While Andy Reid was never able to bring a championship to Philadelphia, he still enjoyed a great deal of success during his 14 seasons with the Eagles. After reaching the playoffs in nine of his first 12 seasons, Reid led his team to a 12-20 record from 2011-2012. What went wrong?
During a Q&A at the NFL’s Career Development Symposium over the weekend, Reid was asked about the issues he had during his final seasons in Philly. His answer made a lot of sense.
“About a year ago, I found out what I wasn’t good at because [I was] out the door,” Reid explained, via Zach Berman of the Philadelphia Inquirer. “I went back, and I looked at it, and … I drifted away from the thing I love doing most, and that was coaching.
“I took [myself] completely out, dealt more with personnel … stopped calling the plays, all those things.”
Marty Mornhinweg served as an assistant under Andy Reid from 2003-2012. Toward the end of their time together, Reid let Mornhinweg take over the offensive playcalling. While he praised Mornhinweg for doing a “phenomenal” job, it’s not a coincidence that Reid went back to calling plays himself with the Kansas City Chiefs.
“It also allowed me to … try to keep my personality in the room and do what I like doing,” he said. “I learned a lesson. I thought I stepped out for the right reasons. It probably wasn’t the right thing to do.”
Reid has to be referring to the self-proclaimed “Dream Team” the Eagles assembled in 2011. Instead of sticking to X’s and O’s and coaching philosophies, Reid went out and acquired guys like Nnamdi Asomugha, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and Jason Babin.
With the Chiefs, we saw Reid turn an awful squad into a playoff team. He did that with great coaching. That’s not a coincidence.
H/T The 700 Level
