It paid off to be a No. 3 seed in this tournament.
In the Ed Reed Region, No. 3 Shannon Sharpe ran away with his matchup against No. 2 Justin Forsett. He was one of three 3-seeds to advance past the second round.
I'm sure a lot of this had to do with Sharpe's role with the Super Bowl XXXV title team and the fact he's a Hall of Fame tight end. Forsett may have been over-seeded based on recent production and the fact he may be able to contribute a solid two to three more years in Baltimore.
No. 1 Rod Woodson easily got by No. 5 Sam Adams, setting up a great region championship matchup between former teammates.
(See second round results HERE.)
Here's how the Ed Reed bracket looks now:
About the matchup:
No. 1 Rod Woodson vs. No. 3 Shannon Sharpe
Woodson saw the light after 10 seasons with the Steelers. He left Pittsburgh, played one year in San Francisco and then came to the Ravens after that. He spent four years with the Ravens from 1998-2001 and was a major reason why the Ravens won Super BowlXXXV. A longtime cornerback, he did was most aging defensive backs do — he switched to safety. It prolonged his career and gave him quite a bit of success in Baltimore.
Sharpe spent two seasons in Baltimore, coming to the Ravens at just the right time. His first season was in 2000, the season the Ravens went on to win Super Bowl XXXV. In the AFC Championship Game against the Raiders, Sharpe took a short third-and-18 pass 96 yards for a touchdown. He totaled 1,621 yards and seven touchdowns in two seasons with the Ravens.
<div id="qp_all292034" style="width:100%;"><link href='//fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Open+Sans' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'><STYLE>#qp_main292034 .qp_btna:hover input {background:#00355F!important}</STYLE><div id="qp_main292034" results=0 style="border-radius:0px;margin:0px;padding:15px;background-color:#FFF;font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, Arial;color:#000;border: 1px solid #DBD9D9;max-width: 800px"><div style="font-size: 18px;background-color: #00355F;color: #FFF;font-family:'Open Sans', sans-serif, Arial"><div style="line-height:30px;padding:10px 15px">Who wins — No. 1 Rod Woodson or No. 3 Shannon Sharpe</div></div><form id="qp_form292034" action="//www.poll-maker.com/results292034xeE02569C-11" method="post" target="_blank" style="display:inline;margin:0px;padding:0px"><div style="padding:0px"><input type=hidden name="qp_d292034" value="42108.0169791695-42108.0169875854"><div style="display:block;color:#6B6B6B;font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, Arial;font-size:16px;line-height:1.5;padding:10px;margin:10px 0px;clear:both" class="qp_a" onClick="var c=this.getElementsByTagName('INPUT')[0]; if((!event.target?event.srcElement:event.target).tagName!='INPUT'){c.checked=(c.type=='radio'?true:!c.checked)};var i=this.parentNode.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('INPUT');for(var k=0;k<i.length;k++){i[k].parentNode.parentNode.setAttribute('sel',i[k].checked?1:0)}"><span style="display:block;padding-left:30px;cursor:inherit"><input style="float: left;width: 20px;margin-left: -25px;margin-top: 2px;padding: 0px;height: 20px" name="qp_v292034" type="radio" value="1" />Rod Woodson</span></div><div style="display:block;color:#6B6B6B;font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, Arial;font-size:16px;line-height:1.5;padding:10px;margin:10px 0px;clear:both" class="qp_a" onClick="var c=this.getElementsByTagName('INPUT')[0]; if((!event.target?event.srcElement:event.target).tagName!='INPUT'){c.checked=(c.type=='radio'?true:!c.checked)};var i=this.parentNode.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('INPUT');for(var k=0;k<i.length;k++){i[k].parentNode.parentNode.setAttribute('sel',i[k].checked?1:0)}"><span style="display:block;padding-left:30px;cursor:inherit"><input style="float: left;width: 20px;margin-left: -25px;margin-top: 2px;padding: 0px;height: 20px" name="qp_v292034" type="radio" value="2" />Shannon Sharpe</span></div></div><div style="padding-left:0px;height:40px;clear:both"><a style="float:left;width:50%;max-width:140px;box-sizing:border-box;-webkit-box-sizing:border-box;-moz-box-sizing:border-box;-ms-box-sizing:border-box;-o-box-sizing:border-box;padding-right:5px;text-decoration:none" class="qp_btna" href="#"><input name="qp_b292034" style="width:100%;height:40px;background-color:#0B79D3;font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, Arial;font-size:16px;color:#FFF;cursor:pointer;cursor:hand;border:0px;-webkit-appearance:none;border-radius:0px" type="submit" btype="v" value="Vote" /></a><a style="float:left;width:50%;max-width:140px;box-sizing:border-box;-webkit-box-sizing:border-box;-moz-box-sizing:border-box;-ms-box-sizing:border-box;-o-box-sizing:border-box;padding-left:5px;text-decoration:none" class="qp_btna" href="#"><input name="qp_b292034" style="width:100%;height:40px;background-color:#0B79D3;font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif, Arial;font-size:16px;color:#FFF;cursor:pointer;cursor:hand;border:0px;-webkit-appearance:none;border-radius:0px" type="submit" btype="r" value="Results" /></a></div><a id="qp_a292034" style="float:right;font-family:Arial;font-size:10px;color:rgb(0,0,0);text-decoration:none" href="http://www.poll-maker.com">Poll Maker</a></form><div style="display:none"><div id="qp_rp292034" style="font-size:14px;width:5ex;text-align:right;overflow:hidden;position:absolute;right:5px;height:1.5em;line-height:1.5em"></div><div id="qp_rv292034" style="font-size:14px;line-height:1.5em;width:0%;text-align:right;color:#FFF;box-sizing:border-box;padding-right:3px"></div><div id="qp_rb292034" style="font-size:14px;line-height:1.5em;color:#FFFFFF;display:block;padding-right:10px 5px"></div><div id="qp_rva292034" style="background:#006FB9;border-color:#006FB9"></div><div id="qp_rvb292034" style="background:#163463;border-color:#163463"></div><div id="qp_rvc292034" style="background:#5BCFFC;border-color:#1481AB"></div></div></div></div><script src="//scripts.poll-maker.com/3012/scpolls.js" language="javascript"></script>
The winner of this region championship will play the winner of the Terrell Suggs Region.