Andy Reid’s career comes full circle
Once the standard of postseason excellence, the Kansas City Chiefs were in an incredible slump.
Their last appearance in the Super Bowl was 50 years ago. There were no cell phones, no Twitter or Facebook. The Beatles were still together.
Andy Reid ended the epic slide Sunday.
Big Red added another chapter to his life story with a distinct Philly flavor in leading the Chiefs to a 35-24 triumph over the upstart Tennessee Titans.
Let the Super Bowl 54 story lines begin.
Fifteen years and 143 victories ago, then Villanova resident Reid took the Eagles to the title game in Jacksonville, Fla. where they lost, 24-21, to the New England Patriots and Mike Vrabel, now the Titans’ head coach. The outcome was tainted by the Pa
triots’ videotaping scandal. Reid didn’t make a big deal about it but everyone figured it factored into the outcome. How could a team not benefit from videotaping the opposition’s defensive signals?
Reid was 46 years old in Jacksonville. Now 61, he’s coming off a nodoubt-about-it decision over a worthy opponent, earning a date in another Florida Super Bowl against the San Francisco 49ers, which rolled past the Packers 37-20 Sunday. Reid and the Chiefs will be the favorite in two weeks at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.
Quarterback Patrick Mahomes made sure the drought would end, as he threw three touchdown passes and ran for 53 yards, including a 27yard score giving the Chiefs the lead for good. Wide receiver Tyreek Hill wouldn’t let the void continue, catching two scoring passes.
Most of all, Big Red wouldn’t let it happen.
Cap over his heart, mustache blowing in the breeze, Reid stood there at Arrowhead Stadium, eyes focused during the national anthem and the flyover by a B1 stealth bomber.
This was supposed to be Derrick Henry’s day. No big back had done what he’d done, so effortlessly carrying the Titans to the title game.
Henry ran for 182 yards and a touchdown to pace the Titans to a victory over Bill Belichick and the Patriots at Gillette Stadium. Last week Henry stiff-armed the Baltimore Ravens to the tune of 198 yards and a touchdown pass, the latter coming on an iconic jump pass.
It looked like it would be no different in the first half as Henry rushed for 62 yards and a touchdown, the latter waltzing into the end zone to stake the Titans to an early 10-0 lead.
Reid and the Chiefs were trailing, 17-7, when offensive lineman Dennis Kelly, who he drafted with the Eagles, caught a touchdown pass on a tackle eligible play in the first half.
But Mahomes found Hill for a score and on second-and-10 at the 27-yard line of the Titans, just 32 ticks left, scrambled for the go-ahead tally, breaking three tackles along the way.
Henry touched the ball just three times in the third quarter, the Titans running only six plays because the Chiefs controlled the ball. On this day the Chiefs limited Henry to 69 rushing yards and one touchdown.
No matter the opponent, no story line will be bigger than Reid in Miami. And there will be no shortage of characters on the Chiefs with ties to Reid from his days with the Eagles or guys who worked for the Birds.
Reid drafted running back Shady McCoy, the Eagles’ all-time leading rusher. McCoy was inactive Sunday due to illness.
Defensive end Tanoh Kpassagnon, a Wissahickon graduate, is a second-round pick out of Villanova, where he dominated under then head coach Andy Talley.
Left guard Stefen Wisniewski started at that position on on the Eagles’ Super Bowl 52 champion.
Tight end Travis Kelce is the brother of Eagles All-Pro center Jason Kelce, who resides in Haverford and who was in Kansas
City to help his brother celebrate Sunday.
Among other coaches who either played under Reid or worked on his staff in Philly are defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, who still has a place in the area, offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, a running back with the Birds, and special teams coordinator Dave Toub.
The list continues with assistants Tom Melvin (tight ends), Greg Lewis (wide receivers) and Mike Kafka (quarterback coach). Lewis caught a touchdown pass in Reid’s previous date in the Super Bowl, while Kafka was a backup quarterback.
Reid’s son, Britt, a product of Harriton High, is the outside linebackers’ coach for the Chiefs. Chiefs trainer Rick Burkholder worked under Reid with the Eagles. The same with team president Mark Donovan.
In two weeks, they’ll all be asked in so many ways what it was like, how Big Red constructed a 224130-1 record in 14 seasons with the Eagles and what it’s like now with the Chiefs. Some will be asked about the drug overdose that took the life of Reid’s oldest son, Garrett, in 2012.
Fired by the Eagles after a 4-12 season in 2012, Reid was 55 when he arrived in Kansas City. In his first season he rallied a team that in 2012 finished with three fewer wins then the Browns, to the first of five doubledigit win seasons in six years.
From Villanova to South Philly to Kansas City and back to Florida.
It’s all coming full circle for Big Red.