He really is. Often you'll see a great defensive back turn a quarterback's mistake to his advantage, but rarely do you see a play like this. Ed Reed simply creates this. It's true the receiver fell, but this is an freakish interception, and then an incredible run back.
The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood 
Copyright © 2009 by The Atlantic Monthly Group. All rights reserved.
I think for the last five or six years, Ed Reed has been better at his position than any other player has been at his.
Just saw where Reed was only 3rd in DPOY voting. I can't understand that at all. I LOVE James Harrison and he plays the game its supposed to be played but come on man.
By the way I really think as sick as the run back was, his second int was as or more impressive. You just don't see Safeties who are supposed to be playing the deep middle, even in the red zone jump a quick slant like that. Especially when he started off in a Cov 2 look and shifted as the ball was snapped. Un frikkin real.
Yeah he is great, man am I glad the 'Boys went with Row Williams instead of ED, who somehow managed to get drafted with the 24th pick.
Gotta love the crapshoot that is the NFL Draft!
yeah, ed has been the embodiment of a 'game-changer' for long enough that he's almost certainly 1st ballot status
i'd put a healthy polomalu in that category as well. ray ray and urlacher fit the description in their primes. sean taylor was en route...
Ed Reed is good and all, and the receiver did trip, but that was a god-awful pass by Chads. His dude is on the outside, two defenders inside, and he throws it inside instead of toward the sideline
What do you expect from a former Miami Hurricane? One blogger in Miami is referring to the Ravens as the Baltimore Hurricanes....Sucks my Fins got stomped but a fan can't complain after an incredible turnaround like that.
I honestly believe that in the right system Roy Williams could go right back to being a Pro Bowler. Dallas is just so damn hard headed that they always strong roll him down in Cov 3 matching him up with a Tight End. If they kept him on the weak side they could just about ensure he was always a free hitter and then he would only have to cover maybe a running back in the flat OR they could just let him play the deep middle so he can knock people out. Trust me John Lynch couldn't cover any better than Roy Williams and he wasn't nearly as athletic but the Bucs and later the Broncos were smart enough to make sure he was always the deep safety on passing downs and in the box only on probable running downs. If the Cowboys quit trying to make him into something he isn't Roy will be just fine.
Just heard Skip Bayless say that Ed Reed is more dangerous with the ball in his hands than Deion. I'm not sure if that's blasphemy or keen insight.
A bit of a stretch. Let's not forget about Champ Bailey, who for a few years was the only true shutdown corner in that league. You just could not throw to anyone he covered. Period.
Aren't runbacks/returns grand? I love special teams play, which too often is treated as an afterthought. And pass interceptions -- magic. Look at how Read keeps finding a hole while his team reacts and gets themselves into position to help make that touchdown happen. A thing of beauty.
@Dragnet: Except for Ocho Cinco, who ate Champ's lunch once or twice when they were manned up. As a result, I always hated the phrase "shutdown corner."
There's just no such thing, with the possible exception of the aforementioned Deion. You just can't shut down any receiver without the help of a potent pass rush.
Lost in the hype of Ed's return is the beastly pass rush that the Ravens were putting on Chad and Co. throughout the afternoon. It's easy for dudes like McAllister and Rolle to take down a couple of jump balls when T. Suggs and Ngata are wreaking havoc up and down the line.
With the exception of occasionally getting overexcited, trying an impromptu hook-and-ladder, and losing the ball after an interception, Ed Reed's play has been exactly perfect this entire season.
sgwhite says: "Trust me John Lynch couldn't cover any better than Roy Williams and he wasn't nearly as athletic but the Bucs and later the Broncos were smart enough to make sure he was always the deep safety on passing downs and in the box only on probable running downs. If the Cowboys quit trying to make him into something he isn't Roy will be just fine."
This is probably true. If the Cowboys don't want RW he'd look good in Foxboro doing Rodney Harrison's old job.
