Baltimore Ravens safety Ed Reed defends QB Joe Flacco performance remarks – NFL News
On Wednesday, January 18, 2012, Baltimore Ravens' safety, Ed Reed, defended his comments about fellow quarterback (QB), Joe Flacco, who, he said, was kind of ‘rattled’ by the Houston Texans' defence, in their home game in the playoff round at the M&T Bank
Stadium on Sunday, January 15, 2012.
In an interview, the safety, while answering a question about the credibility of his comments and possible reaction from Flacco, said that his comments should not be taken out of context.
“There's always a method to the madness," Reed said, adding that his teammates should not "take anything out of context that I said. If they do, it's got to be motivation to prove me wrong.”
In his remarks about the Flacco’s performance, Reed said that the QB would need to perform better than their opponents, in the upcoming game against the New England Patriots this Sunday, January 22, 2012, to help his side claim the American Football Conference
(AFC) championship game.
"I think Joe was kind of rattled a little bit by (Houston's) defence", Reed said.
"(The Texans) had a lot of guys in the box on him. And, I mean, they were getting to him. I think a couple times he needed to get rid of the ball. I don't know how much of the play-calling ... but it just didn't look like he had a hold on the offense."
The outburst was expected to lead to a controversy in the team and most probably to the possibility of a strong reaction from Flacco himself.
Following day the player defended the remarks, saying they were in the context of team’s performance and should be taken in the same perspective.
Flacco was sacked five times by the Houston Texans' defence, despite the fact their players are not as much experienced as Ravens'.
Reed’s remarks coincide with the concerns being expressed by a number of commentators about Baltimore Ravens' approach going into the next game.
The team, during most games of the 2011 National Football League (NFL) regular season and in the playoff game, had totally banked on their defence for wins.
A majority of their points in all those games were scored through the turnover opportunities, and there is a concern and possibility of Ravens ending up losing the championship game against Patriots, if they continue with the same approach.
New England Patriots' offence line is rated among the bests of the league and relying too much on the defence without going for counterattacks would expose Ravens at both positions.
They need a change in their traditional defensive strategy to balance it with offensive aggression and their quarterbacks will have to perform better than their opposition to pull off a victory on the weekend.
Reed said his concerns about Flacco’s performance were in the same context.
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