Gary Kubiak says Ed Reed is as close to return as he has been

Houston Texans coach Gary Kubiak can’t say definitively at this point that Ed Reed will play Sunday against his former team. However, he said in a conference call with Ravens’ reporters today that the safety is “as close to playing as [he has] been.”

“His progress has been really good,” Kubiak said. “It was a tough decision [last] Sunday because I think he was very, very close, but we decided to go in the other direction. We’ll see where we’re at. It’s a day-to-day deal. We’ll see. He’s ready to go practice today and take an even bigger load than he has been taking the first two weeks. I think we just continue to go day-to-day and hopefully we’ll get there this week.”

Reed, who signed with the Texans in March after he played 11 seasons with the Ravens, has yet to appear in a game with the Texans following arthroscopic hip surgery that he had in April to repair a torn labrum.

Kubiak said that Reed has brought presence and leadership to the Texans and “hopefully, [he’s] healthy enough to where that now transfers to the field with the guys.”

Reed, who turned 35 last week, is hardly the Texans’ only injury concern. Star wide receiver Andre Johnson sustained a concussion in Houston’s overtime victory last week over the Tennessee Titans when he was hit by former Ravens safety Bernard Pollard.

However, Kubiak is optimistic that Johnson will play against the Ravens.

“He’s done really good,” Kubiak said. “In his protocol process today, he’ll work with the trainers. He’s expected to practice with the team tomorrow in pads. That would be, I think, step four or step five, however that process works. But all indicators are if everything goes well throughout the course of the week, he should be ready to go. But we’ll see where we’re at each day.”

Kubiak also called standout left tackle Duane Brown “an end of the week decision.” Brown is dealing with a sprained toe.


(baltimoresun.com)