Andy Reid coached the Philadelphia Eagles for 14 years, an unusually long time in the modern era. Of course, Connie Mack coached the Philadelphia Athletics from 1901-1950, but those days are gone. Mr. Reid has landed a new job as the coach of the Kansas City Chiefs. It could be that Reid is a spent force, the game having passed him by. But I’ve watched him operate for a long time and he’s been a very good coach. Chiefs fans should expect good game plans and a well-prepared team, but they should also expect erratic drafts and very poor clock management, with some inexplicable play-calling. They should also expect some of the most boring press conferences in the history of press conferences.
In my opinion, Reid’s greatest fault is that he doesn’t create a physical offense. In cold weather, teams need to run the ball, and the Eagles have always wilted in January. It is not unlikely that the Chiefs will soon begin making the playoffs, but it is not likely that they will perform well once they get there.
hire Lovie Smith. He did a fine job in Chicago, although Cutler was and is an undisciplined player with poor fundamentals (disclosure: I am cribbing from Boomer Esiason’s comments). You may claim that this is the task of the coach, and that may be true. Lovie did a good job with the material given him in the main.
Reid is probably what the Chiefs need at this point. With all those imperfections, he will bring organization and stability to them. They need to start over. Some coaches are good at building, some are better with an established team. The Chargers just got rid of Turner. IMO he is an example of a coach for an established team. Building…not so much. Lovie might be a good fit for the Chargers, now that I think about it. I wonder how he would feel about working for slum lords? Greek slum lords, at that. Maybe not a great fit after all.
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IMO Norv Turner is an example of the Peter Principle in action. He’s a fine offensive coordinator; he’s shown no ability to be a winning head coach.
and the Chargers when Norv got there were an established team. He and the idiot GM turned them into a building team.
Yep.
His comfort zone is offensive coordinator.
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Reid went the way of the Redskins in the past, sign free agents. He was a master at keeping a player four years once they get full free agency make sure you can afford to lose him. Bring in your new prospect. Somehow he lost his way and went free agent crazy. I think the initial Vick success made him lose perspective. He got burned and he got killed by injuries in a make or break year. Oh yeah and his son died. This poor, poor man. He got fucked by life on a personal level too.
Bottom line the Chiefs are getting a great coach. A good man. I’ll be rooting for him and the Chiefs as long as they are not playing the Eagles.
He left his best years in Philly.
Given his personal circumstances, a season away from the game would have been warranted. He’s also a physical wreck/heart attack waiting to happen.
Thank you Philadelphia, it feels just like the time the Cleveland Browns dumped Marty Schottenheimer.
Chargers got rid of Schottenheimer because 14-2 wasn’t good enough.
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Sometimes Marty’s teams had a lot off-field (arrests) issues. In the AFC West 14-2 just isn’t good enough.
Using Connia Mack as an example of the way it used to be is inappropriate. He was the primary owner of the A’s when he managed them. I don’t believe another manager would have survived the many 100-loss seasons the A’s suffered under his tenure, either because the owners would have wanted to replace him or, more likely, a manager capable of guiding his teams to multiple League and World Series championships would have quit afer one of the fire sales Mack conducted.
The longest-tenured head coach in NFL history (40 years) was also an owner of his team: George Halas’ Chicago Bears. Other long-tenured football coaches also held ownership status.
It is probably true that, on balance, tenures are shorter these days. I wonder if it’s as dramatic a difference as we think, though.
The money in the game now is 1000x the amount that Halas had. I wonder what he paid himself. Today, a head coach is a million+ contract. Produce or out.