DaytonDailyNews.com

He danced the "Ickey Shuffle" at Cincinnati's Paul Brown Stadium a couple of years ago.

He broke Bengals linebacker Keith Rivers' jaw with a blind-side block on Oct. 19.

What will Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward do next? This much is certain: He won't apologize.

Ward has long been a Bengals' nemesis with his rugged receiving skills and physical blocking style. Those qualities will be on display when the Steelers (7-3) host the Bengals (1-8-1) on Thursday night.

Q Have you spoken to Rivers?

A No, I wasn't able to get hold of him. Any player in the league, you don't want to intentionally end their season, but it's a part of football. When Ray Lewis hit (Rashard) Mendenhall and ended his season, there was no apology Ray sent to us. I'm not going to apologize for what I did, but I told Chad (Ocho Cinco) I'm very hurt that he was out for the remainder of the year.

Q What do you think of your reputation?

A I don't know about my reputation. Players on my team know each and every week I'm going to put it all on the line, I'm going to give it 110 percent and do what it takes to win games. For people to call me cheap shot or dirty ... if I was really trying to hurt Rivers, I would have blocked him low, taken out his knees and ended his career. But I'm not that type of player.

I threw 200 pounds at a huge linebacker who is running full speed. I made a good block on him. It was a legal hit and unfortunately he got his jaw broken. If I go across the middle, I know those guys are going to hit me the same way, so why should I wait around for me to get hit?

Q Have you ever felt like anyone's gone at you with a cheap shot?

A Always, every game, I think someone's out there trying to hurt me. That's part of football. But if it's played within the whistles, it's fine. I can't do anything about it. Anything after the whistle, that's when you take it to another level. I don't worry about stuff after the whistles, because that's why we have laws, fines, rules and things like that.

I'm not sitting there trying to go into the game with the intent of trying to hurt somebody, especially break someone's jaw, considering they have a helmet on. I didn't know that was possible. But for people to call me a cheap shot, I'm not going to change the way I play. But at the same time, I'm never going to wait to get hit. I'm always going to attack people and I do it the legal way.

Q What do you think of T.J. Houshmandzadeh?

A He's a great wide receiver. He's a consummate pro. Each and every day he brings his 'A game' to the field and he's having a phenomenal year. I get a kick watching film on him and I try to implement some of his stuff on the game. He's great at double moves. He's just breaking cats down with the double moves he uses. I play a lot in the slot on third down and T.J. does the same.

Q Why are you so successful on third down?

A We've got a lot of reliable guys on our team. I've been in this game for a long time (11th season), so I understand the game. I know how to run routes and I know how to get away from defenders. If you can do that in this league, you can play a long time. T.J.'s definitely one of those guys.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2253

or cludwig@DaytonDailyNews.com.

The Hines Ward file

Team: Pittsburgh Steelers

Position: WR

Ht./Wt.: 6-0, 205

Age: 32

College: Georgia

Voted: Super Bowl XL MVP (2005 season)