[siberian khatru]

Originally Posted by Eyemsougly

Hey guys, I wanted to make a new thread about this but apparently new members aren't allowed to so I'll post it here.

I have been a Philadelphia Eagles fan for the past 15 seasons, that is I started following the Eagles the year before Reid took over. The first year I was an Eagles fan our coach was Ray Rhodes and we went 3-13 and were the worst team in football, and probably one of the worst teams ever.

For me, all of my positive memories of the Eagles are tied up with Andy Reid and for me I was always just as much of an Andy fan as an Eagles fan which is why I am now shifting my loyalty from the Eagles to the Chiefs. I might stay an Eagles fan as well, but the Chiefs are now my first team.

I am here because I think that a lot of Chiefs fans have some serious concerns about Reid and I would like to address them from the perspective of someone who had to suffer through these past two terrible seasons.

The problems for Reid and the Eagles began immediately after the end of the 2010 season when it became clear that our defensive coordinator at the time, Sean McDermott (who had taken over for the legendary Jim Johnson after Johnson's sudden death from cancer), was totally incompetent. Reid new he needed to correct that problem but went about it in the totally wrong way. First thing he did was hire Jim Washburn as his Dline coach before he had hired a coordinator. The amount of DCs who would have been willing and able to work with Washburn's gimmicky "wide 9" system was very small so Reid moved his long time Oline coach, Juan Castillo to DC. Now, contrary to popular perception Juan actually was a pretty good Defensive Coordinator, he was just hamstrung by having to build his entire defense around a line playing in a scheme that put way too much pressure on the LBs and especially the safeties. In fact, it was after Juan was fired that the defense completely imploded as our new DC (Todd Bowles) and Washburn just could not get on the same page.

The biggest problem with moving Juan was that it left a hole at Oline coach where Juan had done a great job for years. Reid brought Howard Mudd out of retirement but Mudd had an entirely different scheme. Overnight the Eagles changed from a physical team to a finesse one, particularly on the offensive side of the ball. We ran the ball more but they were mostly outside runs and we were completely incapable of running on short yardage. Mudd's line did improve the pass blocking initially but the wheels fell off the wagon this year and we were simply unable to block anyone for the first 8 games of the season.

On special teams Reid hired Bobby April from the Bills who was regarded as the best ST coach in the league. April inherited a terrible unit and immediately set about making it even worse.

Basically what happened is Reid got away from what had worked for him for so long: physical play, bringing along his own guys and developing players in house. It ended up costing us the last two season and costing Reid his job. The early signs so far though are that in KC Reid intends to return to the approach he had during his first 12 years with the Eagles.

I don't believe that the Eagles ownership or front office had lost faith in Reid. If Jeff Lurie had his way, he's probably have been inclined to give Reid another year but Andy has always been absolutely detested by the Philadelphia Eagles fan base and the public pressure was just too much. A change of scenery is best for all parties involved.

The Chiefs do have some talent, I wouldn't be surprised if Andy has them competing for a playoff spot this year.

Welcome