SG-
Man, I couldn't disagree with you more. First I am a life long Texas Longhorn fan and Roy single handidly destroyed my year in 2001. For a refresher of the misery here you go:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1MpHG5x6q0
But when the Cowboys drafted him, I was excited and have been a defender of him since. But the last 2-3 seasons have been horrible. He is often the deep safety, and still manages to get burned constantly. And last year his run support has been lacking. To me it is evident he lacks the mental capacity to properly read and react and postition himself correctly to make the play. A safety in the NFL has to be able to cover a little bit, or at least be able to read which reciver to cover or relaease. He sucks at any play that causes him to make a decision, which is not what you want out of a safety.
His second pick was WAY more impressive than this one. He knew where the QB was going with the ball even before he cocked his arm to throw, and made up 10 yards of ground in about 3 steps to take it and not even have to dive. Absolutely filthy.
Reed is great. Reed is great. Reed is great. But I think I'd take Polamalu over him (I must acknowledge my Steeler fan bias, though).
@KarenZ: Exactly. You can tell that the Ravens practice interception returns, and not just as an afterthought. Ed Reed's teammates set up that return like a punt return.
I love good downfield blocking. Like Brian Westbrook got on that long screen pass. I wish that kind of thing weren't so rare.
dragnet
Ed Reed is a safety, Champ Bailey is a corner. HUGE difference. Would you compare Ronnie Lott to Deion Sanders?
keith
Roy Williams was rarely beat when he was the deep safety the last two years mostly because he hardly ever was the deep safety the last two years and even when he was you would be hard pressed to point out a time when he got burned because the deep safety is a help guy. I don't know why you question the guy's mental ability because Rhode Scholars in the NFL are few and far in between. His problems were positioning and confidence. When he is on the front side he is no longer a hitter but a guy who turns things back in. If they rolled him weak he would get to make a helluva lot of tackles untouched. I understand your low opinion of him, Lord knows the media AND behind the scenes the Cowboys have thrown him under the bus, but I will say this here and now, if they release him as somebody else said he will go somewhere else where they run a 4-3 correctly or run a 3-4 and know how to use their personnel and ball the fuck out.
Why worry about comparing Polamalu and Reed? Troy's strong safety and Ed's free safety. Don't tell them that if there's a free ball in the Pro Bowl, though.
Reed is the man, but go back and look at some of the blocks those cats laid on the 'fins...a couple of dudes just got crushed.
Yeah, who threw that next-to-last block? That was a thing of beauty. (I missed the game.)
Sg-
When I say "mental capacity", I am talking football IQ, not S.A.T. scores. I am saying he does not grasp the simple concept of read and react in regards to the safety position. You said he was rarely beat, because he was rarely the deep safety? I would be hard pressed to point out a time when he was burnt??? Off the top of my head their was the Wash game on Monday night two years ago where he was burnt, down the middle by S.Moss twice in the span of about 3 minutes in the 4th qtr. That night was when I ceased to make excuse for the guy. Anytime the Cowboys gave up a a long pass play down the middle, there is that #31 jersey chasing the play down. Hell, the last game he played this year against St.Louis he got burnt by Donnie freakin Avery in the first qtr before he broke is arm again. Too many times I have seen him get burnt, then point at the other guys as if he wasn't the safety on the play. I used to give him a pass because he used to bring the wood, but he stopped doing that. He has probably been the most frustrating player on that team to watch for the past 3 years or so. Then there are times when he has to cover, and he gets chewed by Shockey in the playoffs. As a strong safety, there are going to be times when a strong safety will have to cover a tight end, surely you will concede that he lacks at that. I don't have to tell you why the Strong Safety postion is named Stong safety. If he were on any other team I would rejoice on his misgivings, unfortunately he is not. Anyway, sorry about the essay....
