Two Milestones On The Line For Andy Reid This Sunday

Andy Reid has two milestones on the line this Sunday.

The better known of the pair is that Reid’s Eagles are a perfect 10-0 following their bye week. From 1999’s bizarrely-placed Week 17 victory over St. Louis to last season’s 27-14 victory over Atlanta, the Birds are unbeaten on 14 days rest.

A home game against the 0-4 Bucs with both Donovan McNabb and Brian Westbrook back in the lineup should ensure that mark gets pushed to 11-0.

The bigger and more underappreciated milestone, however, is that a victory on Sunday would be Andy Reid’s 100th career regular season win as Eagles head coach.

Counting playoff victories, Reid has 107 total, and last season’s win over Atlanta made Andy the 37th coach to hit that overall mark and the 22nd to do it with one franchise.

But if you’re going strictly by the regular season, Sunday is his first chance to “officially” crack that milestone.

All that stands in Andy Reid’s way is an 0-4 team that has already changed its quarterback and fired its offensive coordinator.

Reid long ago set the franchise mark for coaching wins. Prior to his arrival, it was 63, set by Greasy Neale in 1950, but Reid reached that milestone in 2005.

Now, he has a chance at the century mark, and it could be only the first of four huge milestones for the Eagles.

Quarterback Donovan McNabb should crack 30,000 career passing yards this season—perhaps as early as Week six against Oakland. He stands at 29,399 as of today, and with the way the Eagles have been throwing the ball at will lately, it’s not unreasonable to think this will happen sooner or later.

Depending on how well Kurt Warner (who sits 55 yards ahead of McNabb) plays the next few weeks, McNabb will either be the 30th or 31st signal-caller to amass that total.  Oddly enough, the man closest to the 30K cusp without getting there (with 29,979 yards, to be exact) is the last Eagles “franchise” quarterback: Randall Cunningham.

Later on this season, Brian Westbrook could also become the franchise’s all-time rushing leader. Westbrook has racked up 5,837 yards through seven-plus seasons, leaving him 701 short of Wilbert Montgomery’s team record.

Both are big reasons why Andy Reid has won 99 games, and it’s only fitting that they should both return to action in the game where he could hit the century mark.

Oh yeah, and go 11-0 after the bye week.