NEW ORLEANS — If this was indeed Ed Reed’s last game as a Raven, he went out in style last night.
The Canton-bound safety, whose Baltimore future is in question because of the salary cap and questions about his desire to keep playing, came through with two of the most critical plays of the Ravens’ 34-31 victory over the 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII.
And if the first Lombardi Trophy of his magnificent 11-year career wasn’t sweet enough, Reed added quite an exclamation point by doing it at the Superdome — practically in the shadow of his boyhood home.
“I grew up five minutes from here and used to ride the bus to New Orleans, so to do it here — in my hometown, for my hometown and for the city of Baltimore — is unbelievable,” said Reed, who was so deliriously happy afterward that he sang Eddie Money’s “Two Tickets to Paradise” in the packed interview room.
Patriots coach Bill Belichick recently labeled Reed the best safety of all time, and it’s hard to disagree with Belichick after yet another memorable performance by the Ravens’ hard-working star.
Despite suffering what appeared to be a serious knee injury in the first half, Reed came back to intercept a Colin Kaepernick pass before helping to save the day in the fourth quarter by pressuring the 49ers quarterback into an incompletion on a two-point try.
Reed’s play on Kaepernick after San Francisco had stormed back to cut its deficit to 31-29 came with 10 minutes still remaining, but it couldn’t have been better timed for a Ravens team that was running on fumes after a 34-minute power outage in the third quarter dramatically shifted the momentum.
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Kaepernick had just scrambled 15 yards for a touchdown — the longest scoring run by a quarterback in Super Bowl history — when Reed decided he had seen enough of the Niners’ rally.
Lining up to Kaepernick’s blind side, Reed timed his jump masterfully and sprinted in with a blitz so quick, running back Frank Gore couldn’t pick it up. Kaepernick saw the hard-charging Reed at the last second, and the result was a hurried throw into the end zone that had no chance.
Reed also was a factor on the biggest play of the game, eight minutes later, helping with double coverage on Michael Crabtree on Kaepernick’s fourth-down throw into the end zone that sailed harmlessly over Crabtree’s head and all but sealed the Ravens’ second world title in 12 years.
Reed wasn’t a part of Baltimore’s first Super Bowl title (he was still a year away from being drafted out of Miami), but the nine-time Pro Bowl pick and five-time All-Pro couldn’t have played a bigger role in this one.
“I feel like I’m flying,” Reed said. “I’m going to walk back to our team hotel tonight [two miles away] just so I can soak up the atmosphere.”