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A little more than a week ago, the Houston Texans unceremoniously cut Ed Reed, their prize free agent acquisition of the previous offseason. The Jets, Reed's current employer, head to Baltimore this weekend, so Ed gets his second homecoming of the season. Given all he accomplished with the Ravens, of course Ed is going to talk with the Baltimore media. Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun has been tweeting what Reed has said today. It is not exactly a glowing endorsement of how things are being down at Reliant Park.
Ed reed 'I don't even know how to describe it it was some interesting stuff I experienced with a different organization'
— Aaron Wilson (@RavensInsider) November 20, 2013
Ed reed said he didn't have problems with most of the texans org. including players and 'most of the coaches'
— Aaron Wilson (@RavensInsider) November 20, 2013
Ed reed on texans 'that defense is not a good fit for a lot of people not just me the truth is the truth'
— Aaron Wilson (@RavensInsider) November 20, 2013
Ed reed on texans 'you got to look at the playcalling and put your players in position to make plays'
— Aaron Wilson (@RavensInsider) November 20, 2013
Ed reed on wade phillips 'in hindsight he's probably the reason I'm not there'
— Aaron Wilson (@RavensInsider) November 20, 2013
Looking back, Ed Reed even said he wished he had never worn his No. 20 jersey outside of Baltimore.
— Aaron Wilson (@RavensInsider) November 20, 2013
Ed Reed on Texans: "That defense was not a good fit for a lot of people that are still there."
— Aaron Wilson (@RavensInsider) November 20, 2013
Ed Reed on talking to Wade Phillips when he was cut: 'He came in and basically just made sure I was leaving.'
— Aaron Wilson (@RavensInsider) November 20, 2013
It's easy to summarily dismiss all of that as the rantings of a disgruntled and fired former employee. But absurdly misleading total yards surrendered per game aside, the Texans' defense has been bad this year. Not average. Not inconsistent. Bad. Perhaps Reed's observations have merit?
Gary Kubiak has received the lion's share of the criticism for the unraveling of the Texans' 2013 campaign, but the fault does not lie with him alone. Kubes' offense (Andre Johnson aside) has been extraordinarily underwhelming, and the defense has not been much better. Not to go too what-have-you-done-for-me-lately, but Wade Phillips' unit hasn't had the success we grew accustomed to in 2011 and for a good chunk of 2012.
Ed Reed is not completely speaking out of his arse here.
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