|
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- For the past four decades or so, Vic Fangio and Andy Reid have coached football and for most of those years the two have worked in the NFL. All told, they have combined for 11 stops in the league and yet the two have never worked together on the same coaching staff. "It tried to happen a couple times but couldn't," Fangio said. Thursday night's game between the Denver Broncos and Kansas City Chiefs (8:20 p.m. ET, Fox/NFL) pits the No. 4 team in total defense against the No. 3 team in total offense with Fangio calling plays on one side and Reid the other. Fangio's Broncos rank seventh in points allowed per game while Reid's Chiefs are led by the reigning MVP in quarterback Patrick Mahomes and rank fifth in points scored per game. The game features two of the seven head coaches in the league who are in the 60 Club. Both Fangio and Reid are 61 years old, but while Reid has been a head coach since 1999, Fangio waited until this year, his 33rd in the NFL, to be hired by the Broncos for his first head coaching job at any level. "Coach Fangio just waited and waited for his chance, waited for his opportunity," is how Broncos linebacker Todd Davis put it. "Sometimes this league is just about right place, right time." Former Broncos coach Mike Shanahan said earlier this season that "Vic should have been a head coach 15 years ago, hard to believe he wasn't." Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll is the league's oldest head coach at 68, followed by Bill Belichick (67), Bruce Arians (67) and Mike Zimmer (63). Washington Redskins interim coach Bill Callahan is 63. "He's wise so he's been around it, planned for it," Reid said of Fangio this week. "Everybody's different, it all comes around different. I know he's been around a lot of good programs so I'm sure he had a plan for everything." For two coaches with such a breadth of NFL experience and such a broad network within the league, it is mildly surprising they have never been on the same staff together. Especially given they would not have been competing for the same jobs much of the time with Reid coaching offense and Fangio defense. "I know him but not great," Fangio said. "But obviously, our paths have been crossed in the league for a long time. I think I've been in the league longer than him. I know him. If we see each other, we'll say hello and chat." "Through competition, I knew him a little bit," Reid said. "But I thought it was a great hire by [Broncos general manager] John [Elway], he's one of the special defensive minds in the game."
|
