As Ed Reed prepares to take his place in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, teammates, friends and coaches from his Ravens, college and high school years reflect on the legacy of the legendary Ravens safety with their favorite memories and never-before-heard stories. 

Haloti Ngata 
As told to Glenn Clark

Haloti Ngata was a defensive tackle for the Ravens from 2006-2014.

Everyone knows he’s an amazing player. I just feel so blessed to be able to play with someone with such great instincts, willing to gamble but also make the right bets. And he’s an awesome person — a person that you always want to hang out with, that’s just real chill, real relaxed, never going to get too crazy. I love Ed Reed. Ed Reed’s one of my favorite guys that I played with. First of all, I always feel safe having Ed Reed back there knowing that if we get passed on, Ed Reed’s going to be somewhere around the ball, tipping it, breaking it up, intercepting it, so you always felt safe. 

One of my favorite memories of Ed Reed was there was a ball that got hit out. It was a fumble. I’m about to jump on the ball and Ed Reed just out of nowhere doesn’t even miss a stride — just watch it on film — just full-on sprint, sprinting to the ball, picks it up without slowing down, full sprint and just takes off and scores a touchdown. First of all, it just was a blur because it came right in front of my face, but just the most athletic thing I’ve ever seen on film because even though it’s just picking up the ball and running, but at the same time, it’s hard to really bend down and pick up a ball and not lose stride and then keep on going. It was just pretty cool.

He had all his interceptions and everything, but it was just cool to see someone like that pick up a ball full speed and not slow down and then continue on and score a touchdown. It’s just one of the most amazing things I’ve seen. It doesn’t probably sound that hard, but it is. When you’re full sprint, it is. He didn’t slow down at all. That’s what was just crazy.  

To read more memories of No. 20, visit PressBoxOnline.com/Reed.

Photo Credit: Sabina Moran/PressBox

Issue 255: June/July 2019  

PressBox

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