People Trying to Argue Andy Reid Has Surpassed Bill Belichick Need to be Shunned by Society

Boston Globe. Getty Images.

As anyone who earns their living delivering straight sports talk - with no latitude to get into current events or pop culture - can confirm, this is the toughest time of the year in that profession. There are only so many calls you can take from Greatest Generation types your sponsors don't care about who tell you they used pay 75 cents to see Mickey Mantle play and the reason for their call is to say the manager needs to bunt more. 

So typically what you do when crossing the vast sports desert waiting for football to start generating news again is to create debates. The more ridiculous the better. Something. Anything. Just so long as it jams a needle into the public's arm, strikes a nerve, puts eyeballs on the screen or fills the phone lines. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and all that. 

While I want to give these people some latitude because they're just trying to keep the lights on when business is down and layoffs are happening all over the place, there are limits to the ridiculousness we can allow before we put an end to it. There comes a time when the clickbait becomes absurd to the point it's downright dangerous. And the good, decent, red-blooded people of our land need to speak up and denounce it. 

And that time is now. We simply cannot allow our public figures to argue that Andy Reid has surpassed Bill Belichick as the greatest coach of all time. Or is anywhere close to it:

Source - Former NFL star Michael Vick has declared that Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid might be the greatest of all time, surpassing New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick.

Vick’s comments came during an interview with Tyreek Hill on the “It Needed To Be Said” podcast, where he praised Reid for his coaching abilities and consistency throughout his career. …

Vick lauded Reid’s consistency, noting his numerous appearances in conference championship games. Reflecting on the past season, Vick stated, “After Andy won the Super Bowl, he only got two [championships], but he went to like four or five NFC Championship games.” This consistent level of success has cemented Reid’s reputation as one of the premier coaches in the league.

One of Vick’s primary reasons for ranking Reid above Belichick is the latter’s reliance on Tom Brady as his quarterback. While Belichick and Brady formed an iconic duo that secured six Super Bowl victories for the Patriots, Vick argues that Reid’s success has been less dependent on one player.

There's no engaging in this debate. No following the ilogic of the premise as it falls off a cliff of it's own falsity. The only rational response by a civilized society is to reject these people altogether:

But just for the sake of my own soul, I need to speak to this, however briefly. So for the moment, unshun:

Look, I get Michael Vick's affection for Andy Reid, who gave him a second chance put him under center after he'd served his prison sentence. Were I in his shoes, I'd talk about Reid like he's the Messiah. But arguing that he's accomplished more than Bill Belichick? I think it's safe to say this is the worst thing Vick has ever done in his life. 

The whole basis for Vick's, Colin Cowherd's and Nick Wright's argument is a self-refuting idea. Which is to say, it's a statement whose falsehood is a logical consequence of the act or situation of holding them to be true. You can't go with a premise that says Belichick has only been successful because of Tom Brady without acknowledging that Tom Brady was great because Belichick developed him to greatness. Which is one of the most important aspects of being a great coach. It's not like Brady came fully formed out of his coach's forehead like Zeus giving birth to Athena. He drafted him. Realized he had something special in him. Kept him on the roster as a rookie 4th stringer. Moved him up to No. 2 in his second year. Made him the starter when Drew Bledsoe got hurt. And kept him there when Bledsoe came back, despite him being the highest paid player in NFL history. There was zero luck involved. 

Now, since this whole argument is centered around quarterbacks, let's compare that with Reid's track record at the position. You know all those QBs he was unfortunately saddled with for all those years while Belichick had the benefit of the 199th pick in 2000? They include:

• Donovan McNabb: 2nd overall pick, 5-time Pro Bowler
• Vick: 1st overall pick, 4-time Pro Bowler
• Alex Smith: 1st overall pick, 3-time Pro Bowler

But we're going to give Reid a pass for not winning rings with highly scouted, well regarded, supremely talented QBs? What is he? The unluckiest guy in coaching history, just catching one bad break after another? Or, more likely, is he a guy who struggled to get the most out of his QB talent until Patrick Mahomes fell into his lap? After all, if Belichick owes all his success to the "luck" of finding Brady, can't we say the same thing about Reid and Mahomes? 

Don't get me wrong. Andy Reid is one of the good ones. A Belichick ally. One of the truly elite coaches. And a mortal lock Hall of Famer. But that doesn't give anyone the justification to put him ahead of a guy who's closing in all the all time wins record. Who has lapped the field in the postseason (31-13, .705). And came up with the defensive game plans that won titles over the K-Gun offense, The Greatest Show on Turf, the 2016 Falcons (8th most points in NFL history at the time), and held the 2018 Rams (11th most points) to a field goal. And on the way to his six rings, beat Andy Reid's 2004 Eagles, his 2015 Chiefs, and his 2018 team (3rd most points) at Kansas City.

But that's all I have to say about that. Reshun:

So to all of you considering having this discussion, I demand you cease and desist now. Find something else stupid to talk about. The idea that anyone is better at coaching tackle football than this little Croatian genius is off limits. Kiss the rings.