KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Andy Reid sat inside a small dorm room on the campus of Missouri Western State six months ago, right as training camp got underway, and lamented for a moment how close his Kansas City Chiefs came to the Super Bowl last season.
On Sunday, the coach affably known as “Big Red” was at the epicenter of a big party.
After guiding his team through a litany of injuries this season, including a scary knee injury to star quarterback Patrick Mahomes, Reid pushed the Chiefs across the finish line. They rallied from an early 10-point hole against the Tennessee Titans for a 35-24 victory in the AFC title game that earned the Chiefs their first trip to the Super Bowl in five decades.
“Driving us through training camp and into the season, when you have great expectations like this team has, to be sitting here today, that’s a challenge — a lot of things have to happen,” Reid said. “Guys have to be able to check their egos at the door. There are ups and downs, not getting down on each other. I’m proud of the guys for doing all of that.”
Now, Reid is headed back to the big game for the first time since the 2004 season, when his Philadelphia Eagles lost to the New England Patriots. Only his good friend Dick Vermeil went longer between trips to the Super Bowl.
“He’s no-doubt a Pro Football Hall of Famer, and he’s going to his second Super Bowl and hopefully get a victory,” Chiefs owner Clark Hunt said, “and as a family, we’re as excited about him getting a chance to get that victory.”
Reid made it back with a steady hand. Creative play-calling. Unwavering confidence.
“We go out there every single day and we see Coach Reid and how much work he puts in, and it transfers to this whole team,” said Mahomes, who threw for 293 yards and three touchdowns while running 27 yards for another score — a tight-rope walk down the sideline that will surely fill playoff highlight reels for years to come.
“We’re going to go out there and take advantage of every day until we get to the Super Bowl,” Mahomes added, “and we’re going to go out there and play our best football.”
They did that for a long stretch Sunday.
After falling behind by double-digits for the third consecutive playoff game, Reid managed to keep the sideline calm — just as he did when the Chiefs rallied from a 24-0 hole in the divisional round against Houston. He stuck to the game plan, managed to get Mahomes and the offence going, and the result was a 28-point run that put Tennessee on its heels.
The Chiefs capped their first AFC championship since the 1969 season by beating the Titans at their own game, running Damien Williams for a series of first downs that drained the clock and prevented any notion of a comeback.
When the Chiefs forced a turnover on downs to seal the victory, Reid walked all the way down to the 10-yard line to catch defensive tackle Chris Jones coming off the field. They hugged each other tightly, then Reid walked over and did the same to Terrell Suggs, the veteran defensive end who joined the Chiefs in the final couple weeks of the regular season.
“I’ve thought about this a lot. Nobody deserves it more than Andy,” Chiefs special teams coach Dave Toub said this week. “He’s such a great coach. To not have a Super Bowl win under his belt — this would be huge. I don’t know if I’d stop crying with him. I’d probably hug him forever. I’m just so proud of what he’s done and everything he’s done in his career.”
The hugs continued Sunday as the clock hit zero and players rushed onto the field.
“The way Coach Reid does things, coming in 2013, we’re lucky to have this guy to even come into this small-market team,” Chiefs punter Dustin Colquitt said. “The only thing we ever heard was `small market, small market, small market,’ and then all of a sudden, Andy Reid is here and it’s crazy. It’s kind of changed the trajectory.
“Of course you want to win one for Big Red,” added Colquitt, the longest-tenured member of the team. “Everybody says he’s a player’s coach and I don’t think that exists. He’s just a man that wants to make other men and win a championship.”
Gone amid the celebration Sunday were those memories that Reid carried to training camp of the Chiefs’ overtime loss to the Patriots last season, when their offence never got a chance with the ball. They were blown away in the confetti that fell over his head as he raised the Lamar Hunt Trophy, named in honour of the late founder of the Chiefs franchise.
After a long and agonizing wait, the Chiefs were finally headed back to the Super Bowl.
EDMONTON – The Edmonton Oilers signed defenceman Travis Dermott to a professional tryout on Friday.
Dermott, a 27-year-old from Newmarket, Ont., produced two goals, five assists and 26 penalty minutes in 50 games with the Arizona Coyotes last season.
The six-foot, 202-pound blueliner has also played for the Vancouver Canucks and Toronto Maple Leafs.
Toronto drafted him in the second round, 34th overall, of the 2015 NHL draft.
Over seven NHL seasons, Dermott has 16 goals and 46 assists in 329 games while averaging 16:03 in ice time.
