As the Kansas City Chiefs travel to Philadelphia to face off against the Eagles in Week 4, head coach Andy Reid has a chance to make history against a familiar logo.
‘Big Red’ served as the head coach of the Eagles for 14 NFL seasons, winning 130 regular-season games and 10 postseason affairs. Now he comes into town as the enemy, in search of his 100th win as Chiefs HC. No coach has ever reached this milestone with two different franchises.
Of course, there’s more history to this matchup than Reid’s illustrious career in Philly.
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Sirianni Tells All on Reid ‘Firing’
On October 1, Eagles first-year head coach Nick Sirianni told the media that technically, he first met Reid when he was relieved of his coaching duties in 2013.
At the time, Sirianni was the wide receivers coach for the Chiefs and the head coaching job had just changed hands. With Big Red at the helm, the organization would part ways with Sirianni, being that Reid intended to bring in his own staff.
The Eagles HC provided a look behind the curtain at the exchange between him and the future Hall of Famer, which he described as “awesome” despite the end result. Sirianni explained:
So, Coach Reid was charged with the task of telling me I wasn’t working there anymore… but he was awesome. It was actually an awesome conversation I had with him. And I really respected the fact that he took time to meet with me, tell me what he had heard about me. But he had a guy, he had David Culley. And David Culley who’s now, obviously, we know all know where he is… but he took the time to meet with me. In fact, I thought about that when I had to do the same thing this year when I had to tell a guy that I had a guy in place here and I handled the situation like Coach Reid did for me because I always respected that.
Andy Reid and Nick Sirianni met each other in 2013 — when Reid essentially fired Sirianni. Sirianni had been KC’s WRs coach. Reid was coming to KC from Philly with his own WRs coach (David Culley).
Eight years later, the interaction aided Sirianni when he became a head coach.
Would you look at that? Even in firing someone, Reid was able to rub off on them in a positive way. That’s what makes him such a tremendous coach, his ability to connect with people on a personal level, even when it involves bad news or hard times.
Sirianni landed on his feet, accepting an Offensive Quality Control position with the San Diego Chargers (now L.A.). Approximately eight years later, he’s the boss of the Eagles operation. Culley didn’t do too badly in this exchange either, as he eventually accepted the head coaching job with the Houston Texans in 2021.
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A Look Ahead at Chiefs-Eagles
The Chiefs and Eagles injury report will feature a few missing pieces for Kansas City on the defensive side. Cornerbacks Rashad Fenton (concussion) and Charvarius Ward (quad) will both miss Week 4, along with defensive end Frank Clark (hamstring).
Adam Schefter tweeted out the news on October 2.
Chiefs downgraded DE Frank Clark (hamstring) and CB Charvarius Ward (quad) to out for Sunday’s game vs. Eagles.
Other key bodies like Tyreek Hill, Chris Jones, Orlando Brown Jr., Derrick Nnadi, L’Jarius Sneed, Demarcus Robinson and Mecole Hardman have all practiced in full, however.
For the home side, offensive tackle Jordan Mailata is the only player listed as “out,” leaving the Eagles thin on the blindside. Right tackle Lane Johnson and center Jason Kelce both participated in full practices though. The pair is expected to play on Sunday.
No matter who’s out there alongside him, you know that quarterback Patrick Mahomes is itching to get back on the field after two straight losses and the Chiefs’ first under-500 record since 2015.
The former NFL MVP had this to say: “I think this is where you’ll get the best out of everybody, you’ll get the best out of every person in this locker room because you know that it’s time to go now. Every game matters if we want to do what we want to do. I’m excited to see how these guys respond — and myself included.”
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Andy Reid Once Fired Eagles HC Nick Sirianni — And It Was ‘Awesome’