Andy Reid dives deep on facing Eagles, Patrick Mahomes’ success

Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs are going to the Super Bowl for the third time in four seasons after overcoming Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals in the AFC Championship Game.

This time around, Reid will go up against the Philadelphia Eagles, a franchise he guided from 1999-2012 before joining the Chiefs in 2013.

Reid joined Colin Cowherd on “The Herd” on Tuesday, explaining why his past with the Eagles won’t be a factor in the game despite admitting the situation is “unique” and that he still has “great” relationships with members of the organization.

“I have fond memories of Philadelphia. I loved all 14 years that I was there. But when you really cut to the chase on this thing, you get to a point where you just go, ‘Listen, it’s us, our team, our players and coaches, versus their team and coaches. It doesn’t matter the uniform, necessarily. You’re battling in there against these guys. As a coach, you want to give your players the best opportunity that you can for them to succeed. So you focus in on the gameplan, that’s what you do. And then all the emotional stuff, you kind of put over on the side, and you can love ’em up after the game.”

What does Patrick Mahomes do that separates him from the NFL’s best quarterbacks?

Reid went 130-93-1 with the Eagles, highlighted by an appearance in Super Bowl XXXIX against Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. He captured his first Super Bowl three years ago when the Chiefs mounted a 10-point fourth-quarter comeback to beat the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LIV.

Kansas City went 14-3 this season, good for its seventh consecutive AFC West title and the No. 1 seed in the conference. Mahomes totaled 5,250 passing yards, 41 passing touchdowns, 12 interceptions and a 105.2 passer rating, completing 67.1% of his passes.

Across his five seasons as the team’s primary quarterback (2018-22), Mahomes has averaged 4,791.4 passing yards, 38.4 passing touchdowns and 9.6 interceptions per season, logging a 106.0 passer rating and completing 66.4% of his passes.

With that, Reid felt comfortable saying his quarterback is in a class of his own.

“[Quarterbacks] all see well, but some see better than others. You teach young kids, keep your eyes down the field as you move. Well, when Patrick moves, he naturally does that. And then he has accuracy and strength, velocity on the ball at the same time. That makes him a little bit different than a lot of quarterbacks. You hear the great ones saying that he’s a great one, and that’s quite a compliment to him, and now you add this whole thing in with the ankle and stuff that he’s pushing through mentally, is special.”

Mahomes suffered a high-ankle sprain in Kansas City’s AFC Divisional Round matchup against the Jacksonville Jaguars, and Reid detailed what went on between him and Mahomes after he initially suffered the injury.

“His mindset was, ‘I’m going back in, and I’m fine, and I don’t need an X-ray’ and all this,” Reid said. “And I said, ‘Yeah, you’re gonna go back in, but you’re gonna get an X-ray first. And he didn’t like that, but he did it. What was coincidental was, and I didn’t see this until later, but he ran up to the ramp to get the X-ray. That’s how mad he was and how much adrenaline he had going through him.

“I go, ‘This kid, he is crazy that way’ — but a good crazy.”

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