Rookie gets schooled

On Sunday Steelers WR Hines Ward recorded the 60th and 61st touchdowns of his 10-year NFL career, putting him in second place behind Hall of Fame WR John Stallworth with 63 for the most touchdowns in team history.

I talked to Ward after the game about the milestone and misusing Bengals rookie CB Leon Hall for number 60. Ward shook Hall like a Polaroid picture, right out of his shoes on a double move for the touchdown grab. Of course the class act Ward downplayed the misuse of the rookie.

"I ran a pretty good route on him. The young guy came in on me and it's all about route running," Ward said with a smile.

It was a hard lesson for the rookie Hall, who was made to look silly on the play.

As for his accomplishment...

"It seem like those four touchdowns were far away, but coming up on being the Steelers' all-time touchdown leader that's something I never imagined in my wildest dreams," Ward said. "Each week I get closer and closer, and I have to continue to stay healthy. Anytime you can go out and help contribute to a win you have to feel good about it."

Ward is doin' it and doin' it and doin' it well!

The Steelers secondary lived up to its blue-collar reputation for being tough and physical. CB Deshea Townsend was very aggressive with WR Chad Johnson starting with his first reception.

Johnson seemed to take exception to being roughed up and started jaw-jacking. Well, the Steelers secondary didn't mind the jabbering. They were more focused on keeping Johnson out of the end zone and off the highlight reel for his highly publicized touchdown celebrations ... which they did.

"That's what it's about. You know he's going to be there for 60 minutes and you have to let him know that you are going to be there as well. We did well against Chad today and there was no dancing in the end zone. Anytime you do that as a defense you feel pretty good about that," Townsend said.