The 10 Things Kansas City Chiefs Fans Can Expect From Andy Reid

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They say familiarity breeds contempt. After 14 years of mostly successful but ultimately Lombardi-less seasons, a vocal portion of Philadelphia fans came to feel contempt for the familiar fat man that roamed the sidelines for the Philadelphia Eagles.

Truth of the matter is Andy Reid was the greatest Eagles coach of the Super Bowl era, but like a marriage that no one really expected to last forever, Philadelphia got to see the faults of Andy Reid year after year. And as the seasons piled up without that ultimate prize, those faults began to overshadow the mountain of strengths and success Reid had accumulated in his first head coaching gig in the NFL.

Way back in 1999, Philadelphia had no idea what the hell it was getting in Reid, the little-known assistant from Green Bay who had an uncanny resemblance to his mentor, Mike Holmgren — overweight, mustachioed, smart, understated. Well, 14 years later, Philadelphia knows damn near everything about Reid, and as an Eagles fan who saw just about every single play of the Reid era, I'm here to give Kansas City a primer on what to expect from the man who simultaneously made the Eagles perennial Super Bowl contenders yet had absolutely no clue how to manage the clock.

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1. A quick turnaround.
The Kansas City Chiefs were horrible in 2012, and they've been mostly horrible the past half decade. In fact, they're in a similar situation that Reid stepped into when he became Eagles head coach. In the two seasons before Reid took over, the Birds were a combined 9-22-1 under Ray Rhodes. The past two seasons, the Chiefs are — get this — 9-23. After a 5-11 season to kick off his head coaching career — having the heady but physically inept Doug Pederson mentoring rookie quarterback Donovan McNabb — Reid led Philadelphia to at least 11 wins each of the next five seasons, establishing the Eagles as the powerhouse of the NFC East and class of the NFC.

It took all of one bad season for Reid to turn things around. And with the No. 1 pick in the upcoming NFL draft, Reid will get to choose a franchise-type player. In Philadelphia, he hit a home run by selecting McNabb, as that duo went to five NFC Championship games and a Super Bowl together. While there may not be a clear-cut franchise quarterback, Reid should be able to get an impact player to build his vision around. And even with Matt Cassel's struggles, Reid has done wonders with quarterbacks over the years, so expect things to get better relatively quickly — particularly with several Pro Bowl players already on the KC roster.

2. Excellent game plans.
Leading up to a game, few coaches prepare their teams better than Reid has prepared the Eagles, the past two seasons notwithstanding. Time and time again, Reid has outsmarted opponents simply by being a step ahead of them. He sees the opposition's weaknesses and attacks them, no matter if conventional wisdom may suggest a different course. He's stubborn in his preparation, and rightfully so. For the majority of his tenure, the Eagles came out fired up and ready to play week in and week out — at least until their final game of the season.

3. No in-game adjustments.
And I mean none. Zero. Zip. Nada. Because Reid is so good at preparing his team and mapping out a game plan, he has the utmost confidence in his game plan. More times than not, his plan has worked — you don't win that many games by accident. However, in the event that his game plan isn't working, you can go ahead and forget about Reid changing said game plan. Ain't happening. He's going to ride or die with the plays and formations he schemed up before the contest.

Where a coach like Bill Belichick constantly makes in-game adjustments and halftime tweaks, Reid sticks to his plan for better or worse. Of course, this is a major reason why he was never able to hoist the Lombardi Trophy in Philadelphia. The absolute best coaches make those adjustments in the critical moments. I like to equate it this way: Monday-Saturday, Reid is as good as any coach in the NFL, but on Sunday, he's like a deer caught in headlights. He just can't adjust to something he didn't see coming.

4. Wasted timeouts. Lots of wasted timeouts.
First and 10 in the first quarter? Timeout. Second and two with 9 minutes left in the first half and your team on defense? Timeout. No good coach in the history of the league has wasted more timeouts than Andy Reid. I can't even stress how frustrating this is, time and time and time again, seeing a real, live, successful NFL coach manage the clock worse than someone who can't even tell time would. Yet that, more than any in-game scenarios, has been Reid's biggest Achilles heel, even more so than the lack of in-game adjustments.

The man just doesn't know how to manage the clock. He really doesn't. That's not an exaggeration or a soured fan lashing out. It's fact. You'll see. Your team will seem like it should have plenty of time at some point in the game, only then you'll realize you're down to one timeout inexplicably and your two-minute drill takes 8 minutes. Don't say I didn't warn you.

5. Lots of throat-clearing.
"That's my responsibility. I've got to do a better job." Get used to those 10 words. You're going to hear them a lot — and they will be interspersed with countless throat clears. It's an Andy M.O. Now, it's common knowledge that NFL coaches aren't big on talking to the press. Few give anything of substance. However, Reid says perhaps the least of any coach out there. For fans that desire answers, it can be incredibly grating and even feel condescending. Herm Edwards, he is not.

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6. A disciplined football team.
This may come as a shock after watching the dumpster fire that has been the Eagles the past two seasons, but for the most part, Andy Reid's teams have been some of the most disciplined in the NFL. Attribute the decline in this area to a coach wearing out his welcome after more than a decade with the same team and players finally just tuning him out, but particularly early on, the Eagles did not kill themselves with stupid penalties. Assuming Reid gets his head clear getting out of the notoriously harsh Philadelphia environment, expect him to get back to basics.

7. Passes. Lots of passes.
The Chiefs have Jamaal Charles. He is a fantastic running back. At times, you will forget he is even a running back at all, because Reid will go through games where he calls pass play after pass play after pass play. Now, his penchant for throwing all the time in Philadelphia was slightly overstated. Duce Staley was a workhorse in his early years, and Brian Westbrook and LeSean McCoy both put up 1,000-yard campaigns. However, Reid prefers his running backs to be good pass blockers and pass catchers than feeding them 20-plus times a game a la Adrian Peterson or Priest Holmes. So be prepared to yell at your TV, "JUST HAND THE BALL OFF TO JAMAAL!!!!!"

8. Hilarious images.
From his rotund build to his bushy mustache to his Hawaiian shirts to his celebrations with players (see above), Andy Reid provides golden images. He may not say much and he may not be flashy, but Andy has a wry sense of humor. And every now and then, it results in pure gold.

9. Lost challenges.
See timeouts, above. When Andy throws that first challenge flag, he will probably lose said challenge and the accompanying timeout. It's just what he does. And he'll keep doing it, time and time again.

10. An excellent football coach.
For all his faults and frustrations, Andy Reid is a hell of a football coach. His record speaks for itself, and while it's true that success also came with cornerstones Donovan McNabb, Brain Dawkins, et al, not to mention the late, great defensive coordinator Jim Johnson, Reid was the man who put it all together and continued to do so for essentially his entire term. The man can flat out coach. Sure, he'll drive you nuts and make you pull you're hair out, to the point where you wonder how he can even be an NFL coach, and then you'll look up and the Chiefs will have another victory, another double-digit win season, another playoff appearance and you'll understand there's more than meets the eye with Reid (insert fat joke here).

His players love him because he's a straight shooter and never throws anyone under the bus. His game plans are intricate and mostly successful. And his teams are prepared and full of expectations, time and time again.

Trust me, I saw every good and bad thing that occurred during Reid's tenure in Philadelphia. And while the bad plays out at the most inopportune times, the good far outweighs the bad. He made the Philadelphia Eagles relevant again. He raised expectations for a dormant franchise. And he'll do the same damn thing in Kansas City. Just substitute those cheesesteaks and Tastykakes for some honest to goodness barbecue, and the Eagles green for Chiefs red.

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