Ed Reed returns, picks off two passes

BALTIMORE — Ed Reed was exhausted. In his first game of the season, Reed played gallantly, and afterwards he pulled himself up from the stool in front of his cubicle and groaned.

His quad muscle was sore, his pride hurt, but he was back.

With Reed, the Baltimore Ravens allowed 506 yards on Sunday to the woeful Buffalo Bills. Without him, they probably would have lost.

Reed bounced around the field during warm-ups, announcing his return. It didn’t take him long to show how badly he was missed. Less than four minutes into the game, Reed forced a fumble when Buffalo’s Roscoe Parrish caught a pass, one that Bills’ quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick recovered, a play that pinned Buffalo deep into its territory.

“We know how important Ed is to this team,” Ray Lewis said. “I know how important he is to this defense.”

Reed began the third quarter by picking off a pass that Lewis deflected and concluded the quarter by snaring an overthrown one.

“You’re really not back until you get an interception,” Willis McGahee told him.

“He came running back after he got that first interception and I was like, ‘all right, Ed, you’re back—you’re back—I mean you ain’t back until you run it back.’ He almost ran it back,” McGahee said.

After their narrow win, Baltimore coach John Harbaugh was relieved—with both the harrowing victory and having his wonderful safety back.

“Ed Reed back there—it changes the whole complexion of the thing. He made his presence felt,” Harbaugh said. “That’s what great players do.”

A few minutes later, Harbaugh indicated his confidence in Reed’s health by sending him back in deep punt formation. Reed signaled for a fair catch.

Reed spent the first six weeks of the season on the physically-unable-to perform list following offseason hip surgery, and though there was lots of “Will he or won’t he?” teasing this week, there was no doubt that he’d play.

On Saturday, the Ravens officially activated Reed. He was ready.

“That was my plan if I could go,” Reed said. At the start of the season, he and the team had decided he’d play as soon as eligible, he laughed. Reed couldn’t wait.

“Oh man, it was beautiful,” Reed said. It was exciting, but not necessarily emotional.

“Honestly, it was more emotional Wednesday for the walkthrough. Just getting back out there with the guys, that was it.”

With Lewis, McGahee and Reed, the Miami Hurricane trio is back.

“Any time you get somebody to come back like Ed to come back, it speaks for itself,” Lewis said.

Reed now has 48 interceptions since 2002—more than anyone else in the NFL, and Sunday was the ninth time he had picked two off in a game.

It wasn’t the Ravens intention to ease Reed back into action.

“I kind of knew they were throwing me into the fire, kind of like a rookie,” Reed said. “I was just mentally prepared. Physically, I knew it would be tough in the latter part of the game, but we fought through.”

With Baltimore off for a week, Reed is ready for a rest.

“They’re saying, ‘Ed’s got fresh legs, but your legs aren’t really fresh coming off a layoff like that,” Reed said. “It’s going to take me a couple of weeks to get back.”

With nine games remaining after the bye week, the Ravens need a healthy Reed to anchor their sagging secondary.

“The next couple of weeks are going to be like training camp being that I’ve never tackled, been through the grueling part of the season,” Reed said. “You kind of expect some of the things I’m going through.”

At 32, nine seasons into his magnificent career, there’s likely not much time left for Reed. Sunday was a special day, one that he’ll always remember.

“It was like being a rookie all over again my first year here,” he said.

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(carrollcountytimes.com)