Before the NHL, Dermott played two seasons with Oilers captain Connor McDavid for the Ontario Hockey League’s Erie Otters. The team was coached by current Edmonton head coach Kris Knoblauch.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
NEWPORT, R.I. (AP) — Maria Sharapova, a five-time Grand Slam singles champion, led the International Tennis Hall of Fame’s fan vote her first year on the ballot — an important part to possible selection to the hall’s next class.
The organization released the voting results on Friday. American doubles team Bob and Mike Bryan finished second with Canada’s Daniel Nestor third.
The Hall of Fame said tens of thousands of fans from 120 countries cast ballots. Fan voting is one of two steps in the hall’s selection process. The second is an official group of journalists, historians, and Hall of Famers from the sport who vote on the ballot for the hall’s class of 2025.
“I am incredibly grateful to the fans all around the world who supported me during the International Tennis Hall of Fame’s fan votes,” Sharapova said in a statement. “It is a tremendous honor to be considered for the Hall of Fame, and having the fans’ support makes it all the more special.”
Sharapova became the first Russian woman to reach No. 1 in the world. She won Wimbledon in 2004, the U.S. Open in 2006 and the Australian Open in 2008. She also won the French Open twice, in 2012 and 2014.
Sharapova was also part of Russia’s championship Fed Cup team in 2008 and won a silver medal at the London Olympics in 2012.
To make the hall, candidates must receive 75% or higher on combined results of the official voting group and additional percentage from the fan vote. Sharapova will have an additional three percentage points from winning the fan vote.
The Bryans, who won 16 Grand Slam doubles titles, will have two additional percentage points and Nestor, who won eight Grand Slam doubles titles, will get one extra percentage point.
The hall’s next class will be announced late next month.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The driver charged with killing NHL hockey player Johnny Gaudreau and his brother Matthew as they bicycled on a rural road had a blood-alcohol level of .087, above the .08 legal limit in New Jersey, a prosecutor said Friday.
Gaudreau, 31, and brother Matthew, 29, were killed in Carneys Point, New Jersey, on Aug. 29, the evening before they were set to serve as groomsmen at their sister Katie’s wedding.
The driver, 43-year-old Sean M. Higgins of nearby Woodstown, New Jersey, is charged with two counts of death by auto, along with reckless driving, possession of an open container and consuming alcohol in a motor vehicle. At a virtual court hearing Friday, a judge ordered that he be held for trial after prosecutors described a history of alleged road rage and aggressive driving.
“’You were probably driving like a nut like I always tell you you do. And you don’t listen to me, instead you just yell at me,’” his wife told Higgins when he called her from jail after his arrest, according to First Assistant Prosecutor Jonathan Flynn of Salem County.
The defense described Higgins as a married father and law-abiding citizen before the crash.
“He’s an empathetic individual and he’s a loving father of two daughters,” said defense lawyer Matthew Portella. “He’s a good person and he made a horrible decision that night.”
Higgins told police he had five or six beers that day and admitted to consuming alcohol while driving, according to the criminal complaint. He also failed a field sobriety test, the complaint said. A prosecutor on Friday said he had been drinking at home after finishing a work call at about 3 p.m., and having an upsetting conversation with his mother about a family matter.
He then had a two-hour phone call with a friend while he drove around in his Jeep with an open container, Flynn said. He had been driving aggressively behind a sedan going just above the 50 mph speed limit, sometimes tailgating, the female driver told police.
When she and the vehicle ahead of her slowed down and veered left to go around the cyclists, Higgins sped up and veered right, striking the Gaudreas, the two other drivers told police.
“He indicated he didn’t even see them,” said Superior Court Judge Michael J. Silvanio, who said Higgins’ admitted “impatience” caused two deaths.
Higgins faces up to 20 years, a sentence that the judge said made him a flight risk.
Higgins has a master’s degree, works in finance for an addiction treatment company, and served in combat in Iraq, his lawyers said. However, his wife said he had been drinking regularly since working from home, Flynn said.
Johnny Gaudreau, known as “Johnny Hockey,” played 10 full seasons in the league and was set to enter his third with the Columbus Blue Jackets after signing a seven-year, $68 million deal in 2022. He played his first eight seasons with the Calgary Flames, a tenure that included becoming one of the sport’s top players and a fan favorite across North America.
Widows Meredith and Madeline Gaudreau described their husbands as attached at the hip throughout their lives. Both women are expecting, and both gave moving eulogies at the double funeral on Monday.
