PFT: Ward Says He’s Not Worried About Bounties

From: ProFootballTalk.com

In October, Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs suggested that he and his teammates have a bounty out on Steelers receiver Hines Ward. The Ravens later backtracked when it occurred to them that the league office might not take kindly to such comments.

But whether there’s really a bounty on him or not, Ward says he won’t be worried about it when the Steelers take the field against the Ravens on Sunday.

“I’ve heard that the last five years, that they’re supposed to have a bounty on me,” Ward told Peter King of SI.com. “Jamal Lewis, when he was with the Ravens, told me once, ‘There might be a bounty on you.’ You want me to go out there and play any different from the way I normally play? I’m not going to do that. When I go across the middle, they’re going to try to kill me. When I’m blocking downfield, I’m going to try to knock them down. That’s football, and I’m not going to change anything.”

Ward disputes the notion that he’s a dirty player, although he says he’s glad that opposing players know they need to be ready to get hit when they’re on the field with him.

“I play the game one way — aggressive,” Ward told King. “I’ve been taught to block downfield. That’s what I do. Never have I gone out there and tried to maliciously do anything to another player.”