AFC title game means a reunion for John Harbaugh and Andy Reid, who coached together in Philadelphia

John Harbaugh once defeated his own brother in a Super Bowl, so going up against someone he used to work with may not be all that emotional.

Still, there’s plenty of respect between the Baltimore coach and his counterpart this weekend: Kansas City’s Andy Reid.

“Obviously, it’s a big deal in terms of the relationship,” Harbaugh said this week. “It goes back a long, long, long way. Utmost respect for Andy, utmost appreciation for what he’s accomplished as a coach. We were together for 10 years, the first 10 years there in Philly. We were in a lot of championship games, and a lot of playoff games.”

They’ll face each other as head coaches for the first time in a playoff game when the Ravens host the Chiefs on Sunday. That’s somewhat remarkable given how successful they’ve been. This is Harbaugh’s fourth AFC championship game with Baltimore and Reid’s sixth in a row with Kansas City.

Reid leads their head-to-head series 5-2 since he and Harbaugh went their separate ways during the former’s tenure at the helm of the Philadelphia Eagles.

“John does a phenomenal job. He knows the whole game,” Reid said. “He was a great special teams coach, a great secondary coach and he’s been a great head coach. Very proud of him and all he’s done and accomplished.”

Harbaugh was a special teams coordinator in 1998 for the Eagles under Ray Rhodes, then remained in that role for eight seasons after Reid took over the following season.

“Ray Rhodes was great to be around for a year or two. If Ray’s out there listening, just thank you very much. I’m always appreciative of what I learned from Ray,” Harbaugh said. “Then Andy came in, I was hoping to stay, and he gave me an opportunity to do it. I was young and just figuring things out. That was good of him, and hope he’s glad he did, looking back on it.”

Reid said he’d known Harbaugh’s father, Jack, before keeping John on his staff in Philadelphia.

“His dad was the best. He was real close with LaVell Edwards (at BYU). I did a thing at a hospital…

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Publish date : 2024-01-25 02:02:37

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