By Teresa Varley
Steelers.com
Kicker Jeff Reed declined Wednesday to discuss an incident which resulted in Reed receiving multiple citations, instead deferring any questions to Coach Mike Tomlin.
Reed did say he had a good meeting with Tomlin, as well as team President Art Rooney, II and director of football operations Kevin Colbert regarding the chargers against him of simple assault, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and public drunkenness after a run-in with police outside McFadden's following the team's 27-14 win over the Cleveland Browns on Sunday.
"I would like to say that I have the utmost respect for this community, for this team, for this organization," said Reed. "I have talked to Mr. Rooney, Kevin and Coach Tomlin. They told me what they thought and it was not negative. There is a lot more investigating to do with this so I am not going to talk about it."
Reed said he was satisfied with how the team handled things so far, and was surprised to hear the subject of whether he would be able to play or not brought up in Tomlin's press conference this week.
"I was kind of shocked to hear people ask if I was going to play or not," said Reed. "Stuff like this you have to deal with and it makes you stronger. I am a captain of this team. It may not sound like it when something like this comes up, but I like to represent this team as well as I can. You know that through all of the charity stuff I do and events like that."
Reed showed his commitment to the community when he attended Bid For Hope VIII to benefit breast cancer research the night after the incident, not backing out in any way on a promise he made to teammate Heath Miller that he would be there.
"All of them told me to keep my head up, don't worry about it, we need you," said Reed of the reaction from his teammates. "Stuff like that keeps me going."
At the same time he understands that such things can be a distraction and he is comfortable saying it won't impact his play at all.
"I apologize for it being a distraction for the team," said Reed. "For me, I can move on. There are other players who have done this and played well, so that is no excuse. My job is to make points, kick field goals, kickoffs for this team and I will always do my best."
