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After the first fumble, David Reed looked like he was sick to his stomach.
After the second, he looked like he wanted to find a way to crawl inside the Ravens' bench and hide.
Yesterday was by far the roughest day of Reed's two-year NFL career, as the wide receiver coughed up the ball on two kickoff returns over a 21-minute span.
Also in that window, Reed was whistled for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, after he taunted a Seahawks player by dropping the football in his lap following a return.
To recap: three kickoff returns, two fumbles, one penalty. Yikes.
"I didn't fumble at all last year," Reed told reporters after the game." It's a little hump I've got to get over. It's very frustrating. (I've) just got to bounce back. I let my teammates down. It was bad. I don't feel good at all."
Cameras showed Reed sitting on the Ravens' bench hanging his head after the second fumble. A quiet, reserved guy still trying to make his mark in the NFL, Reed clearly felt awful for putting his team in such a rough spot and essentially costing them six points, as Seattle turned both fumbles into field goals.
The question now is whether Reed will get a chance to make amends for yesterday's mistakes.
The 2010 fifth-round pick has now fumbled three times in two games (including one against the Steelers that was recovered by Ravens fullback Vonta Leach). That's starting to look like a bit of a trend.
One factor that will play into the kickoff return equation going forward is that the Ravens released their other top kickoff returner, Bryan McCann, two weeks ago. McCann was buried on the depth chart at cornerback, and with Reed back healthy after wrist, shoulder and knee injuries, the team didn't think McCann would be needed on kickoff returns.
Now they're in a situation where they don't have any other available, proven kickoff returners. Chris Carr has mainly handled punt returns over his career, Lardarius Webb already has a full plate, Torrey Smith is now a starting wide receiver and LaQuan Williams only has five regular season kick returns under his belt.
It's possible the Ravens will have to ride it out with Reed. Head coach John Harbaugh told reporters that it's understandable that Reed will be down in the dumps after yesterday's performance, but seemed to indicate a level of confidence in a guy who led the NFL in kickoff return average last season.
"Absolutely, I think anybody's confidence would be shook," Harbaugh said. "You can't turn the ball over. Hey this is the NFL. When you run up in there, you have to protect the football. He knows that. He will stop that. David Reed is a tough guy. He is a competitive guy. He's done that before. I have a lot of confidence in David, I have a lot of respect for David and he is one of our guys.
"I think that fumbles are easily correctable. I also think that we can block better too. We can hit the holes a little better. We missed some holes in there. We didn't run in the right spot all of the time and you have to hold on to the football. Those things are all correctable, no question."
