to postulate on how Pittsburgh’s fate might have been different if they had been able to land the greatest receiver of all time. A more pertinent question would be how that would have changed the legacy of Jerry Rice.

Just like styles make fights in boxing, coaching philosophy and team rosters make careers in the NFL. I’m not here to take anything away from Jerry Rice. He was the hardest working guy in the room, ran precision routes, and never made mental errors or hurt his team with diva behavior. But to me, stats are the least important and most misleading metric of judging a player. Jerry Rice found himself in the perfect situation. He had a brilliant head coach with an offense built on an innovative passing game, and his quarterbacks were Joe Montana and Steve Young, two of the best to ever do it.

If the Steelers had taken Rice in 1985, Jerry would have had a game plan that had not changed since 1973 and still considered the fullback dive the optimal offensive play. His quarterbacks would have been Mark Malone, David Woodley, Bubby Brister, Neil O’Donnell, Mike Tomczak, Jim Miller, Kordell Stewart, and Kent Graham. No matter how hard he worked, Rice wasn’t setting records or racking up HOF numbers with that group. Despite some of those QB’s having sporadic decent moments, Montana and Young they are not.

Hines Ward, however, did come into the league with Kordell Stewart and Kent Graham as his signal callers. Remember Kent Graham? The first time I saw his backside trotting out on the field, I wondered how it was possible that a guy could have a professional football career without ever having done one weighted bar squat in his life. Hines also had a head coach in Bill Cowher that thought a 7 point lead meant it was time to take the air out of the game and run the ball until time expired. He had a brief flash with a salvaged Tommy Maddox slinging the ball, and then played with a young Ben Roethlisberger that was much different than the franchise QB Big Ben that emerged later in his career. Despite all that, Hines racked up receiving yards, receptions, and touchdowns. Ward was usually the reason Cowher had that early lead to run the ball the entire second half.

The numbers can’t tell the real story that Hines Ward was more than just a wide receiver. He was a complete football player, as tough as they come. He played the game with this rare incredible mixture of joy and physicality. He loved to hit, and he loved to get hit. He blocked as hard as he ran routes and set the standard of team leadership. He mentored every new receiver brought in on what it meant to be a Steeler, and with some of the (ahem) challenging personalities that came into the locker room after him, that was invaluable.

Whether you were a Steelers fan or not, you knew who Hines Ward was, and only truly generational players achieve that. My wife took a trip to China as part of her doctorate program for physical therapy, and she only saw one NFL jersey being worn there, and it was a black and gold number 86. Defenses feared him and made game plans just to deal with his physical play. No matter what they threw at him, he took the hits, made the combat catches, and fought through every tackle with the biggest smile in the game.

That mentality has been lacking in the wide receiver room over the last several years. Now with the addition of Roman Wilson, there is some comparison on how his approach to the game is similar to Hines Ward. I am here for all of that. You can keep your flashy, high priced diva wideouts that throw fits and destroy team chemistry. I’ll take the hard working underdog that never gives up and doesn’t quit, no matter the circumstances.

So yes, Jerry Rice has crazy stats that have him labeled as the best of all time. Hines does not have his stat lines. But neither do any of the other receivers currently in the hall. None of them come close. When you look at the others in the hall, or ones that seem to be sure locks to get voted in, however, Hines Ward has stats that compare or exceed with all of them. Now go back and read the list of quarterbacks he had and ask yourself what other receiver could have done what Hines did. I’m not sure even the great Jerry Rice could have pulled that off.

Some might say I’m being a homer, and that’s fine. I like to think I’m being objectionable, as I’ve always been able to appreciate effort and hard work, no matter the team. I still remember Junior Seau’s performance against the Steelers in the 1994 AFC Championship game as one of the most amazing games I’ve seen by a linebacker. As much as I hate the Ravens, I could not deny the talent and hard work of Ed Reed or Ray Lewis. So even if I weren’t a Steelers fan, I’m confident that I would still think it’s a travesty that Hines Ward is not in the Hall of Fame. He played the game the way it was meant to be played and did it with class. I wouldn’t trade him for any other receiver of his era, no matter what a stat line says. Stat lines don’t get you so fired up that you jump around waving a terrible towel in your living room by yourself. Hines did that for me every game.