Sports Radio Interviews

Andy Reid Loves Philadelphia

One of the most consistent teams for the last decade has been the Philadelphia Eagles and one of the common denominators for the Eagles has been the Head Coach, Andy Reid. He has been a part of the Eagles organization for the last 11 years and has one hell of a resume with them. 115 wins, five appearances in the conference championship game, and seven trips to the postseason. Thank you sir my I have another! In this day and age of win now or get fired, Reid has been consistent and kept the team a contender year in and year out. Throw in a Donovan McNabb here and a Brian Westbrook there and I am sure that makes life easier now.

This season the expectations were as high as ever in Philly. The Eagles were (I stress were) healthy (Westbrook had some off-season ankle surgery and got knocked silly a few times during the year so far) and they even got a guy named Mike Vick as insurance for McNabb.  Reid had the foundation for another big playoff run and the city and the rest of the NFL thought the same. The Eagles are at this moment are tied with the Cowboys at 8-4 and a game ahead of the Giants in the NFC East, another nail biting year for the East division.

Andy Reid joins Howard Eskin on WIP in Philadelphia to talk about how he got into coaching, the win versus the Falcons last Sunday, having Vick on the team, and whether or not an extension during the season is vital for him to stay in Philadelphia.

Asked about emotion he showed after Mike Vick’s touchdown and why he doesn’t show more of that:

“Not that I am not happy for all the guys, but this kid has gone through a little bit of trouble and he has come through on the positive end of it and he has handled himself the right way. A lot of guys get into trouble and they almost have a chip on their shoulder about it. That’s not how he has gone about it. He’s admitted his problem, he said listen I goofed up, if there is anything I can do to get my life back on track, I would like to do it.  He has gone about it that way not just on the football field but off the football field. I think everybody was cheering for him. (Eskin: But you never show your emotion, did you get caught up in the vindication when you brought him in). I didn’t get caught up; I would never do that through another person.  I thought he deserved a second chance, I thought this was a great situation for him with Donovan being here, I just thought it would be a positive situation for him. He has handled himself the right way and that’s the bottom line, it doesn’t have anything to do with you or me. He has taken care of business and done it the right way and not everybody does that.”

Asked why it’s important to him to get an extension during the season or before the season is over:

“Howard you know me well enough, that is the last thing on my mind right now. I am not even going to go there with it; I am staying right down the middle here. I know that got out there and I can’t tell you that I am big on that, I don’t like that. The club put out a statement, I am fully supportive of that statement and I would like to leave it at that and move on. I love Philadelphia, I said this when I was coaching and I came back here to play; the fans here are unbelievable.  I always thought this would be a neat place to coach and I was lucky enough to come here, I love Philadelphia. (Eskin: So it’s not a distraction) I don’t even worry about that; I would be honored if that took place.”

Asked if there ever was a thought that he needed a break during his tenure in Philadelphia:

“The one break I took is when the boys got into trouble and I took six weeks off there. That needed to be done at that time. Until that time or at that time I really haven’t felt that way, at that particular moment it had to be done.”

Asked about the Eagle and Giants coming up this weekend:

“There is nothing like an NFC East rivalry, two good teams playing each other.  Then you add on it being a night game, cold in the air. It doesn’t get any better than that.  We always look forward to playing the Giants cause you just know it’s going to be competitive every time. It won’t be any different this time and I know our guys will go through the process and when we get there we will cut it loose a little bit.”

Listen to Andy Reid with Howard Eskin on WIP in Philadelphia

Tags: Andy Reid, Donovan McNabb, Michael Vick, New York Giants, NFC, NFC East, Philadelphia Eagles