Grotz: Andy Reid’s KC brush with Nick Sirianni left an impression

Fired by the Eagles after the 2012 season, Andy Reid took a job that nobody really wanted.

The Kansas City Chiefs were a franchise in turmoil. In December 2012, in a parking lot at Arrowhead Stadium, linebacker Jovan Belcher committed suicide in front of Chiefs general manager Scott Pioli and head coach Romeo Crennel, just hours after Belcher murdered his girlfriend.

Reid was no stranger to grief, his oldest son Garrett having died of a drug overdose that August.  When Kansas City called, Big Red trudged forward and accepted the head coaching job.

One of his first items of business was telling the Chiefs’ then wide receivers coach, a 31-year-old named Nick Sirianni, to look for a new job. Little did Sirianni realize that not only was he being finessed out the door, but that it was being given a teaching moment.

“Coach Reid was charged with the task of telling me I wasn’t working there anymore. But he was awesome,” Sirianni recalled. “It was actually an awesome conversation I had with him. And I really respected the fact that he took time to meet with me, tell me what he had heard about me. But he had a guy, David Culley. And David Culley who’s now, obviously, we know all know where he is. But he took the time to meet with me.

“I thought about that when I had to do the same thing this year when I had to tell a guy that I had a guy in place here. I handled the situation like Coach Reid did for me because I always respected that.”

Reid wound up bringing Kansas City its first Super Bowl title in 50 years. Culley would become head coach of the Houston Texans. And Sirianni kept plugging and landed the head coaching job with the Eagles.

Sunday, Sirianni and Reid reunite at Lincoln Financial Field. The game could make Reid, with a win, the only NFL coach to earn 100 or more wins with two different franchises, a sure ticket to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Always the loyal soldier to the coaching profession, Reid said on a conference call last week that he’s impressed with Sirianni as a head coach.

“I think he’s doing a nice job with it there,” Reid said. “He’s had some things to overcome with the offensive line and that but it looks like his program is solid, and it’s a lot different because you’ve got to deal with you guys in the media when you didn’t have to necessarily do that as a coordinator. Then you’ve got to juggle the whole team, not just the offensive side.

“Those are the challenges you’re presented as a new coach. The play calling and all that I think probably comes pretty natural to him. It’s just doing those other responsibilities on there.”

Reid didn’t expound on the conversation he had in Kansas City with Sirianni other than that he, “knew his reputation here.”

“I mean everybody thought he was a really good football coach when he was here, so I’ve kind of followed him along his path to here,” Reid said. “I think the Eagles are in good hands.”

The same could be said of the Chiefs. They were sinking fast when Reid threw them a life preserver, and they’ll be winning games for years to come with Patrick Mahomes playing quarterback. Reid expended considerable resources moving up the board to select the quarterback amid widespread criticism.

• • •

According to Eagles research, Jalen Hurts has produced the fifth-most total yards (2,057) by an NFL quarterback in his first seven starts.

Great, except victories, the stat that Hurts and any quarterback worth his paycheck tend to cherish, aren’t included. The Eagles are 2-5 in that block of games.

About the others on that list ahead of Hurts. Cam Newton (2,285 yards) was 2-5 in his first seven starts, Justin Herbert (2,230) went 1-6 and Billy Volek (2,158) was 2-5. The only winning outlier is Hurts’ opposite number on Sunday, Patrick Mahomes, who had 2,193 yards and a 6-1 record.

So where does Hurts fall on that scale? There’s only one Mahomes. And Brad Pitt lookalike Herbert is playing like another John Elway.

• • •

There is no harm in stopping a game to hand the ball to the guy who sets an amazing record, is there?

We’ll see what happens Sunday when Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady becomes the all-time leader in passing yardage against – yeah – Bill Belichick and the Patriots at Foxborough.

Brady needs 68 yards to pass Drew Brees (80,291) for first on the all-time list. Pretty big record. May never be broken considering that Brady is 44 years old, and no one is going to play the position that long.

• • •

Trey Lance didn’t get on the field when the Eagles played the 49ers. The coaching staff probably didn’t want to subject him to that killer defense.

But Lance, who hails from Carson Wentz’s alma mater of North Dakota State, has made the most of his snaps against the other opposition. Lance has scored on a couple of one-yard runs and thrown a scoring pass. Seven snaps, three touches, three scores.

To contact Bob Grotz, email bgrotz@delcotimes.com. Follow him on Twitter @BobGrotz.