PHILADELPHIA — Andy Reid is making his return here Thursday, but in a lot of ways it’s as if he never left.
Fired last January after 14 mostly successful seasons as coach of the Eagles, Reid was almost immediately hired by the sad-sack Chiefs and proceeded to bring 24 coaches and administrators — total experience in Philadelphia: 147 years — with him to Kansas City.
With what is sure to be an emotional trip back to Lincoln Financial Field on tap Thursday night, Reid was asked this week if anything about him has changed since trading Philadelphia for the Midwest.
“I eat barbecue instead of cheesesteaks, but that’s about it,” the famously stoic Reid replied with a typical near-mumble.
Reid might not have changed much, but the same can’t be said about his new team or the one he left behind.
Reid’s Philadelphia legacy — five NFC championship games and one Super Bowl trip — combined with the Eagles’ unexpected decision to replace him with madcap college coach Chip Kelly have turned an otherwise snoozer of a matchup between clubs that were a combined 6-26 last year into must-see TV.
As if all of that wasn’t enough, the Eagles also are retiring the jersey of Reid’s most famous quarterback Donovan McNabb at halftime. McNabb also is being inducted into the team’s Hall of Fame.
It certainly hasn’t taken Reid long to turn the Chiefs’ fortunes around. Kansas City is 2-0 after opening wins over the Jaguars and Cowboys, already matching its win total for all of last season under Romeo Crennel.
Then again, the turnaround hasn’t been all because of Reid. He inherited a talented team (the Chiefs sent a whopping six players to the Pro Bowl last year despite the 2-14 finish), and Kansas City was thought by many to be just a competent quarterback away from respectability.
Reid didn’t waste any time going and getting just such a signal-caller, acquiring Alex Smith from the 49ers after he lost the starting job to Colin Kaepernick despite leading San Francisco to a 13-3 record in 2011.
Smith hasn’t wowed anyone with his numbers so far, but his 94.7 rating is 12th best in the NFL, and he has yet to throw an interception this season while tossing four touchdowns.
With one of the league’s top running backs in Jamaal Charles and a solid defense under former Jets defensive coordinator Bob Sutton alongside him, the truth is that Smith hasn’t had to be spectacular.
Meanwhile, Kelly’s snap-a-second offense, the huge numbers Michael Vick, LeSean McCoy and DeSean Jackson already have posted in it and a 1-1 record have taken some of the attention off Reid’s return.
That’s not to say, however, the Eagles have forgotten about their former coach and his walrus mustache.
“Like I’ve been telling everybody, it’s just tough seeing him in red,” Vick said Tuesday. “I’ve been with Coach [Reid] for the last four years, but it seems like 14 years. That’s a credit to our friendship that we’ve been able to develop. What a great man. What a great man.”
Just don’t expect Reid to get nostalgic about being back.
“I don’t feel that way,” he said when asked this week if he expected to get emotional. “If we weren’t playing a football game against a good football team, maybe your mind goes there. I don’t see my mind going there.”