KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Chiefs coach Andy Reid and Jaguars counterpart Doug Pederson will meet for the second time as opposing head coaches on Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium. Pederson played for and coached under Reid in Philadelphia before becoming his first offensive coordinator in Kansas City. Reid got the best of him in 2017, when Pederson had departed to become the head coach of the Eagles. He is now in his first year with Jacksonville. The Chiefs have won five straight against the Jaguars. Both teams are coming off wins, with Jacksonville coming from behind to beat the Raiders and the Chiefs beating the Titans in overtime.
Doug Pederson will always feel indebted to Chiefs coach Andy Reid for the way his career played out.
Both the playing one and the coaching one.
It was Reid who gave Pederson, then a backup quarterback for the Packers, an opportunity to be an NFL starter with the Eagles. And years later, it was Reid who welcomed Pederson back to Philadelphia as an offensive quality control coach, a job that would serve as the jumping-off point for his rise to become head coach, first of the Eagles and now the Jaguars.
“I owe a lot to Coach Reid and the things he taught me,” Pederson said this week. “When I became coordinator there in Kansas City, we spent so much time together, in meetings and one-on-one, and everything about him is pouring himself into other people. He did that with me and prepared me for my first job in Philadelphia, and that went a long way, and now here in Jacksonville, taking some of the same things I learned from him and applying them here.”
The two remain close, talking often during the season. But those phone calls and text messages will stop this week as the Jaguars prepare to visit the Chiefs on Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium.
It will be the second matchup between mentor and pupil — Reid won the first when the Chiefs beat the Eagles on Sept. 17, 2017. In fact, the Kansas City coach is 17-9 when facing former assistants as head coaches.
“He’s a good friend,” Reid said of Pederson, “and I think he’s doing a heck of a job down there. The players have bought into what he’s teaching. They’re well-coached and you know what? They have good players and they play very hard.”
Pederson won’t be the only familiar face on the opposing sideline.
Jaguars quarterbacks coach Mike McCoy played for Reid with the Packers in the ‘90s, defensive coordinator Mike Caldwell played for and coached under him in Philadelphia and defensive assistant Bob Sutton was his first coordinator in Kansas City.
So yes, even though it’s been seven years since Reid and Pederson worked together, there is a certain familiarity between the two coaching staffs. And that makes their preparation a little more complicated than usual.
“I have to ask,” Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes said, “because I wasn’t here with Doug — he left right before I got here — ‘Do we need to change code words, change things up, so he doesn’t have any intel on the stuff we’re trying to run?’”
Reid and Pederson both acknowledged this week that the Kansas City offense maintains its roots in the West Coast system. But it has changed dramatically from the days when Pederson was orchestrating it with Alex Smith under center to the present, where offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy has Mahomes putting up record-setting numbers.
He set new Chiefs marks last week for completions and attempts, going 43 of 68 for 446 yards in a 20-17 overtime victory over the Titans.
“Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes, they just win. They get it done when they need to,” Jacksonville safety Andrew Wingard said, “and I think we’re starting to trend in that direction. It will be a good test. If you’re going to contend in the AFC, you’re going to have to go play Kansas City in January, February when it’s cold and stuff, so it’ll be a great challenge.”
The Jaguars rallied from a 17-point deficit last week to beat the Las Vegas Raiders 27-20.
NO-LOSE NOVEMBER
Kansas City has won 10 straight November games, a streak that began on Nov. 18, 2019, with a win over the Chargers. Part of the reason is the play of Mahomes, who is 12-2 as the starting quarterback. He has thrown 37 touchdown passes and nine interceptions during his second-best month statistically behind September.
