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— Two of the NFL’s boldest head coaches are planning to stick to the script at the slight risk of looking foolish in Super Bowl LVII.
The Chiefs’ Andy Reid ruled out activating a third quarterback, and the Eagles’ Nick Sirianni cavalierly paid lip service to always keeping all options “on the table,” but both are willing to play with the fire that burned the 49ers’ Kyle Shanahan in the NFC Championship game.
“That’s not where we’re at,” Reid said. “We’ve got our couple quarterbacks, and then we’ve got our backup plan. Hopefully we don’t have to get to that backup plan. Chances are that you don’t, but you never know. If you do, you do.”
After Brock Purdy tore the UCL in his throwing arm and Josh Johnson suffered a concussion, the 49ers’ offense was neutered for the final 27 minutes of the NFC title game. A limited Purdy returned because the 49ers chose to activate fourth-string running back Tevin Coleman for one total snap instead of a third-string quarterback. In other cases during the playoffs, teams activated a ninth defensive back or sixth linebacker for a handful of special-teams-only snaps.
“We saw it could happen, so you have to be ready,” Eagles quarterbacks coach Brian Johnson said.
