NEW ORLEANS -- Baltimore Ravens safety Ed Reed has said all week that he plans to play another season, but some of those closest to the situation aren't quite sure.
Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti wonders how Sunday's Super Bowl result could change things.
"I don't know whether a loss might inspire him to change his mind, and I don't know whether a win will inspire him to change his mind," Bisciotti said, via ESPN.com. "I really want to defer and not guess what Ed's going to do. Because I don't know that Ed's 100 percent sure now. I think Ed will be 100 percent sure a month from now. So we'll just play it out."
Throughout the week, I couldn't help but think that Reed would strongly consider walking away from the game. He hedged on retirement and so clearly was soaking up this experience. Rich Eisen told Reed on "The Rich Eisen Podcast" that many of Reed's remarks sounded like they were coming from a man ready to retire. It sounds like Bisciotti has picked up the same vibes.
"First, we have to find out where Ed's head is," Bisciotti said. "I think that win or lose Sunday, Ed needs a couple of weeks. By that time, we will have done our personnel meetings and our cap meetings, and we'll know what kind of deal that we can make Ed. I assume we'll make a deal that we made with Ray a few years ago. If Ed wants to test the market like Ray did, that's what we have to do."
Reed is an emotional player who's prone to making emotional statements at times. If Reed plays like I think he will Sunday, it wouldn't be a shock to hear an emotional goodbye after the game.
Follow Gregg Rosenthal on Twitter @greggrosenthal.