CAN HEAR CLEARWATER CALLING
Eagles coach Andy Reid was interviewed by former Birds linebacker Ike Reese during WIP's Radiothon and Reid hit on a number of points, including his longevity.
Entering his 11th season, Reid is the second longest tenured active coach in the NFL behind Tennessee's Jeff Fisher and the eighth longest tenured coach in all of pro sports. Reid has two years left on his contract and negotations about an extension are not believed to have taken place to this point.
“I told my wife, we have a little beach house where we sneak out there for a week or two during the summer, the day that I can’t leave [to return to work] is the day that it’s time to hang it up," Reid said. "Up to this point, I’ve been as fired up to get back as ever. As long as I have that energy and that feeling, I will coach. I haven’t really thought about the alternative. I love Philadelphia. I'm very proud to be the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles.”
Earlier, Reid had said, "Every day is different, every day is exciting. I get up and love every minute about this thing.”
He also is the winningest coach in the history of the franchise and the 18th coach in NFL history to stay with his original team for more than 10 years. Reid was asked about the possibility of not coaching with another franchise in his career. He went on to laud ownership, president Joe Banner, his coaching staff and players.
"I know I’m in a great situation," he said. "I’m the happiest guy in the world coaching for the Philadelphia Eagles. If that continues, that’s the way I would love it. I really haven’t thought about anything else. I don’t go there. You know how I am. I am fairly single-minded. I am all about today. Let’s win today and get on to tomorrow."
The coach also touched on some football subjects in advance of Thursday's preseason finale.
He also made a pitch that the Eagles' version of the Wildcat be called something else. "We have all these creative minds in Philadelphia. We have to come up with a new name for this.”
What is different about the Eagles' version, Reid said, is that Michael Vick is a quarterback and not a running back or wide receiver, positions that have been at the forefront of the trend.
“Michael can throw the football and can run the football,” Reid said. “Most of the kids who are running this thing are running backs. Mike can add his own dimension to this. We will use it in certain situations, depending on the team that we play. It could be every week. It could be whenever we want to do that. It is important that we all get used to it. We will use it … It takes a little adjustment to do that.”
Reid conceded that the offense "sputtered around a little bit" against Jacksonville, but said the Eagles would get better with more work and as they add different elements. He said what has surprised him most about Vick thus far is how much of the offense he has retained from his days with Atlanta.
He reiterated that Joe Mays will start at middle linebacker Thursday. Omar Gaither is not expected to play aftter injuring an ankle Monday in practice.
“I know what Omar can do … I want Joe Mays to get as many reps as he possibly can," Reid said. "He’s a young guy that has a lot of talent. The more that he can play the better. He’s done a nice job this preseason and we want to continue working with him.”
Asked about the depth problem at tight end, Reid said the Eagles are always looking to upgrade at every positon. He said Matt Schobel and Tony Curtis would both play against the Jets.
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To read our earlier report from practice, click here.
Les
Bowen has covered the Eagles for the Daily News
since 2002.
Before that, he spent nearly 13 years covering the Flyers. It took Les
only a few seasons after the switch to figure out that there was no
penalty box at the Linc, and that the time really wasn't his, despite
what Andy Reid kept saying. Les came to Philadelphia and the Daily News
from Charlotte in 1983. In the intervening years, he has pretty much
lost track of NASCAR, and his accent. He, his wife Barbara, and their
two sons live in Haddon Township, New Jersey.
E-mail Les at bowenl@phillynews.com
and follow
him on Twitter.
Paul
Domowitch has been with the Daily News since 1982.
He has spent most of his nearly 3 decades with the paper covering the
Eagles and pro football. For the last 10 years, he’s been a
selector for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. A native of Wilkes-Barre
and a graduate of Wilkes University, Domo started his career in Texas,
working first for the Midland Reporter-Telegram (1976-78), and then for
the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, where he covered some god-awful Texas
Ranger baseball teams. His first beat at the Daily News actually was
boxing, which he covered just long enough to lose 2 sports coats to
blood spatter before moving on to football. Domo and his wife Shelley,
a University of Oklahoma grad who still hasn’t gotten over
that Fiesta Bowl loss to Boise State 5 years ago, have 2 terrific
daughters -- Allison, 28, who is an attorney in South Jersey, and Amy,
25, who works in administration for a professional baseball team.
E-mail Domo at PDomo@aol.com and follow
him on Twitter.
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