Unceremoniously dumped by the Bengals in September, Ravens right tackle Willie Anderson goes back to Cincinnati on Sunday knowing he got the better of the deal.
At 7-4, the Ravens are shooting for the playoffs. At 1-9-1, the Bengals are back on the treadmill to nowhere.
"I look real, real big in purple," Anderson said yesterday when asked the difference between the two teams.
Anderson has played a key role on a young offensive line since signing with the Ravens on Sept. 5. At the final roster cutdown, the Bengals asked Anderson to take a demotion and pay cut. When he didn't, he was released.
"Me being there probably wouldn't have changed a whole lot," he said. "I'm not saying, 'If y'all kept me, things would be different.' I know there are different things I could have brought to the table. But I'm very happy here."
Anderson has started six games for the Ravens and played in nine. At 33, he has lent a veteran's wisdom to a line that lost left tackle Jonathan Ogden to retirement in the offseason. The oldest player among the regulars had been Adam Terry, 26, although the team last week signed Chad Slaughter, 30.
"Willie's a great person to be around," left tackle Jared Gaither said. "He has a lot of knowledge, and when he shares it with the rest of the team and the [offensive] line, that's remarkable. It's something like what J.O. had given to us, and now we have it again in Willie, from a different viewpoint."
Reed honored
Safety Ed Reed was named the NFL's Defensive Player of the Week for a two-interception performance Sunday. He lost a yard off his NFL-record 108-yard touchdown return of the second pick, though, when the Elias Sports Bureau viewed the film and declared it a 107-yard return. That still beats his previous league record of 106 yards.
Reed said yesterday that he is still bothered by a nerve impingement in his neck. Asked whether he wondered whether the injury would allow him even to play this season, he said: "I still wonder about that. My neck still has pain in it, and it's still something I'm dealing with."
Step closer to Hall
Art Modell, who owned the Cleveland Browns from 1961 to 1995 and then moved them to Baltimore, is among the 25 semifinalists up for election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The Hall's board of selectors reduced the preliminary list from 133.
