Andy Reid will likely be dealing with an odd range of emotions on Thursday night when his Kansas City chiefs head to Philadelphia to take on the Eagles. Reid will be patrolling the visitors’ sideline in a stadium where he spent 14 season coaching from the opposite side of the field. However, he claims he hasn’t given it any consideration.
“In this business you’re focused in on getting your team ready to play,” Reid said earlier this week, via ESPN.com. “That’s where my energy is going to go. I haven’t really thought about that other part at all. I don’t necessarily plan on thinking about that. I want to make sure I concentrate on the game at hand and anything else becomes a distraction and I’m not going to let that happen.”
Jamaal Charles isn’t totally buying it. In fact, the star running back said he believes Reid would still be coaching in Philly if he had his way.
“It means a lot, so I hope we go out there and play for our coach,” Charles told ESPN’s Ed Werder after Sunday’s win over the Dallas Cowboys. “You know what I’m saying? I know he has a lot of love for his Eagles, he worked there a lot of years and he probably wishes he was still coaching there.”
While that may not have come out the way Charles wanted it to, we understand what he’s trying to say. I’m sure Reid got tired of fans calling for his head and getting “Fire Andy” tattooed across their ass, but he took the Eagles to five NFC Championship Games. Ideally, the 55-year-old would have liked to win a championship in the place where he started his NFL head coaching career.
No matter what Reid says, Thursday is not just another game. Human nature would never allow it.
