Football Friday Film Study: The Ravens Will Attempt to ‘Reed’ RGIII

Football Friday Film Study is a weekly piece dissecting the Washington Redskins’ upcoming opponent’s main strength.

The Baltimore Ravens  have one of the most instinctive football players in safety Ed Reed. The 5-time All Pro and 8-time Pro Bowler just has that God given ability to read/react and track down footballs.  “Some guys, I think, are born to be football players,” Redskins’ coach Mike Shanahan said during his Wednesday presser. “I think Ed is that type of guy.” Shanahan continued to express his thoughts on Reed, “he is a guy who I think is in the film room every day. He knows what is going to happen before it happens. Usually the great players are not only great athletes but great students of the game and he is a guy that I think is very well prepared and he knows what is going to happen before it happens, which is why he has so many picks.”

The Washington Redskins understand the task ahead of them in their week 14 match-up against the Ravens. It will definitely be a chess match between rookie QB Robert Griffin III and Ed Reed.

The Ravens allow Reed to utilize his football smarts – roam the defensive backfield and make plays on the ball. It’s as if he’s playing backyard football. He’s always around the ball.

This season, Reed has 4 interceptions and they all showcase his football smarts:

Interception #1: Week 1 against the Cincinnati Bengals - 22 seconds remaining in the 3rd quarter – Ravens 27 Bengals 13. Ball on 21 – 3rd and 9.

• Ed Reed (Burgundy) is the single high safety on this play. The Ravens lined safety Bernard Pollard as essentially a linebacker and sent him towards the Bengals’ quarterback Andy Dalton. This was a simple out-route designed to hit the tight end who was actually open. But Dalton overthrew the football and Ed Reed crashed on the route – intercepting an inaccurate pass. Reed returned this particular interception for a touchdown and became the all-time leader with 1,497 interception return yards.

Interception #2: Week 2 against the Philadelphia Eagles – 43 seconds remaining in the 3rd quarter – Ravens 17 Eagles 17. Ball on 43 – 1st and 10.

• This time the Ravens are in cover 2. This was a simple in-route to the Eagles’ tight end who was covered by Ray Lewis. The ball was thrown a little high, but it was still a catch the tight end could have made.

• The ball bounced off the tight end’s hands and of course, anytime the ball is in the air – 9 out 10 times it will fall in Ed Reed’s hands. It’s a proven statistic and that’s exactly what happened here. Why? Because Ed Reed has the freedom to step back and examine the football field — read the quarterback and make plays on the football. Rarely does he have a specific assignment and yet, it’s rare that he gets outsmarted.

Interception #3: Week 9 against the Cleveland Browns -  2:19 remaining in the 4th quarter – Ravens 25 Browns 15. Ball on 18 – 3rd and 6.

• This play was a beauty – hence the extra drawing in this screenshot. The Ravens are in cover 2 — Browns’ QB Brandon Weeden initial target was the tight end, but the linebackers dropped and Ed Reed ran over to box the TE. On the other side of the field, the receiver circled in yellow ran a 9-route, but the corner traded that route off to the safety(in this case, Ed Reed). Of course, Reed was in-between the hashes which left the outside receiver wide open.

•  As soon as Reed saw Brandon Weeden moving towards the left side of the field, he proceeded outside the numbers where the receiver was wide open. Now, this was not a good throw by Weeden – it ended up being a tad under thrown. But the moral of this story is, Ed Reed is more than capable of covering sideline to sideline.

Interception #4: Week 13 against the Pittsburgh Steelers - 11:43 remaining in the 4th quarter – Ravens 20 Steelers 13. Ball on on 20 – 1st and 10.

• Here again, Reed is backed up in single high. He initially notices Pittsburgh’s receiver Emmanuel Sanders (black) running what appeared to be a seam – but he sunk into the route for a comeback. So, Reed bailed out and read the quarterback’s eyes looking directly at Heath Miller (yellow).

• The Steelers’ quarterback Charlie Batch waited a second too long to throw this football and Reed took advantage of it.

Ed Reed may be 34 years old, but he’s still capable of covering a lot of ground. He has great instincts and he knows how to get inside the head of quarterbacks. Robert Griffin III isn’t fearing this match-up, but he did acknowledge Reed’s ability calling him “one of the best safeties to ever play the game.” Robert went on to say, “You’ve just got to be aware of where he’s at just like he’s got to be aware of where I am and [running back] Alfred [Morris] and everyone else.”