The Texans' first loss of the season came on the same day as Ed Reed's debut as a Texan on the field. Not even Reed's famed ball-hawking skills were enough to overcome the mistakes and penalties in Houston's 30-9 loss to Baltimore. Reed, who finished with three tackles, stressed the importance of discipline when playing teams like the Ravens. The Texans had 14 penalties for 113 yards against Baltimore.
"Nobody wants to lose," Reed said. "But we played against a great team today. We knew who we were facing. We knew what we were walking into. You can't make the mistakes that we made. You've got to be a disciplined and smart football team. You can't jump off-sides. You can't turn the ball over, especially on the road. But it's something we can grow from. We need to grow from it, make the corrections and move forward."
Head coach Gary Kubiak stated that there would be no play count on Reed. Still, Kubiak kept an eye on the five-time All-Pro safety's status throughout the game.
"I'll have to go back and watch the film; obviously it looked like he moved ok," Kubiak said Sunday. "I know there was a point when we said that's enough, so we'll go back and look at it and hopefully he came out clean. If he's not too sore tomorrow, we'll move on to next week. "
Reed was cleared to play for the first time this season after being ruled inactive prior to the start of games against San Diego and Tennessee. Even against his former team, Reed was a game-time decision against the Ravens.
Last week Reed wanted to play against Tennessee but was ruled inactive prior to game-time. Reed's first start coming against his former teammates was merely a coincidence, one that he had hoped to avoid.
"I felt good," Reed said after the game. "Like Coach said, I wanted to play last week, because I didn't want this to be my first game. [Ravens' OLB] Terrell Suggs made a comment about me coming back, trying to play this game and make interceptions and try to rain on the parade of Ray [Lewis]'s parade—that wasn't the case, that's never the case. I came here [Houston] to give my heart to this organization, to this city, and I will do that, and I will get interceptions. But the ball really didn't come my way today. But at the end of the day, I felt good."
