He was a fired coach strolling, he already knew that, however Andy Reid figured: If I’m going out anyway, I should remind everyone I used to be within the room. It was grey and windy that Sunday, Dec. 30, 2012, when he hopped off the Philadelphia Eagles staff bus at MetLife Stadium for one final skirmish with the Giants.
The Giants wanted a win and a few assist in Detroit to maintain their Tremendous Bowl protection alive. The Eagles had been merely keen to finish a season that had devolved right into a 4-11 mess, hoping to keep away from an eleventh loss within the closing 12 weeks. Reid introduced a bit of pal with him — the Tremendous Bowl ring he’d earned as an assistant for the Packers again in 1996.
It was a curious selection, a reminder each of his best day but in addition of the truth that he’d by no means fairly been capable of duplicate that with the Eagles regardless of coming shut an terrible lot. Reid had already earned his fame as a man who can get you shut, simply not get you there. The ring appeared to represent all of that.
Then, first play of the sport, he ordered an onside kick. Alex Henery pulled it off superbly. Brandon Hughes recovered. One closing trick from a coach who all the time appeared to have a bagful of them, and it solid a direct pall on 80,657 Giants followers on the lookout for a closing-day parlay there and at Ford Subject.