Eric Reid was clearly in pain.

Standing in front of a small locker in the bowels of NRG Stadium, a walking boot on his left foot to steady the ankle he had injured halfway through the second quarter, left the field for exactly one snap and jogged back onto the field to join his brothers on defense for 38 more plays while clearly in pain, it was clear that Reid had left it all on the field.

But he still had a huge smile on his face – for a couple of reasons.

First, there was the football reason – Reid had six tackles and recovered a key fumble late in the fourth quarter that ultimately led to the final points of the game to extend the Panthers lead in a hard-fought victory to bring them back to .500 after starting the season with two straight losses. The fumble recovery – on a play where Reid’s pressure on Deshaun Watson forced him to move around in the pocket and allowed Vernon Butler to poke the ball free – helped salt the game away.

Game Over.

“It really changed the game for us, it really won the game for us, getting great field position,” said defensive tackle Gerald McCoy. “But that’s our goal, that’s our job as a defense – take away the ball and put it in the offense’s hands.”

10 of the Panthers’ 16 points came off of turnovers.

Then there was simply gutting through the pain – the safety said afterwards it was ‘a race to get to the trainer’s room’ but ultimately expected to be back out there next week against the Jaguars after helping hold the Texans to less than half of their average passing output and kept the high-octane Deshaun Watson under wraps as the longest completions of the day went for only 14 yards – a far cry from the 50+ yard completions he’d had in two of the first three weeks.

Reid was also the man swatting down the final Hail Mary attempt in the end zone to help secure the victory.

“Eric has always done that,” said Ron Rivera after the game. “Eric Reid is a tremendous young man man who plays tough [and] plays for his team. It would have been easy not to come back. I know he’s going to be very sore the next couple of days but it was really just great that he came back out and did the best he could for his teammates.”

“As a player, seeing somebody go through that, you know you want to play harder,” said James Bradberry. “And of course, you’ve got to beat your little brother. That was the main goal for us going into the game – beat little brother.”

That brings us to the final – and likely the truest – reason for the elder Reid’s good mood after the game.

Reid had just finished playing on the same field as his little brother Justin – who is in his second season playing safety for the Texans – for the first time at any level as the brothers’ five-year age gap meant they were never in the same league at the same time. Not only had he secured bragging rights with his team’s win, he and Justin had lived out a lifelong dream.

“Man, it’s hard to find words,” said Eric, who is five years older than Justin. “When he was in high school, he didn’t think he wanted to play football. Then he changed his mind and I started trying to give him advice. To see him go from high school to Stanford and now I get to play against him, it’s one of the happiest football moments of my life.”

Obviously, Reid had conflicting emotions – a near-interception for his little brother produced an immediate positive reaction followed by the realization that he shouldn’t be cheering for the opponent. It’s hard to get used to not cheering for a family member – just ask the Reid clan that showed up in half-Texans, half-Panthers jerseys made of each brothers’ jersey.

Reid is happy his team got the win, but even happier he got to share the field for an afternoon with his little brother. That’s why he wasn’t in pain while he signed a jersey for his little brother before giving him a hug and playfully kissing him on the cheek after the game.

“I’ll never forget this, bro! I’m so proud of you!”

For that moment at least, there was no pain – only family.

 

Josh Klein on Twitter
Josh Klein
Editor-In-Chief at The Riot Report
Josh Klein is Editor-In-Chief of The Riot Report. His favorite Panther of all time is Chad Cota and he once AIM chatted with Kevin Greene. Follow Josh on Twitter @joshkleinrules.