In early July 2012, with training camp less than a month away, Reed tweeted a very cryptic message and a picture of him enjoying life at home that said: “Tell the bosses I’m comfortable,” which some read as him threatening retirement yet again before the start of the season. In the end, whether it was posturing or his quirky sense of humor, Reed wanted to win. He wanted to play more football. He wanted to fulfill his legacy of winning a championship in New Orleans, completing what was a magical 11-year run in Baltimore.
At the Super Bowl homecoming in New Orleans his teammates reflected on what a personal goal it was to get Reed to win a championship in his hometown and the adversity he’d overcome along the way.
“He’s definitely going to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer,” said Ravens special teams ace Brendon Ayanbadejo. “In my opinion there are only two safeties that come up as the greatest safeties of all time, it’s him and Ronnie Lott. He’s a great player; it’s amazing that he gets to play here at the Super Bowl at home in New Orleans. With all of the tragedy and stuff that he has gone through with his brother passing away, that happened in the playoffs as well, so for him to reflect on how he felt when that happened and to be here now he’s come strides [ahead].”
The Super Bowl in New Orleans would be the last game Ed Reed would play after 11 seasons with the Baltimore Ravens and, deep down, he knew it. Ozzie Newsome had been clear with him all along about the financial ceiling and the reality of Ray Lewis’s departure had hit home along the journey.
But when Reed was on the field at the Superdome for Media Day he chose to reflect on a childhood memory of his first trip to the field in New Orleans as a kid who won his 1996 Punt, Pass & Kick competition in St. Rose. He always saw the game as a playground, and here he was completing a circle of football from his childhood playground to the edge of immortality.
“It was awesome,” Reed said of his experience as an 18-year old contestant. “I remember everything, really. Going against Craig Nall and guys like that, guys who played in the league. I was going against quarterbacks. I was a safety/quarterback athlete. I wound up winning the event, and the winner of the event came to Media Day to see guys just interact with you guys. I was just standing around, me and my dad. I remember seeing the Superdome field, I remember seeing you guys crowd around guys like this. It was just an awesome day. I just started seeing those same visions as we started getting closer and closer to the Super Bowl. Before we played the Patriots, I started seeing those images, but I wasn’t saying anything about it. It was just like, ‘Lord, for real? Is this real?’ I knew we had to play this game, and it’s just awesome. After that, I wound up going to Disney World and competed in their Punt, Pass & Kick. That was an awesome trip there in itself, me and my dad. I had those visions, too, going to Disney World.”
So, Ed Reed got to go to Disney World back in 1997, and Ray Lewis never got that chance in Tampa after the stain of the Atlanta situation. But Lewis did win a Super Bowl, and now Reed was finally on the cusp of feeling that rain of confetti that No. 52 had told him about so many times. He couldn’t believe the good fortune of doing it in his hometown, just like Lewis did in Tampa in 2001.
“You have to have a special team,” Reed said in New Orleans. “Everything has to be clicking, and you’ve definitely got to want it to get here. Not everyone is fortunate enough to go to a Super Bowl. I’m thankful and grateful. I’ve been saying that the whole time. To get the invitation to be here and to be in New Orleans, it’s even more special. Everyone won’t get to a Super Bowl. I know guys who didn’t play a down here and went to other teams and made the teams and got Super Bowls. Derrick Martin got two. That’s my boy, and I know he’s a hard worker and a great player who had an impact on those teams. You’ve just got to be part of something special and we’re glad to have it this year.”
