PHILADELPHIA — Milling about the visitor's locker room at Lincoln Financial Field after his team remained undefeated by beating a certain opponent on Thursday night, Andy Reid's thick and flowing mustache could not cover his grin.
Then he spotted a visitor — and offered a fist pound.
"Who'd you pick to win?" he blurted out to his visitor. "Who'd you pick? I saw where you picked the Eagles."
BOX SCORE: Chiefs 26, Eagles 16
Yeah, the visitor has missed on a few of his weekly picks. After the quick chastising, a bubbly Reid turned and bounced away.
If you believed the matchup between Reid's new team and old team was just another game, that moment suggests the contrary.
He wanted this game.
Yet that was so evident long before the chit-chat that followed the Kansas City Chiefs' 26-16 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles that was jump-started by four first-half turnovers by the home team.
Reid came back to a standing ovation — not automatic from traditionally hard fans in Philadelphia, where they once booed Santa Claus — on a night when the Eagles also retired Donovan McNabb's jersey.
Reid, who guided the Eagles for 14 seasons, is the winningest coach in franchise history, and McNabb was his quarterback in advancing to five NFC title games and one Super Bowl.
So it was a night for sentimental respect.
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Never mind that all week Reid was typically low-key and abrupt when maintaining that it was all about his team. That was surely the right message to send. It's a game of emotion, but it's also a game of focus and strategy and minimizing mistakes.
And afterward, Reid typically refused to make it about himself.
"I'm proud of the guys ... on a short week," he said.
After lauding a few individual efforts, Reid added, "One thing I appreciate about these guys is that they play as a team, and they create energy amongst themselves."
Yet it's also true that Reid is part of the team, too. All week, while he downplayed the most obvious theme, many of his players embraced it.
"Even though he said it was just another game, we wanted to go out and get it for him," said cornerback Brandon Flowers, who had the critical role of trying to stay with fleet-footed wideout DeSean Jackson.
Flowers said the players talked about this among themselves, and that in itself is an indication that a team trying to rebound from a 2-14 disaster — and at 3-0, the Chiefs have already surpassed their victory total from last season — is buying in.
Eagles players, including the Big Three — Michael Vick, LeSean McCoy and Jackson — didn't hide their affection for their former coach this week. McCoy talked about the congratulatory text message he received from Reid after his big Monday night opener. Jackson, who lost his father, has called Reid a "father figure." And Vick is quick to acknowledge his gratitude for the man who gave him a chance to rebuild his life and career after prison.
The feeling is mutual. That was evident near the end of the first half, when McCoy lay on the turf, shaken up by a leg injury. While trainers attended to McCoy, a few teammates huddled about with obvious concern.
And then there was Reid, like McCoy is still one of his players.
Unfortunately for the Eagles, their performance was too reminiscent of Reid's final season in 2012. Vick, who entered the game with a 119.0 passer rating and zero interceptions, threw two picks on a 13-for-30 night.
One of the interceptions was returned by Eric Berry for a 38-yard touchdown.
More gifts came with a botched snap, a forced interception, a muffed punt — and a fifth turnover, a Vick fumble, during garbage time in the fourth quarter.
Whatever happened to Chip Kelly's Blur Offense? It ran into Throwback Night at The Linc.
Justin Houston, the outside linebacker feeling at home in Bob Sutton's attacking scheme, had 3½ sacks, two fumble recoveries, a forced fumble, four tackles for a loss, and four quarterback hits.
On the back end, Flowers, who limped in with a knee injury, helped keep Jackson in check. Jackson entered the game as the NFL leader for receiving yards and repeatedly got past the San Diego Chargers' man coverage last week.
But the Chiefs, often using Berry to provide double coverage, only let Jackson (three catches, 62 yards) loose for one big play — a 40-yard grab in the third quarter.
Meanwhile, Donnie Avery was impersonating Jackson for the Chiefs, converting on several clutch third downs as part of a seven-catch, 141-yard night. And Alex Smith managed the game in the understated fashion that befits his new coach.
Early in the fourth quarter, the Eagles made it a seven-point game with a 41-yard touchdown dash by McCoy off a quick snap with 11:36 on the clock.
But then Andy Reid happened. His offense methodically chewed up the clock on a 15-play, 75-yard drive that consumed 8 minutes, 15 seconds. The Chiefs moved the chains five times on the drive that wasn't pretty, yet was perfectly effective.
When it was all over, Reid was showered with a Gatorade bath.
"He had to love it," Andy's wife, Tammy, told a particular visitor who had picked the Eagles to win, of the Gatorade shower.
When's the last time Reid had a Gatorade shower?
"When we won the NFC Championship Game to go to the Super Bowl," she recalled, referring to the title game victory against the Atlanta Falcons following the 2004 season. "I have a picture of that."
Now there's a fresh memory for Reid's scrapbook that is so worth savoring
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