Jan/19/10 12:21 AM Filed in:
Ed ReedI really hope Ed Reed doesn't retire.
You want to see great players make great plays in big games like these. Well, I do anyway. Reed had the most compelling three minutes any player has had in a while against the Colts on Saturday night. In the span of six plays on the same drive in the third quarter (technically, they are two different drives because of the change of possession and then the change back within seconds), Reed twice intercepted Peyton Manning. The first pick he fumbled back to the Colts. The second interception was negated because of a pass-interference call against nickel back Corey Ivy and robbed the Ravens of their last chance to get back in the game.
Reed, 31, said after the game a nerve impingement in his neck may force him to retire. "You'll know soon enough,'' he said. That would be sad for football, because this is the best ball-hawking safety of our time (maybe ever), and the most instinctive defensive back of this era. Intercepting Manning twice in a span of six plays ... that's absolutely stunning. And it's no fluke.
On the first play, a long throw down the right sideline for a seemingly open Pierre Garcon, Reed stayed in centerfield (well, maybe right-centerfield) until he saw Manning bring his arm forward, which is a different motion than Manning's pump-fake, and then sprinted in front of Garcon to intercept the ball. Obviously, by Reed not protecting the ball and getting it punched out by Garcon on the return, the Ravens took a big hit.
But five plays later, Reed did the same thing in straight-away center, on a ball I'm surprised Manning threw. With Ivy in tight coverage on Dallas Clark, Manning tried to squeeze a line drive into Clark; there was some jostling, a flag was thrown on Ivy, and then Reed stepped into the picture and picked Manning again. The interference wiped it off the books.
Someday, if Manning stays healthy for six or seven more years (a big if), we might be talking about him as the greatest quarterback of all time. If you talk to corners and safeties around the league, they'll tell you he's virtually un-baitable. That's what makes Reed, who has studied the difference in mechanics between Manning's pump-fakes and his real throws, so special. Even though one of them didn't count, I don't think you'll ever see such a great quarterback as Manning picked twice by the same guy on such instinctive plays.
If Reed retires, it'll be like some of the greats who went out in their prime -- Otto Graham, Jim Brown, Barry Sanders, etc. "I've been thinking about it often, and I'm thinking about it now,'' a stone-faced Reed said quietly in the Ravens' locker room. I'm not sure Manning would miss Reed, but the game certainly would.
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(cnnsi.com)