ED REED SAYS HE NEEDS NY JETS NO. 1 FAN "FIREMAN ED" TO COME OUT OF RETIREMENT AND GET STADIUM "CRUNKED"

 "FIREMAN ED" ANZALONE

Ed Anzalone, better known as ‘Fireman Ed’ may be retired, but one current New York Jets player is hoping that he comes out of retirement. On Thursday, recently signed Jets safety Ed Reed asked for Anzalone to come out of retirement ahead of the Jets home game this Sunday against the Miami Dolphins.

A little over one year ago this week, Anzalone made headlines when he retired from his role as the face of New York Jets fans, a decision he said was prompted by fan violence and threats in the midst of what would become a frustrating 6-10 season for his team.

A retired New York City firefighter, Anzalone became an icon of the Jets game day experience and he was noticeable always with his firefighter’s helmet on.

Anzalone led fans in the stadium-wide Jets cheer where he was prominently displayed on the stadium’s jumbo screens. In addition, his image was frequently used by the Jets for promotional purposes.

“It’s going to be fun to play in front of the home crowd and have that energy that we need – we’re going to need the 12th man really bad to get this thing going the right way, to get this train moving to where we want to go,” Reed said.

“I think as a team, we need that energy, we need to be here with that energy flowing from the 12th man. That guy with the hard hat on – is he still here? Fireman Ed. I need him to get the whole stadium crunked,” Reed said.

Then Reed was informed that Fireman Ed had retired a season ago and the veteran safety made a very sincere plea for Anzalone to mount a comeback.

“He retired? I can’t believe it. We need to bring him out of retirement,” Anzalone said. “We need to bring him out of retirement.”