Speaking of Rhodes Scholar, if that safety out of FSU decides to be a football player instead of a physicist he would be a perfect fit.
keith
Notice you haven't heard me take up for his coverage skills. I don't think he is horrible at coverage, (I mean how many safeties in the league CAN cover Shockey?) but its definitely not his strong suit. But like I said before thats why you put him in position to do what he does best. Most teams don't have an ball hawking safety like Ed Reed or Palomalu. But most of them also don't have an intimidating hitter like Roy Williams either. My whole point is he shouldn't be on the TE most of the time. He should be weak side or on the back line. In the examples you gave I believe at least one of those times with Moss it was the LB who didn't cover the seam that was at fault but I can't speak on the two others because I can't remember them vividly nor find a clip as it happened. But again, my point is when you have a guy with the strengths that Roy Williams has its your job as a coach to maximize his strengths not try to make him do some shit he isn't great at. I tell you what, I will bet you good money that a team like Chicago or Tampa or even Indy would LOVE to have Roy Williams. He is pretty much done in Dallas anyway if there are no coaching changes
Reminds me of the INT return for a TD that Dick Anderson of the Miami Dolphins had against the Baltimore Colts in the 1971 postseason. That was the year before the Dolphins' perfect season, and the 'Fins shut down the Colts 21-0 on the way to the Super Bowl (which they lost to some team or other ;-).
Anderson must've gotten six or seven blocks on the return, which is what made me think of it, since Reed got a pretty good set of blocks from his teammates in yesterday's return.
SHUTDOWN CORNER, GAMEBREAKER, G.O.A.T. Gill Byrd was great, Deon Sanders was a phenom and a marketing genius, but Ed Reed is the most explosive DB to ever step on the field. Unlike LT he doesn't transcend the position, but he plays it like very few can/have/or ever will.
SGWhite,
I was reponding to this quote:
This phrase is obviously comparing people across different positions in the NFL. Having thus made that clear, I'm sticking by my original statement.
Love, love, love Ed Reed, but Asante Samuels is that dude; he was the Pats game changer.
dragnet
Even if you think that Champ Bailey was better than Deion, and Rod Woodson I don't think you can make a case that it was by much. I honestly can't name a safety with Reed's combination of cover skills, return skills and physicality as Ed Reed. Usually you were one or the other, every once in awhile a guy like Merton Hanks came along and did all three but never, never on the same high level in all skill sets in history. I truly believe that. If you don't I ask you to offer up someone else who has or has come close.
nista206 writes: "Asante Samuels is that dude; he was the Pats game changer."
If only he'd made that interception in last years' Super Bowl...
Asante is a fine player, but he's not on his way to Canton. Ty Law in his great years with the Pats was better, and he played the run, too.
Sg-
I understand what you are saying. I just think that they have tried to maximize his effectiveness, and he was an intimidating figure. But his skills have declined, and he is not the same force that he was early on in stuffing the run. I think he is very below average when it comes to coverage, which you can live with if he is exceptional at stuffing the run. But he is not anymore. He is a guy that has gotten worse every year that he has been in the league. Which would indicate that either he just doesn't get it, or doesn't care. I expected the second coming of Darren Woodson ( a guy that did everything) when he was drafted, and he has fallen so short it is very dissapointing. He was the 8th pick in a draft where Ed Reed(the point of this whole thread) was picked 24th. So I expected him to be on the same level as Reed, Woodson, Palomalu, etc...thus the frustration.
Moe:
Yea, yea, yea... I just knew he'd come thru on that play.
"I always hated the phrase "shutdown corner."
There's just no such thing, with the possible exception of the aforementioned Deion. You just can't shut down any receiver without the help of a potent pass rush."
Nnamdi Asomugha disagrees. The man can absolutely shut down anybody one-on-one. Sadly he's so far out of the media spotlight in Oakland, but the one time I watched him against my Panthers he held Steve Smith to 9 yards.
Three quarters of the world is covered by water. The rest is covered by Ed Reed.
