The two coaches involved in Sunday's showdown between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles talked with the media via conference call this afternoon. 

Eagles head coach Andy Reid was in a similar situation to Todd Haley over a decade ago.  He was a rookie head coach with a new team and his success, as it is many times, was tied to his quarterback.  Today, Haley is in a similar situation with Matt Cassel.

There's one more similarity that's of particular interest to us.  Reid, like Haley, elected to call his own plays in the beginning.

"I would say this," Reid began.  "Todd is extremely good at what he does and when I was in his chair during my first year I did absolutely everything.  I made sure that every play, every drawing and everything was the way that I wanted it.

"You build a foundation that way, just like he is doing.  He is doing it his way, building a foundation that will strengthen him to have a nice, long career in Kansas City. "

Of course, Reid later entrusted much of those duties to long-time assistants Marty Mornhinweg and Brad Childress.  In fact, Reid explained that even when he was the full-time playcaller, he didn't hesitate to turn it over to an assistant for just a week or two if things weren't going his way.

Even though he's not the full-time, lone play-caller at this point, he's still heavily involved in all things offense.

"Now listen," Reid started.  "I did it for ten years.  I'm still involved.  Marty and I talk every day about the offense and so on."

Reid called his situation with Mornhinweg and Childress "unique" but reiterated that "I know what Todd is doing and he's doing it the right way."

Andy Reid - four conference championships and a Super Bowl appearance - that's not a bad compliment.