Top 5 seasons from Baltimore Ravens players of All-Time

3. Ed Reed’s 2004 season

I don’t know what is crazier. Is it that Ed Reed had nine interceptions or is it that Ed Reed had two seasons with nine interceptions? Ed Reed could honestly fill this whole list. It’s a lot like Justin Tucker on my Top 5 greatest game winning plays rankings, I jut had to pick one kick. Let’s go with the year that Reed won the title NFL Defensive Player of the Year. I could even argue that the 2008 season where he had eight interceptions was just as good as the 2004 season where he had nine.

Reed had an interception in eight games of the season. That’s insane. In half of the games, Reed got a pick. Quarterbacks were practically horrified to throw the football down the field. They knew that Reed could make them pay, even when they didn’t even make a bad decision. There may be no defense to a perfect throw, but there was know way to avoid Reed when he saw an opportunity.

In week three, he picked off two passes against the Cincinnati Bengals. Reed had 358 interception return yards. He scored two defensive touchdowns, one on a pick, one on a fumble recovery. His interception return for a touchdown was a record breaking 106 yard interception return.

Reed made plays all over the field. He had 64 solo tackles, two sacks and six tackles for a loss. Reed was such a hard hitting player and when he was young and injuries hadn’t taken that much of a toll, he played the game like he was wrecking ball.  He wasn’t just an interception guy, and people tend to forget how incredible of an all around player he was in his prime. This was his prime. This was Reed announcing to the world that he wasn’t just one of the best players in the NFL, he was going to be an all-time great.