Sep 7, 2008 7:34 pm US/Eastern
Ed Reed Returns To Ravens Lineup
BALTIMORE (AP) ―
Although he didn't even dress for a preseason game, safety Ed Reed showed up in the starting lineup Sunday.
And once the game got going, Reed stepped right into his regular spot and helped his teammates shackle the Cincinnati offense.
"When they started to call the staring lineup and I looked up and saw he was behind me I said, 'Oh, we good,"' linebacker Terrell Suggs said. "I told him early in the week, 'You don't have to hit nobody. You just get us lined up and tell us where we got to go and we'll be all right."
Reed reported to training camp with a nerve injury in his neck and spent much of the summer watching drills from the sideline.
His status for Sunday's game was listed as questionable, but the four-time Pro Bowler conferred with team doctors and made a last-minute decision to play.
Cornerbacks Samari Rolle and Chris McAlister also missed most of the preseason, but all three were in the lineup when the games start counting.
"This defense is a machine. In order for it to work we need all its parts," Suggs said. "Once we got everybody out there and we're doing our thing, we're the best defense in the league, hands down."
(© 2008 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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