Getty Sirianni and Reid shake hands at Super Bowl
For most NFL fans and coaching staff, the bye week is known as an advantage.
However, Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni won’t face an easy task as he tries to take down the bye week master, Andy Reid, and his Chiefs in Week 11 as both teams come off their respective bye weeks.
Reid currently sits at fourth in most wins for an NFL head coach. Only Bill Belichick, George Halas and Don Shula are ahead of him. He’s found success with two different franchises and won two Super Bowls.
He’s also helped three young quarterbacks develop into stars, going back to his days as an assistant with the Packers. In NFL front offices, though, Reid is known for something else as well, and that’s being the bye week master.
Andy Reid’s Record Following a Bye Is Astonishing
This is Reid’s 32nd year coaching in the NFL. In those 32 years, he’s amassed a 28-4 record playing after a bye, taking into account all coaching stops, regular season, and post-season. This puts his win percentage after a bye at an astonishing 87.5%.
When asked about his approach back in January, Reid said to reporters on hand, “That’s the trick to it, is the balance, then how the players utilize their free time so – and coaches for that matter.”
He later continued, “We’ve got to make sure that we keep on top of the scheme stuff too. We’ll see how all that works out, but yeah, I’ll tell you that’s the trick to it is to keep the balance to where the players stay sharp, and coaches still can add a couple of things into the guys into their mix and go from there.”
Later in that same press conference, Reid stresses that his players understand the magnitude of what they’re facing. The delicate balance of trusting his players with their time of rest and adding in the right amount of preparation for the upcoming matchup seems to be Reid’s secret sauce.
Sirianni Could Be Employing a Similar Strategy
In his short head coaching career, Sirianni’s teams have also performed pretty well after a bye. In the regular season, the Eagles have been 2-0.
Going back to 2021, Sirianni’s first season, when the Eagles went 9-8, Sirianni didn’t see the bye until Week 14, but the Eagles went on to beat Washington 27-17. Then, in 2022, when the Eagles had a dominant 14-3 record, Sirianni came out of the bye beating the Steelers 35-13.
Even in the playoffs, Sirianni and his Eagles were able to beat the Giants in the Divisional Round last year 38-7. His only loss as a head coach after a bye came in the Super Bowl at the hand of the bye master himself. The Eagles, of course, lost in a close one to the Chiefs, 38-35.
Despite a slightly better record, the Eagles will play as the away team in their upcoming matchup, also after the bye week. The Eagles also have some key injuries on both sides of the ball. Tight end Dallas Goedert will be out a few more weeks with a fractured forearm. Linebacker Nakobe Dean was diagnosed with a Linsfranc sprain recently as well.
Currently, Heavy projections powered by Quarter4 have the Eagles at a 45% win probability against the Chiefs in this Week 11 matchup.
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