It's no secret that Ed Reed is one of the best safeties in the game and he has the potential to be a game breaker in any game that's played which is why I have chosen to respond to Scouts Inc.'s Matt Williamson article entitled "Five Ways to Neutralize Ed Reed"
1. Use his aggression against him. Obviously Ed Reed is an extremely aggressive player who breaks on the ball instantaneously and covers a ridiculous amount of ground. However, if your quarterback is very adept at manipulating coverage and looking off the safety or is very good with ball fakes and selling play action, there is a chance that Reed will bite and attack with passion in the wrong direction. However, he is a top-notch student of the game and will bait quarterbacks.
2. Have a true superstar wide receiver on your side. The Ravens' cornerback play is improved from a year ago, but a truly elite wideout will often force Baltimore to roll Reed over the top of that respective playmaker. This gives you a better chance because it makes it easier to throw away from him. The problem is that not all teams have players like Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, Patriots wide receiver Randy Moss or Texans wide receiver Andre Johnson.
3. Feature the tight end. Game-changing tight ends are also few and far between, but if you can run your passing game through a playmaker like Chiefs tight end Tony Gonzalez or Chargers tight end Antonio Gates, then Reed can be taken out of the equation in deep pursuit or matched up against a much bigger man. Reed is adept at handling opposing tight ends in man coverage, but the quarterback at least knows where he is and how to throw away from the star safety.
4. Run at him. While the Ravens prefer to use the strong safety as the extra man in the box to stop the run, Reed does get that duty on occasion. When he becomes the extra defender in the box, the best way to neutralize him is to run right at him. While he is a very tough run defender, he doesn't have great size to take on much bigger blockers and he can be swallowed up at the point of attack. However, running away from Reed allows him to use his terrific pursuit skills to track your ball-carrier down from behind.
5. Run him off. If Reed is in the deep middle of the field, it is wise to line up your best or fastest receiver close to the formation in the slot. Then, have him run as deep as possible to take Reed out of the play and open up the middle of the field. This will let your quarterback be more comfortable attacking the intermediate zones without having to worry about Reed.
Hm...Interesting. Well let's break it down by point.
1. Use his aggression against him: Ok well according to the article this might work if your QB is very adept at manipulating coverage or at selling play action. The problem here is that Ed Reed plays for the Ravens and the Raven's blitzing schemes don't really allow the quarterback much time to be back there "manipulating coverage." Overall though...this MIGHT work...if the QBs line gives him enough time, and the QB is indeed that good.
2. Have a true superstar wide receiver on your side: As the article states not many teams have this, and even the ones who do can't afford to have that player be completely eliminated from their game plans. The Ravens also shut down elite receivers such as T.O., Andre Johnson, Plaxico Burress, and Braylon Edwards this year....now looking at the playoffs I think the only team who can afford to do this is maybe the Cardinals considering Boldin and Fitzgerald are both beasts and Breaston isn't too bad either.
3. Feature the tight end: Textbook. Feature the tight end and bring down the Safety then you can throw away from him. Again though, not many teams can afford to do this. However playing with the Ravens I would trust the LBs to be able to cover the tight end, so this might not work at all, as evidenced when the Ravens faced Witten and Kellen Winslow this year.
4. Run at him: This COULD work if the Ravens used Ed Reed as the extra man in the box more often, but it doesn't really happen.
5. Run him off: Once again...Textbook. This definitely works when you're playing a top safety. But your QB needs to have enough time for it to work and your slot receiver has to be enough of a threat to work.
So in summary, teams playing the Ravens have a huge obstacle to overcome in Ed Reed. All the strategies above seem good but they all remove one weapon from the offense. Furthermore the whole Ravens D is very very good so this might not work.
Original Article Source: ESPN
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