Reed delivers against Dolphins

MIAMI – As he made the astonishing play that turned Sunday’s playoff game, Ed Reed’s mind flickered back to his Louisiana youth and a neighbor’s mailbox.

Reed, the former University of Miami star now dominating at safety for the Ravens, was racing back to corral a Chad Pennington overthrow late in the second quarter of a tie game.

Reaching out to make the over-the-shoulder interception, Reed suddenly was 8 years old again, blazing down a side street in his boyhood neighborhood outside New Orleans.

“Street football,” Reed said after his two interceptions pointed the Ravens toward a 27-9 win at Dolphin Stadium. “We’d play mailbox to mailbox, probably about 60 yards.”

Reed, now 30, paused and fingered a scar that still runs along the left side of his forehead. During one of those many pickup games, he was playing receiver and caught a long pass for a touchdown.

Then … thwack!

Right into a mailbox.

Stitches were required, but Reed can’t recall how many. He just remembers his father had to come get him and drive him to the hospital.

Whose mailbox was it?

“I have no clue,” Reed said, smiling. “They’d probably want me to sign it after this.”

You think?

All Reed did Sunday was take that first pick back 64 yards for the game’s first touchdown and a 10-3 Baltimore lead. It was his fourth defensive score of the year.

“Felt like I ran 200 yards,” Reed said of his zig-zagging jaunt from one sideline to the other and back. “Sort of like track.”

His second pick came down near the goal line with the Dolphins driving in the third quarter. Pennington was throwing over the middle, but he was certain Reed would be nowhere in the vicinity.

Oops.

“Ed Reed being Ed Reed,” Pennington said. “He leaves his position and shows up in a place you’d never expect him to be.”

Reed nearly had a third interception but another Pennington overthrow somehow squirted through his fingers in the final quarter.

No biggie. Reed still bumped his career interception total to 48, including five in his three career playoff games. Six of those have gone for scores.

Reed, who led the NFL with nine interceptions this year and is a candidate for NFL Defensive Player of the Year, traces his thirst for turnovers to his days in Coral Gables.

Butch Davis and Larry Coker would get irritated when Reed would snatch Ken Dorsey’s passes during late-week scrimmages designed to build confidence.

“They used to have to stop me on Thursdays from catching the interceptions because they wanted to get ‘the look,’ ” Reed said. “Well, I’m not going to get better that way.”

It’s hard to imagine Reed getting much better at this stage of a career that includes a national championship but, incredibly, had lacked a playoff victory until Sunday.

“Ed is pretty special,” Ravens defensive tackle Trevor Pryce said. “It becomes a drill after a while. We expect that. I just kind of stood there (on the touchdown) and watched him: ‘Go, Ed. Go.’ ”

Like a shot-blocker in basketball, Reed enables his fellow defenders to take more chances up front.

“It’s like having 44 guys on the field,” Pryce said.

Pennington must have felt that way for much of Sunday afternoon as he faced a scary-good Ravens defense with a center fielder patrolling the deep middle.

In fact, Reed played outfield through his senior year of high school and even attended a professional baseball tryout camp at Nicholls State (La.) University.

Reed, who still plays softball in the off-season and takes fungoes in the outfield, was a big Ken Griffey Jr. fan growing up. Rooted hard for the Braves and their 10-time Gold Glove winner, too.

“I got a little Andruw Jones in me,” Reed said. “I could climb a wall for you.”

Mailboxes are another story.