Speaking during his weekly WEEI radio appearance, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady raved about his team’s new defensive back, Darrelle Revis.

“It’s been so fun to go against him, because he challenges every throw, every play’’ said Brady. “He’s so instinctive.’’

It didn’t take long for Brady to steer his answer in the direction of a couple of former Baltimore Ravens greats.

“I played against Ed Reed for a long time, and this is just a little bit of an example. Ed Reed, he’d play the deep middle of the field but sometimes he’d make tackles three yards from the line of scrimmage when his responsibility was 40 yards down the field. And you’d say, ‘God, how did he know that the team was running a shallow cross?’ He just knew. He was something.’’ “That’s a lot how ‘Reeve’ is. You don’t know what he sees, or what he knows, but he always is in the right place and has got incredible instincts for a corner. Sometimes he runs the routes before the receivers. He has great intuition. I think he obviously sees everything on the field. He sees the quarterback, he sees the split of the receiver, he sees the eyes of the receiver, he sees the technique of the receiver coming off the line of scrimmage, and it’s probably hard for him explain at times what he sees. He just sees everything and he makes great breaks on the ball. That’s what makes great defensive player, is the anticipation to play with that.’’

Brady also compared Revis to Ray Lewis, saying of Lewis, “When you would play-action, he wouldn’t even step toward the line of scrimmage. He would just drop back into a zone, and then when you’d run the ball, he’d be downhill faster than anybody. And he just, to recognize plays and combinations, it’s a great skill.’’


The Reed comparison is huge praise for anyone, but especially coming from Brady. We learned just how much Brady and Patriots head coach Bill Belichick slobbered over Reed during Belichick’s “A Football Life’’ feature.