[FloridaMan88]

Andy is a bad ass. Great story…

Link: https://www.si.com/nfl/2023/02/13/ma...on-daily-cover

Veach owes his career to Big Red. He started in pro football in 2004, as a coaching intern with the Eagles. In ’07, the Eagles promoted him to Reid’s administrative assistant. Before leaving for vacation, Reid assigned Veach his first project: Study how the Colts’ defense morphed from terrible to stout. Analyze every game from a defensive perspective, he instructed. Then lay out which factors enabled the abrupt shift.

Veach tried everything: game analysis, video clips, data graphs, historical comparisons—the works. He printed the document, read it over and over for typos and errors in logic, made changes, printed it again and went to an office supply store. He bought a binder and placed his masterpiece inside, then beelined for Reid’s desk. Reid looked back at him, then down at the binder, then back at him, then down. The coach pointed to a sticker affixed to the front from the office supply store. He handed the binder back to Veach. He never read a single word of the report. Details matter.

Despondent, Veach called his parents. “Oh, my God, I just screwed this up. I don’t know if he wants me to come back. I’m not going to last that long. I just don’t think I’m cut out for this.”

Reid actually thought the opposite. One late night in October 2008, they were sitting in Reid’s office, studying film. The fireworks exploding out the window announced that the Phillies had won the World Series. Sirens blared from police cars headed toward the ballpark for the revelry certain to ensue. Both loved the bottomless depth of the, ahem, passion displayed by local sports fans, how it tethered all of Philadelphia to the same space, a sporting soul.

“One day, we’re gonna do this, you know?” Reid said.