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Rejoice, Ravens fans. Ed Reed is back.
After spending all of training camp and the first six weeks of the regular season on the Physically Unable to Perform list because of offseason hip surgery, Reed donned his Ravens jersey this afternoon and took part in his first practice since the end of the 2009 season.
"It's always good getting back with those guys and just moving around with them," Reed said with a smile today.
The major question surrounding Reed this week is whether he'll be healthy enough to play this Sunday against the Bills, but Reed didn't provide much insight on that topic today.
"I feel alright," said Reed when asked about his status for Sunday.
Questioned again about his chances for suiting up against the Bills, Reed replied: "I feel pretty good."
While it's possible the six-time Pro Bowler gets some game reps this weekend, he has to first see how his surgically-repaired hip responds to a week of practice.
While Reed has been rehabbing and doing individual drills for the last few months, he has yet to take part in a full football workout, something which he obviously will have to do before being cleared to officially come off PUP.
"I haven't practiced, I haven't moved around how you move around on the football field as far as plays go, back-to-back like that," Reed said. "So it's going to be interesting to see how my body reacts this week to all the movement and carrying the weight around and stuff like that."
One possibility is that Reed sits out this weekend's game, which would allow him another full two weeks to work his way back because of the bye week next week.
"We've definitely talked about that, and that's one thing I know coach Harbaugh is looking into," Reed said. "From a surgical standpoint, it was a four-to-six month period of getting back to full strength. So, we've still got time to recover. I still have some soreness in there, I still feel it when I move. I'm pretty sure that's the thought upstairs."
Reed has also dealt with a nerve impingement in his neck and shoulder area the last two seasons, which he says feels better, but still will be an issue down the road.
"I think time off definitely helped it, but getting back in the game, it's going to come right back," Reed said. "It never left. I still have the impingement, but I worked out hard to try and strengthen it. At some time, I'll have to take care of it, but hopefully, God-willing, I won't have anything major."
Reed said that it won't just be the physical part of the game which he'll need to ease his way back into, but that the mental aspect might be lacking a bit at first as well. He says once he returns, he might rely on strong safety Dawan Landry to help him a little more than he would normally.
"It takes time to work out those rough spots, the mental lapses that you might have out there on the field," Reed said. "It's like coming into training camp all over again. Those guys constantly repped our defense. I know some things, remember a lot, but when you get out there in that fire and it's moving a lot faster, you can have those brain teasers that make you forget a thing or two.
"That's what the guys are out there for. That's what made me and Dawan so good is we would help each other. I would remind him or ask him...I'm not too much of a veteran or been in this league too long or too prideful to where I can't ask for help."
