LAS VEGAS — Andy Reid ran as much as Chris Jones, the defensive cornerstone of his three Tremendous Bowl-winning groups.
Jones was sprawled out on the sphere, bodily spent and reveling in that new dynasty feeling after the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs’ 25-22 win over the San Francisco 49ers in Tremendous Bowl LVIII. Reid joined Jones on the grass, getting on his arms and vigorously shaking his participant’s shoulder pads.
“What do you assume, huh?” Reid shouted to Jones because the confetti fell round them. Reid lowered his face nearer to Jones, then repeated for impact. “What do you assume?!”
This childlike glee was a uncommon displaying of emotion for the Chiefs’ veteran head coach. Reid’s bushy eyebrows and mustache and small, spherical glasses give him a definite look and still have the impact of obscuring his true emotions.
ALL THE FEELS 🥹❤️ pic.twitter.com/yd1ByK7VPw
— Kansas Metropolis Chiefs (@Chiefs) February 12, 2024
“He by no means reveals no emotion,” cornerback L’Jarius Sneed stated after the sport. “He’s like a snake, ah! Coming to get you. That’s what I really like about him, like a little bit rattlesnake.”
Rattlesnake Reid sank his fangs into the Niners on Sunday in Las Vegas, as receiver Mecole Hardman scored the game-winning landing in extra time. It was the debut of latest extra time playoff guidelines impressed by the Chiefs’ 2021 extra time playoff win over the Payments. Kansas Metropolis didn’t win the toss this time, however the Chiefs nonetheless couldn’t be stopped.
The 25-22 win is Reid’s third Tremendous Bowl in his fifth strive. He’s now the fifth head coach to win not less than three, within the firm of Invoice Belichick (six), Chuck Noll (4), Invoice Walsh and Joe Gibbs (three), and the seventh coach to win all of it in back-to-back years.
“It’s a little bit bit surreal,” Reid stated in his postgame press convention. “Again-to-back is uncommon air for this soccer workforce and this group. I don’t know what a dynasty is. You guys have the thesaurus, you’ll be able to determine it out. It’s an excellent win as a result of I understand how exhausting it’s to do. I understand how exhausting the season was, the ups and downs of the season.”
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Reid’s Chiefs had been a little bit extra definitive of their summation of the season — and of their coach.
“Dynasty, I feel we did all of the {qualifications} for it,” receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling stated within the postgame locker room. “If he’s not one of the best, he’s among the best to ever do that.”
“Examine the stats, verify the numbers,” Sneed stated. “He’s legendary.”
“He’s one of many biggest guys in soccer, and this simply makes him one of many biggest coaches,” stated Chiefs assistant operating backs coach Porter Ellett. “Now it’s turning into tougher to argue in opposition to him being within the high two or three ever.”
“He was already a Corridor of Fame coach earlier than tonight,” stated Chiefs proprietor Clark Hunt. “However including that third Tremendous Bowl trophy in 5 years, I feel actually solidifies his standing as among the best of all time.”
“I wouldn’t need to play for one more coach,” heart Creed Humphrey stated. “He’s one of the best coach within the sport proper now.”
Reid’s three Tremendous Bowl titles put him in uncommon firm, and he’s not finished but. (Jamie Squire / Getty Photos)
At halftime, with Kansas Metropolis down 10-3, Reid didn’t panic. The offense was stalling. Mahomes was continually below stress, sacked twice, and operating again Isiah Pacheco fumbled away the Chiefs’ most promising drive. However Reid’s message to gamers and employees was the identical: Maintain going.
“Whenever you’re within the Tremendous Bowl and also you’re down by seven factors, it looks like 20,” Reid stated. “And so, you type of simply calm it down — we’re proper there, we’re getting the ball to start out the second half and everyone simply cling with one another — and good issues can occur.”
“Whenever you’re down 10 in an enormous sport like this, a number of coaches cannot deal with it properly and begin throwing stuff on the wall and hoping it sticks,” Humphrey stated. “However he caught to the sport plan. And he had an excellent sport plan for us. He did an excellent job, a masterful teaching job.”
“Pretty much as good as he’s as a coach, he by no means adjustments,” offensive coordinator Matt Nagy stated. “He stays the course. He’s a frontrunner of males and he’s a hell of a trainer. And he doesn’t simply train his gamers, he teaches his coaches learn how to be good leaders. And then you definitely stick collectively and also you go make issues occur.”
The 2 gamers who scored touchdowns for Kansas Metropolis on Sunday current direct proof of that stick-together high quality that coaches say makes Reid particular. Valdes-Scantling, who scored the primary landing on Sunday, struggled with expensive drops all through the season. Hardman returned to the Chiefs in a commerce after being forged off by the Jets midseason and struggled this postseason, notably fumbling out of the tip zone in Buffalo, earlier than scoring the game-winner.
“Coach Reid is a type of guys that stays the course it doesn’t matter what,” Valdes-Scantling stated. “We’re all right here for a cause and all of us make performs, and all of us have the particular ability set that we’ve, and him with the ability to proceed that and keep the course with us has been good.”
Ellett is in his seventh season on Kansas Metropolis’s employees. He injured his proper arm in an accident when he was 4 years previous and later had it amputated. He by no means performed soccer and wound up getting related to Reid when a job as Reid’s assistant opened up. Reid has since taught him learn how to be a coach.
“He by no means offers up on a man,” Ellett stated. “He places a number of religion in folks. And in the event you reward the religion, then he retains trusting you. I imply, I’m an excellent instance of that. Folks aren’t hiring one-armed soccer coaches who didn’t play soccer.”
As a result of he’s 65 years previous, there’s been rising hypothesis about Reid’s future. How for much longer will he coach? What number of extra rings will this budding dynasty purchase? When requested after Sunday’s win if he can be again teaching Kansas Metropolis subsequent season, Reid was nonchalant: “Yeah, I haven’t had time to consider it, however yeah, positive.”
Chiefs gamers aren’t listening to any of that noise.
“He’s obtained rather a lot left within the tank,” Humphrey stated.
“We received two Tremendous Bowls again to again,” Valdez-Scantling stated. “We’re attempting to go for one more one.”
Plus, the boss is assured Reid is sticking round for some time longer.
“I do know Andy is energized and loving what he’s doing,” Hunt stated. “I definitely anticipate him to be again subsequent yr to defend our title.”
(Picture: Timothy A. Clary/ AFP by way of Getty Photos)
