ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — To beat Andy Reid, the Broncos have called in Andy Reid’s protégé.
Pat Shurmur got his first NFL coaching job with Reid’s Philadelphia Eagles in 1999. Shurmur served as Reid’s tight ends coach, offensive line coach and quarterbacks coach for 10 years. During one five-year stretch, Shurmur helped Reid’s Eagles compile 59 regular-season wins, or an average record of 12-4.
Shurmur is now the Broncos’ offensive coordinator. Reid, as 102 million viewers saw Sunday, is head coach of the high-scoring and Super Bowl-champion Kansas City Chiefs.
When the mentor won his first world championship Sunday, one of his original proteges was happy.
“I was,’’ Shurmur said in a sit-down interview with 9News Thursday. “I was there (in Miami) because my son (Kyle) was on the team. He’s a practice squad player there. But I was rooting for (Reid). I was a Chief for a day.
“I was glad to see both of them -- my son, No. 1. He’s going to think this is easy. You’re first year out you win a Super Bowl. But mostly because of Andy. I was with him when we went to multiple NFC Championship Games (from 2001-04 and 2008). I was with him when we lost in the Super Bowl to the Patriots (in 2004).
“I’ve seen him go on and get real close since then. And so for him to get there and win it, that’s huge. He didn’t need to do that to prove to me he was a great coach. For the people that want to do the math it’s good for them. But I was happy he was able to do it.”
From now on, Shurmur’s task will be to coordinate a Broncos offense that can outscore Reid’s offense twice a year. Gulp!
Shurmur may not have Reid’s quarterback, the otherworldly Patrick Mahomes. But Shurmur did pick up some coaching tips from Reid that can perhaps help Broncos’ quarterback Drew Lock come close to matching Mahomes.
“As educators, we pick up from one another,’’ Shurmur said. “Ways to teach, ways to coach. He’s very detailed in his approach. Very disciplined in his approach. He kind of instills that in the players that play for him.
“I do believe, though, the players need to know you care about them before they’ll listen to you. And Andy’s a very caring person. Who thinks the world of the people that he works with. He’s just a good human being. And I think that’s had a lot to do with his success and why players that have played for him have had such great success.”
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