SAN DIEGO  If there is a shortage of testimony to the greatness of Ravens safety Ed Reed  that is to say that Chad Pennington has left the room  then consider this: When he played at Destrehan High School in suburban New Orleans, Reed was his team’s punter.

This might be a footnote except that the gangly younger player whom Reed relegated to kickoffs, field goals and extra points until his senior season may just be the best punter in the N.F.L. today.

“I may have learned more what not to do,” Mike Scifres said of watching Reed drop back into punt formation. Sometimes he would kick the ball 45 yards and other times he would run it that far.

Scifres, the San Diego Chargers’ punter, chuckled last week as he recalled that time in his life when he might have imagined a professional football career for Reed but never for himself.