Ed Reed was the best. Here is a look at his best work:
On Saturday night Ed Reed will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The final achievement left in Reed’s masterpiece of a career will be putting on the Gold Jacket and unveiling his bust. Putting what Reed did on the field during his career into words just wouldn’t do justice, so lets highlight his career resume real quick.
64 career interceptions (7th all time)
9 career playoff interceptions (T-1st all time)
1,590 career interception return yards (1st all time)
13 career return touchdowns
9x Pro Bowls
5x 1st team All-Pro
2004 Defensive Player of the Year
Super Bowl Champion
Reed’s numbers speak for themselves. His intelligence and instincts were second to none. The respect he had from his fellow teammates and coaches was unprecedented. He was the most feared and best ball hawk defender ever, and in many people’s opinion (including myself), the greatest safety of all time. Simply put there never was, and never will be another Ed Reed.
With the career resume Ed Reed has it is difficult to narrow his most memorable games to just 5. There are just so many game-changing plays he made. When Reed made a play on defense, it usually came in an important moment of the game and almost always resulted in a Ravens win. Every fan has their favorite Ed Reed moments. There were games where he is just took over, and people will never forget where they were when watching him play. In my opinion, here are Ed Reed’s top 5 most memorable games.
5. 2008: Sunday Night Football vs Washington Redskins
Ed Reed always seemed to play his best in prime-time games, in 2008 he absolutely dominated the Redskins on Sunday Night Football. On the third play of the game Jason Campbell was hit as he threw the ball. As the ball was fluttering in the air, Reed tracked it like a missile and made a sensational diving interception, snatching the ball inches from the ground. The pick lead to a Ravens TD, then two possessions later, Reed made the play of the game. Running back Clinton Portis run up the middle and Reed meet him and stood him up. As Portis was being tackled to the ground Reed was swiping at the ball and jarred it free.
Reed scooped it up quickly, with a nice block from Samari Rolle, Ed then dodged a couple of tackles and causally strolled backwards into the end zone. Just an unbelievable individual effort on one play, and only a play that Ed Reed could make. Reed later snagged another pick to put the game on ice later in the 4th quarter. Ravens won the game 24-10. The 14 point difference came directly from Ed Reed’s two early takeaways.
4. 2009: Wild Card game vs Miami Dolphins
Just a few weeks later after the Redskins game, the Ravens faced the Miami Dolphins in the Wild Card round. In a 3-3 game with about 3 minutes left before half-time, Reed broke the game open with an iconic play. He started near the line of scrimmage and as Chad Pennington dropped back to pass he sprinted full speed to the deep left side of the field. The throw was out in front and Reed made a “Willie Mays” style basket catch. After the pick Reed then weaved his way 64 yards, with a nasty block by Haloti Ngata and a convoy of teammates in front of him, Reed leap into the end zone.
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I’ll never forget watching that play live, just a complete momentum shifting effort by Ed. Late in the 3rd quarter the Dolphins finally entered the red-zone. Reed read the eyes of Pennington as he took off from one half of the field and jumped in front of a quick slant route and made the interception. It was one of the best examples of Reed using his instincts and completely making a play on his own. From there the Ravens handled the Dolphins and won the game 27-9, as Reed’s two interceptions were a huge difference maker in the result.
3. 2004: Monday Night Football vs Cleveland Browns
Every Ravens fan remembers this play. Monday Night Football, in a 20-13 game with 45 seconds left and the Cleveland Browns were knocking on the door. It was 2nd and 5 from the 5 yard line, Jeff Garcia drops back and fires pass in into the end zone as it bounces off of his receiver’s hands and Ed Reed is there to snag it inches from the ground. Reed races down the sideline with no Brown having a beat on him. He starts flapping his arms like an actual Raven and crosses the goal line for a 106 yard return touchdown. At the time it was an all-time record. It was a type of play a player only could dream about making once in a career. However, Ed Reed wasn’t just an average type of player. The Hall of Famer would best this moment with his next performance on this list.
2. 2008: Week 11 vs Philadelphia Eagles
In a 22-7 game the Eagles were on the Ravens 1-yard line and trailing. With about 7 minutes left, a touchdown could have made it a one possession game. On 2nd down they tried a play-action pass and Kevin Kolb fired into the back of the endzone and sure enough Ed Reed was reading the play the whole way and under cut the pass. Picking it off as his raced out of the end zone, he juked out Kolb and Brian Westbrook and broke away from one last Eagles player and crossed the goal line.
Lightning strikes twice as Ed Reed breaks his own interception return record with his 107 yard game-braking play. This will probably go down as Reed’s signature play for a lot of people. In the biggest moment of the game and when the Ravens needed a play the most, Ed Reed came through. Of course, in true Ed Reed fashion, he broke his own record in the process.
1. 2013: Super Bowl 47 vs San Fransisco 49ers
Even with all the unbelievable plays Ed Reed made, the top moment of his career is his picture above of the last time his put a Ravens uniform on. The legendary safety getting his ring and winning a Super Bowl with the Ravens was an easy number one moment. Reed was in his twilight of his career at the time, so this wasn’t a game where Reed dominated and made the game-breaking play. However, just like he was his whole career, Ed was in the right place at the right time for some key moments of the game.
In the middle of the 2nd quarter the 49ers were down 14-3. On the 2nd play of the drive, Kaepernick overthrew Randy Moss and Ed Reed was of course in the right spot and able to make the interception. Halting the drive and keeping the momentum with the Ravens. Everyone knows how the rest of the game went and ended. On the 4th down play of the goal-line stand for the Ravens, Kaepernick’s pass sailed out-of-bounds while Ed Reed sprinted to the corner of the end zone. What was his final play as a Raven, Reed was in the right place if a play was needed to be made.
The lasting imagines of Ed Reed in a Ravens uniform is him holding up that Lombardi Trophy and singing “Two tickets in Paradise” at the Super Bowl parade. Reed’s Hall of Fame career will never be duplicated and it was truly an honor being able to watch him play. I, like many Ravens fans, will never forget watching Ed Reed make a game changing play when his team needed it the most.