The grizzled souls of professional football, those who believe the forward pass is some kind of three-eyed monster from Venus, will often say the best offense is a good defense.
They can't help themselves, it seems. It is one of those thoughts passed down through the game's generations.
But these days, in this playoff field, the best defense just might be the one that turns into offense -- in the blink of an eye, an interception or fumble.
"We do think offense," Baltimore Ravens defensive end Trevor Pryce said. "It's that kind of defense -- if we get the ball, we just don't want the ball, we want to put it in the end zone.
"Especially Ed. I mean when Ed gets the ball, it's really offense. I've been saying all along, the rest of us, we get the ball, we just fall down and that's it. Ed gets the ball and things change. We feed off that type of thing."
"Ed" would be safety Ed Reed, and when the subject is defensive players, Reed is a touchdown waiting to happen.
He returned an interception 64 yards for a touchdown, after making a say-hey, over-the-shoulder catch to break open the AFC wild-card game against the Dolphins on Sunday. It was the first real body shot thrown in a game that quickly turned into a Ravens rout.
It was also the 10th interception for Reed in the past seven games, so despite the best efforts from opposing offenses to keep him more than an area code away from the ball, Reed keeps ending up with it in his hands.
"You know, at this point we kind of expect it," Ravens rookie quarterback Joe Flacco said. "We are spoiled. You see him catch the ball and you're like, 'Not again.' He takes it to the end zone almost every time."
Reed returned two interceptions for touchdowns in the regular season to go with a fumble return for a score. Overall, the Ravens returned six turnovers in the regular season for touchdowns -- five of those interceptions.
It all meant the Ravens disposed of the league's thriftiest team Sunday. The Dolphins had turned the ball over just 13 times in the regular season, only seven of those interceptions by quarterback Chad Pennington.
Pennington threw four interceptions alone in the loss to Baltimore.
And now Saturday, in Nashville, Tenn., the Ravens get a crack at the other quarterback who threw just seven interceptions this year -- the Titans' Kerry Collins.
He's the same Collins they intercepted four times in Super Bowl XXXV when Baltimore pounded Collins' New York Giants.
"Turnovers are definitely something we talk about . . . ," Reed said. "It's what we want."
HALL PASS
Former Denver Broncos tight end Shannon Sharpe has always been pretty good at stacking words.
And the man who once dropped, "I was a terrible student. I graduated 'Thank you Lawdy,' " on to the world certainly can offer a quality take on things.
This week, Sharpe was named one of the 15 modern-era finalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2009. And though Sharpe, like any player, would love to hear his name called Jan. 31 when the class is selected, he already has an understanding in the difficulty in choosing only a maximum of five people from the list -- two senior nominees are voted on a yes-or-no basis for the other two slots -- each year.
Sharpe compared the process to baseball.
"It really is difficult, I understand," Sharpe said. "Baseball, before they had this era, if you hit 500 home runs, you're pretty much going to the Hall; if you were a pitcher and had 300 wins, you were going to the Hall. But there's really no criteria in football. Is it 300 touchdowns, 12,000 rushing yards? Is it 12,000, 15,000 receiving yards?
"You don't have those set numbers. You don't really know what you need to do. Win a Super Bowl, two Super Bowls, three Super Bowls, five. Pro Bowls. You just hope you have a long, productive career and when it's all said and done, people judge it as, 'You know, this guy was a pretty good player.'"
Sharpe retired as the all-time leader for receptions, receiving yards and touchdowns among tight ends. All three records have since been broken by the Chiefs' Tony Gonzalez.
SUPER SIX PACK
Six of the starting playoff quarterbacks this weekend have started at least one Super Bowl in their careers.
Quarterback (Team at the time), Super Bowl Result
-- Titans' Kerry Collins (Giants) XXXV Ravens 34, Giants 7
-- Panthers' Jake Delhomme (Panthers), XXXVIII Patriots 32, Panthers 29
-- Giants' Eli Manning (Giants), XLII Giants 17, Patriots 14
-- Eagles' Donovan McNabb (Eagles), XXXIX Patriots 24, Eagles 21
-- Steelers' Ben Roethlisberger (Steelers), XL, Steelers 21, Seahawks 10
-- Cardinals' Kurt Warner (Rams), XXXVI Patriots 20, Rams 17, XXXIV Rams 23, Titans 16.
(Contact Jeff Legwold of the Rocky Mountain News at legwoldj(at)RockyMountainNews.com.)
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