Originally Posted by
bmorecareful
A lot of hysteria on both sides going on in this thread. As usual, the truth always lies somewhere between the two sets of rabid extremists. Ed is not as good as he used to be, but he's still by far our best option at FS.
Ed Reed is not playing as well as he has in the past in any facet of his game. Yes, his "counting" statistics aren't bad (10 PDs, 3 INTs) but part of that could be due to seeing more passes into his coverage than in prior years. In years past QBs simply didn't go to Ed's side of the field if he was playing a deep half. But nowadays Ed doesn't have quite as much speed or range so when he's playing centerfield he can be looked off or otherwise taken advantage of.
The Ravens have allowed 8 passing TDs this year, and Ed Reed had primary coverage on 3 of them (2 vs Oakland, 1 vs Houston) and possibly a 4th (vs Philadelphia) but that may have been a miscommunication with the CB. That's not what you expect out of possibly the best coverage safety to ever play the game, but he is slowing down and not getting a lot of help from his teammates in the secondary or the pass rush. Obviously, his play against the run is so-so at best and he's missed too many tackles.
There's no way the Ravens have someone stashed on the bench who's better than Ed Reed. He's the best option and barring injury he should start the rest of the season at FS. Hopefully he'll improve, but he's not getting any younger and again he doesn't have a lot of help from his teammates. Although he's been my favorite Raven since his rookie year, this isn't 2005 anymore, it's 2012 and the decline we knew would happen is actually happening. I believe 2013 is the year the Ravens move on.
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