Reid Vs Tomlin: Wild Card’s Best Coaching Matchup

Much of the focus has gone towards the players for Sunday’s Wild Card playoff matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Pittsburgh Steelers. There is another layer that should not be forgotten, however. The coaching matchup pits two top ten head coaches, and arguably two top five head coaches, from the NFL against each other. Andy Reid and Mike Tomlin have each accomplished plenty of incredible feats.

Each of those two are currently enjoying rarefied air when it comes to parts of the NFL coaching record books. Meanwhile, there is a certain standard that these two coaches hold their squads to. It has led to high respect from players. Elsewhere, many colleagues and understudies have taken pieces from each coach in order to become a top head coach when given the opportunity.

Looking at this weekend’s Wild Card playoff matchups, no other coaching matchup compares to the one that will take place between Andy Reid and Mike Tomlin. Their coaching styles, adjustments and lengthy resumes speak for themselves. Here are just a few of the parallels that are shared between Reid and Tomlin.

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Motivational Tactics

The way in which each of these coaches motivate players is special. Essentially, both Reid and Tomlin are able to give players the utmost belief that anything is achievable. On Andy’s side of things, he does not necessarily outright say long-lasting messages when preparing his guys. The same can be said when he takes most players aside one on one. However, his eye for noticing the little things allows for players to receive expanded roles or opportunities. Reid is much better at seeing how potential on-field relationships could succeed much more than he is given credit for.

On the other hand, Tomlin is a bit more motivational from a speaking standpoint. His ability to tell it like it is, can be what some players feed off of. Furthermore, that bluntness can also help to keep his locker room intact, while avoiding or creating an even greater distraction. His sole purpose is to keep guys moving forward. Overall, many guys have seen immediate success with the Steelers when Tomlin has thrown them into the fire so quickly. His honesty and confidence for players allows for a smooth transition once entering his program, whether that be from the NFL Draft or free agency.

Culture Builders

Coach Reid

At the end of the day, culture matters in the NFL. Coaches should not only strive to place that everlasting belief in their players. But, to realize when the program needs a slight reset or to strike the iron when hot is another item that has been taken a bit for granted for Reid and Tomlin. There have been very few other NFL head coaches who have had that same expertise in the culture building area, to boot.

In Reid’s case, he has endured many resets at the sport’s most important position (quarterback). Constantly working to maximize the most out of the next quarterback, Reid was never shy to make a vast amount of tweaks to the personnel around a certain passer. Throughout all of those different passers, one thing remained the same, however. The environment placed around the passers was set up with depth and a confident, supporting locker room. Reid’s playbook and offensive scheme has also allowed quarterbacks plenty of wrinkles to work with, despite some adjustments along the way. Every starting QB had the opportunity tailored for him to grow year after year in the program.

Coach Tomlin

For Tomlin, he has not had to deal with as many different new eras at starting quarterback. Ben Roethlisberger has been his guy for the long haul, playing in at least 12 games each season with Tomlin as head coach, except for 2019 (two games played). Nevertheless, Tomlin has worked hard to make some transitions seem effortless or downright forgettable.

For example, the Steelers staff has made changes to Roethlisberger’s arsenal look smooth time after time. Going from names like Hines Ward and Santonio Holmes, then to Mike Wallace, then to Emmanuel Sanders and Antonio Brown, and eventually JuJu Smith-Schuster, Chase Claypool and Diontae Johnson, Tomlin has constantly found productive receivers. Capitalizing on each of those playing styles, as well as keeping everyone happy was underappreciated work done by Tomlin and his staff.

Weathering The Storm

Both of these head coaches have been surrounded by some of the most supreme talent for most of their tenures. Though, there have been a few times where Reid and Tomlin were able to accomplish more with less.

Coach Reid

Reid has dealt with grooming quarterbacks quickly, once the starter has gone down. And it has occurred on more than one occasion. With the Philadelphia Eagles, Donovan McNabb suffered a couple of gruesome injuries. Reid saw the Eagles go through a rollercoaster in 2006. Despite a 4-1 start, McNabb suffered a season ending injury. It was then Jeff Garcia, who under Reid’s tutelage, kept Philadelphia alive with a record of 5-1 down the stretch. He threw for 1,309 yards, 10 touchdowns to just two interceptions and completed 61.7 percent of his passes. The Eagles found a way to win the division at 10-6 and a Wild Card game over the division rival New York Giants, before ultimately falling to the New Orleans Saints in the Divisional Round.

In Kansas City, look no further than the last couple of years during the course of Super Bowl runs. Patrick Mahomes suffered a freak knee injury in 2019, which led to him missing two games. Veteran passer Matt Moore, who was coaching his high school a couple of months prior, stepped in for two games. He was able to win in all areas of the field, and did not fail to use all of the Chiefs weapons at his disposal. Moore went 1-1 in those two games. He threw for 659 yards, four touchdowns to zero interceptions and completed 64.8 percent of his passes.

Last year, Mahomes suffered a freak neck/concussion injury in the Divisional Round of the playoffs against the Cleveland Browns. Although he was back the following week, Chad Henne had to make some clutch throws to keep the Chiefs season alive. He delivered on a contested throw to Tyreek Hill, with a rocket over the middle to Travis Kelce and on the game sealing out pattern to Hill.

Coach Tomlin

While Tomlin has had less instances of backup quarterbacks stepping in because of injury, what he did in 2019 was nothing short of spectacular. Roethlisberger suffered an elbow injury and managed to play in just two games. The other 14 games were split between quarterbacks Mason Rudolph (eight games) and Devlin “Duck” Hodges (six games).

Certainly, there was plenty of uncertainty with each quarterback. Some games were simply unwatchable with these two at the helm. Yet, Rudolph and Hodges were each allowed to win in a style that they were used to. Rudolph played a game manager type of role and was able to thrive with the short to intermediate passing game. For Hodges, he struggled with accuracy and even had more interceptions (eight) than he did touchdown passes (five). Hodges was still unafraid to use his legs and test defenses deep. This left opponents on their toes, scrambling or even playing hesitant on occasion.

Even though the Steelers missed the playoffs that year, they still managed to avoid a losing season (8-8 record) and finished second in the AFC North. Most other teams would have folded a minimum of two games after their franchise quarterback had gone down so early in the season.

All They Do Is Win

The storied resumes of Reid and Tomlin are chalked up with plenty of wins. In just the regular season, each of these head coaches are currently in the top 20 of wins (Reid is 5th with 233, Tomlin is tied for 18th with 154).

Out of his 23 total years as a head coach, Reid’s teams have made the postseason in 17 of those seasons. Kansas City has now made the playoffs in seven consecutive seasons and eight of his nine years with the team overall. In the first three years with Mahomes, Reid has gone 6-2 in the playoffs, while also hosting three straight AFC Championship Games, winning two AFC titles and has appeared in each of the last two Super Bowls, winning one.

Out of his 15 years as Steelers head coach, Pittsburgh has never had a losing record under Tomlin. That current streak is the all-time record for consecutive non-losing seasons to begin a head coaching career. Furthermore, the Steelers have made the playoffs in 10 of his 15 seasons. Tomlin has won seven AFC North division titles, two AFC conference championships and one Super Bowl. His all-time playoff record currently sits at 8-8.

Be on the lookout for more FPC Chiefs playoff articles to end the week. For more great sports and NFL content, stay tuned to Full Press Coverage.

– Braden Holecek is the Kansas City Chiefs managing editor for Full Press Coverage. He covers the NFL. Like and follow on Follow @ebearcat9//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js Follow @FPC_Chiefs//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js and Facebook.