Ed Reed makes his return to Ravens practice

 

In the words of Ed Reed, “I feel pretty good.”

Prior to his first practice of the 2010 season, the six-time Pro Bowl free safety told a large contingent of reporters that he has progressed from his offseason hip surgery to the point where he feels well enough to prepare for this Sunday’s opponent, the Buffalo Bills.

“I’ve been working out tremendously hard to come back from this surgery,” a well-conditioned and relaxed Reed said Wednesday. “Like I said, I’m feeling good, but I’ve still got some things in there. We’re going to play ball when we’re out there.”

Reed said he still feels some soreness in the hip that forced him to sit out training camp and begin the regular season on the the team’s physically-unable-to-perform (PUP) list. He also said that he’s still battling the nerve impingement in his neck and shoulder area that has limited his ability to tackle in recent years.

“I think time off definitely helped it, but getting back into the game, it’s going to come right back,” Reed said of the impingement. “It never left. I still have the impingement. But I worked out hard to try to strengthen it. At some time, I’ll have to take care of it, but hopefully, God willing, I won’t have anything major. But like I said, it’s football. Things happen. It’s a violent sport, a physical sport, and people get hurt.”

The Ravens have a bye after Sunday’s game, and Reed conceded that there is some consideration to missing the contest against the Bills to take advantage of a couple more weeks of rest and recovery.

“We definitely talked about that, and that’s one thing I knew Coach [John] Harbaugh was looking into, and the organization,” Reed said. “That’s why I went on PUP. From a surgical standpoint, it was an important six-month period of getting back to full strength, a year-long process of getting back to full strength. We’ve still got time for recovery, and I still have some soreness in there and everything. So I’m pretty sure that’s the thought up there.”

Reed is the franchise’s all-time leader in interceptions (46) and has scored 13 touchdowns in the regular season and playoffs. Reed, however, declined to assess his impact on a Ravens defense that ranks second in the NFL in points per game and third in both total yards per game and passing yards per game.

“Just play my part,” he said. “Do what I’m supposed to do and then hopefully, I can continue to do the things that I did in the past.”

Click here to order Ed Reed’s proCane Rookie Card.



(baltimoresun.com)