Deion was a real shutdown corner...OA in Oakland is a close to shutdown corner. New rules in the NFL since Deion's departure favor the receiver to the point that an actual real deal shutdown corner may never re-emerge. Wish T-New in Dallas could play consistently well because when he's on there is no DB better in the league. But Ed Reed is so sick, he never ceases to amaze.
Dude, where did I try to make the case that Champ Bailey was a better corner than Primtime or Woodson? Someone said that Ed Reed had been "better at his position than any other player has been at his." Upon reading this, I simply noted the erstwhile dominance of Champ Bailey at his position.
I can't help but chafe at guys trying to force feed me words. Slow your roll---and that's an order.
Roac, that was Haloti Ngata. That guy is an absolute beast. I've watched the Ravens for about 15 minutes this year, and he stuck out already. I happened to watch when they showed a clip of him playing rugby in college, I think, and that was scary.
No offense to Ed Reed, but it was that block, and the way the Miami player curled up in fear at the last second, that caused me to watch this clip a few times.
I'll second a few previous thoughts--Ed REed is awesome, but you have to give a lot of credit to the blocking by the rest of the defense. The way they set up the wall on the sideline was fantastic--I think it's obviously something they work on.
And Reed and the rest of the Baltimore secondary must have wondered at their good fortune when the Dolphins coaches kept calling for notoriously weak-armed Chad Pennington to keep lofting balls downfield instead of keeping to the short throws that are his strength. He made a bunch of terrible throws and decisions. It certainly wasn't helped by having a rush in his face most of the time, but there's still no excuse for lame duck wild tosses into double coverage.
On the subject of Bailey, I thought he was good but a bit over-rated when he was in Washington, although I haven't seen him at all since he went to Denver. I will add that Dr. Z, who watches and charts a lot more than just about anybody, always dinged Champ for getting beat deep too often, and almost always left him off his all pro teams for that reason.
Doug T mentions: "Dr. Z"
I hope he comes back and soon. Best football writer ever and an interesting character as well.
dragnet
The original post you responded to said "in the last five to six years". I took that to mean Reed's career not everyone else during those last 5 to 6 years. I apologize for the misunderstanding because I thought you were saying that Champ was the best to ever play that position.
The Ravens defense is sick. And they show up for big games. The bigger the stage, the more intensely they play. As a Dolphins fan, I had almost forgotten what the playoffs were really like.
In the AFC North, division games are big games. And a "sick" defense that shows up in big games does not let a mediocre offense drive the ball 92 yards in the last minutes of the game. To top it off, the player who deservedly is the Defensive Player of the Year almost single-handedly beat the Ravens in the first match-up. If Ed Reed wants the honors again, he has to step it up in the big games like James Harrison did and will do again over the next five weeks.
SGWhite mentioned in the other thread that he likes the Chargers because the Steelers haven't been able to run lately. That's true. Willee Parker hasn't rushed for 100 yards in a meaningful game since week 11, against the Chargers. It's nice that Willee will get a chance to run against a team he can run against before facing the Titans or the acclaimed Ravens defense, which is statistically inferior in every way to the Steelers defense.
I know I'm late and probably posting in an echo chamber, but I'd like to hear how intelligent football fans reconcile Ed Reed being the best at his position with the fact that Baltimore gives up so many big plays.
In 2008, Ed Reed and the Ravens gave up:
6 40+ yard passing plays
41 20+ yard passing plays
That's the same number of 40+ yard passing plays that the Steelers have allowed over the last two years. And the Steelers only allowed 23 20+ yard passing plays this year.
In 2007, Ed Reed (who went to the Pro Bowl) and the Ravens allowed 15 40+ yard passing plays?! Giving up the deep bomb almost every game is good enough for a Pro Bowl spot?
Isn't a free safety supposed to be the last line of defense and stop the big play? Ed Reed isn't playing the position as I understand it too well.
Instead of Defensive Player of the Year, Ed Reed should get the Flashiest Interception Returner of the Year. But leave the real defensive awards to the real defense in the AFC North - the Pittsburgh Steelers.