Like Picasso staring at a canvas or Jimi Hendrix at an electric guitar, Ed Reed sees possibilities in a crowded football field that other players do not. He's fast and has great hands. He watches as much film on his own time as any Raven.
But there's more to Reed's game. He wouldn't put it this way, but it has become obvious that the Ravens have one of the greatest improvisational artists ever to play defensive football. And when his body of work is judged, the past seven games might be remembered as his masterpiece.
That's pretty remarkable when you consider that, five months ago, shoulder and neck injuries had Reed feeling gloomy and uncertain about the 2008 season.
"When you're a question mark going into Week 1 and pretty much every week after, to look at what he's done, that's an amazing story," fellow safety Jim Leonhard says.
How else to describe seven games in which Reed has intercepted 10 passes and scored three times from the defensive side of the ball? The Ravens needed to win virtually every week to stay in the playoff hunt, and Reed picked off two passes each in key victories over the Philadelphia Eagles, Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins. He did it again in the playoff opener at Miami.
Beyond numbers, he has created indelible moments.
There was the record 107-yard interception return to seal the win against the Eagles, the 22-yard score off a fumble that put the Redskins in an early hole and, finally, the winding, 64-yard interception return against the Dolphins.
The last play epitomized Reed's unique abilities.
First, he ran down a pass that appeared to be floating beyond anyone's grasp. Then, instead of feeling satisfied, he reversed his field and cut an S through the entire Dolphins offense on his way to a touchdown.
After the win, he said the play reminded him of pickup games during his childhood in Louisiana, when he and his friends would maneuver a 60-yard side street with mail boxes on either end. It was a fitting association because Reed, 30, is the rare player who can make other pros look like overmatched kids at recess.
"He looks like Willie Mays in center field," former San Francisco 49ers coach Steve Mariucci said on the NFL Network's highlights show.
A freak, linebacker Terrell Suggs calls him. Superman, Derrick Mason says of Reed.
Coach John Harbaugh, who played defensive back in college and has coached several All-Pros at safety and cornerback, says unabashedly that Reed is the best he has seen at the position.
