Reed expects to play Sunday despite pain

OWINGS MILLS - Ed Reed has endured a lot of pain this year, overcoming a variety of injuries to lead the league with eight interceptions.
Despite a nerve injury in his neck, a surgically repaired hip and his latest injury, bruised ribs, the Baltimore Ravens' star free safety expressed confidence that he'll be ready for Sunday's playoff game against the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium. He didn't practice Wednesday.

Reed suffered the rib injury against the Cincinnati Bengals and expressed relief that he didn't break anything.

He's also grateful that the Ravens are playing the Chiefs rather than the Indianapolis Colts, which likely would have meant a Saturday game instead of granting him an extra day to heal up.

"I'm just trying to get myself together right now," Reed said Wednesday at the Ravens' training complex. "I'm trying not to let it stop me, but it's painful. I'm just dealing with it. We'll rehab up until this Sunday and that was another good reason not to be playing Indy because we'd probably be playing Saturday. That's the only thing honestly I was praying for."

Reed has become accustomed to playing through serious ailments.

He hurt his ribs during his second interception of a Carson Palmer pass Sunday. Then, he refused to come out of the game until coach John Harbaugh ordered him to the sidelines in the second half.

Reed indicated that he suffered a bruise and damaged the muscle by his ribs.

"It's probably both," Reed said. "I didn't see any fracture, so that was a good thing, but it's definitely both."

Reed had another reason not to want to play the Colts in the first round, the Ravens' rough track record against quarterback Peyton Manning. Manning orchestrated the Ravens' exit from the playoffs in the AFC divisional round last season.

"Me, personally, I didn't want to go play against Peyton in this first round," Reed said. "It's not so much it's Peyton because I take to my brother, Reggie Wayne, over there. Me and him are texting back and forth all season.

"He told me it's got to go through them. So, you've got to respect that. They're a great team."

Meanwhile, Harbaugh expressed optimism about Reed and offensive tackle Michael Oher who has a sprained right knee.

"They seem good," Harbaugh said. "They were out here. Seem like they're moving around OK. I'm always optimistic. I'm an optimistic person."

Reed missed the first six games of the regular season on the physically unable to perform list following offseason hip surgery.

"It's been tough, but I've been focused on it," Reed said. "After having surgery, that was something I had never been through. That was a whole different pain. It's been tough, but trainers have been doing a great job, my doctors have been doing a great job, and me personally, just trying to stay up on it. There's a lot of things I had to cut out and I couldn't do and just didn't do because I would much rather get the rest and get off my feet."

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(carrollcountytimes.com)