By JACK McCAFFERY

jmccaffery@delcotimes.com @JackMcCaffery

PHILADELPHIA --- Andy Reid will arrive at the Linc Thursday for a business trip, not a stroll along memory lane. That's the message he delivered Tuesday in a conference call with Philadelphia football writers. That's the image he hopes to project to his Kansas City Chiefs as they prepare to play the Eagles.

No memories? No flashbacks? No tears, no chills, no fingers in his ears, just in case?

“You know as well as I do, once you are in this thing and you are grinding, getting ready for a football team, a good football team, you put all that aside,” Reid said. “We'll talk after the game. Before the game, the guys know they are getting ready for their game against us, and we're getting ready for our game against them. And we just have to make sure on my end, as the head coach, that my football team here is ready to play a good football team there.”

Reid's Chiefs are 2-0. Chip Kelly's Eagles are 1-1. Both teams have improved since last season, when the Chiefs won two games, and Reid's Eagles won four.

“I think Chip has done a phenomenal job,” Reid said. “He's got great players there and he's got a great offensive mind and scheme. So this is no fluke by any means or anything else. He's taken his personnel, he's utilized it to the best of their abilities and has put out a nice product right there.”

While Kelly has made substantial personnel changes, particularly on defense, Reid could use his familiarity with some of his former players as an advantage – not that he was ready concede as much.

“I understand they have a lot of good football players, and they have a heck of a football coach and coaches,” he said. “I understand all of that. We are trying to buckle down here and get our gameplan ready to play them and play the best we can against a good football team. That's where our energy is going. I know all the questions. It's not very fluffy, but it's real. You have x-number of hours that you can do this thing and get ready to play a good team, and you better be ready to do it.”

Reid coached the Eagles for 14 years, reaching a Super Bowl, then fizzling. So he has enough of an awareness of the Linc crowds to know that the reception for visiting teams and coaches has a chance to be scratchy.

“Listen, I said this when I was there: That's a great fan base,” Reid said. “I am at another place where there is a great fan base. And I am fortunate to have had both of these experiences. So I don't get caught up in that. I don't worry about that. I didn't worry about that when I was there. I never got caught up on that part. I try to get the football team ready. I haven't changed on that.”

Kidding, Reid said he has changed in one way.

“I eat barbeque now,” he said, “instead of cheesesteaks.”