Reid tells story of Johnson, Lito
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Reid tells story of Johnson, Lito
Sheil Kapadia, Philly.com
Enjoyed this story Andy Reid told about Jim Johnson and Lito Sheppard:
"Lito was one of his favorite guys, almost like a son. Lito was a character. So Jim was always trying to push the right button with Lito. And I remember Lito talked to Rick [Burkholder] or one of the guys, and they said, 'Hey, listen. When Jim's on you, and he's chewing on you, just think of the word SWEET. Just think of the word SWEET , you know just blank out all those thoughts.' So somehow Jim got word that Lito was told this word SWEET. And so Lito goes out on the field and he just had a rough play, and Jim starts screaming at him, 'SWEET, SWEET Lito, SWEET!'"
Lito responded by giving Johnson a big thumbs-up.
I'll try to get audio of the story up shortly. Reid really did a good job telling it.
Asked when the last time was that he saw Johnson, Reid said he and Joe Banner visited with him last night.
The last conversation he had with Johnson was two days ago.
Some other notes from Reid's press conference:
** When asked why Johnson never had a head coaching job, Reid said sometimes the stars just line up right, and Johnson cherished the opportunity to win.
** Reid said he never had an argument with Johnson, and he never heard anyone say a negative thing about him.
** Other than football, Reid said Johnson's favorite thing to do was spend time with his family and his grandkids.
** Reid said coaching at last season's Pro Bowl was the first time he felt what it would be like to coach without Johnson. He added that it was strange to have Sean McDermott introduced yesterday to talk about the defense.
** Reid said he and Banner have talked a little about how the team will pay tribute to Johnson, but they did not announce anything specific tonight.
Some of you had great ideas when Harry Kalas died, so feel free to share here how you think the team and the city should pay tribute to Johnson.
The best tribute the Eagles can have for this great man is to lead the league in all defensive categories and bring the Lombardi trophy home to the City of Brotherly Love and dedicate the win in his honor!— IdahoMoose- erect a statue at the Linc with JJ hands on his knees, headset on, play book in his pants,surrounded by his players..— tintim
- jim johnson initials j j on the back of the helmet— frazier
Comment removed.- "JJ" on the field at the 20 yd lines. Just a little reminder to our boys to not let the opponent tread on JJ's turf. I like the statue idea, too.— djack10
- "JJ" at the 20's is the perfect tribute for the man who preached red zone terror for opposing teams. And I'd like to see the organization donate a certain amount of money to cancer research for each sack and turnover. Let's hope that number gets to be huge.— TDS
- JJ on the 20's is perfect and a statue.— fman727
- Deserves some kind of permanent memorial at the Linc. A statue would be nice.— p-diddy
Rename blitzes as "Johnsons" or "JJs".— phillychaos- I can picture that statue, tintim. It would look perfect on the West side of the stadium where a lot of people enter.— elektrika
- iamnotthatking, the NFL has allowed it before. After Sean Taylor died the Skins played the first defensive snap of their following game with only 10 players. I'm pretty sure the other team broke off a long run on that play which I thought was pretty messed up but funny.— Arctic16
- Comment removed.
Certainly not my place to say. I'm sure the team and the players on it will come up with something nice.- The best way to pay tribute to J.J. would be to somehow, someway re-aquire his as well as my favorite player... B- DAWK! Another would be to wear our black jerseys for all home games. I love the idea of initializing the red zone as this was. J.J.'s turf.— Aaron
- I hope they can bring one home for him. Its going to be an emotional season for the D. To phillies @ 6:17, there is time & place for everything, it's clear you have no class.— Axeman54
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