Castillo Stunner: Panic Setting In?
The Philadelphia Daily News - Eagletarian
Castillo Stunner: Panic Setting In?
Les Bowen, Daily News Staff Writer
Last spring, Juan Castillo vowed that he would "take a bullet" for Eagles coach Andy Reid. Tuesday, he did.
Castillo was fired as the Eagles' defensive coordinator, to be replaced by secondary coach Todd Bowles.
More on Bowles background here.
The move is stunning, with the Eagles 3-3 and allowing a respectable 20.83 points per game. But the defense failed to get off the field late each of the past two weeks, at Pittsburgh and in the horrendous collapse Sunday against the Lions. After the Detroit game, corner Nnamdi Asomugha openly questioned changes in strategy down the stretch.
Monday, Reid announced he would review everything, including Castillo, during the bye week. He said Castillo would continue to call defensive plays "as I stand here right now."
Reid's painstaking review didn't last long. While many people close to the team thought the loyal offensive line coach was a bizarre choice to lead the defense two years ago, and many felt he should have been replaced after last season, axing him at 3-3 seems transparently panicky, the move of a coach who is desperate to hold onto his job and is willing to try just about anything.
If Reid thought Bowles would be a better defensive coordinator than Castillo, he could have hired the former Dolphins interim head coach for the job last offseason. If Reid made the wrong call then, it's hard to muster a lot of faith that he's making the right call now.
In a statement, Reid said: "I want to make it clear that I have nothing but the ultimate respect for Juan Castillo as a coach and a person. He's one of the finest football coaches that I've ever worked with. He has served this organization extremely well for 18 years, and letting him go was a difficult decision. I know he will continue to be a successful coach in this league and I wish he and his family nothing but the best.
"We're six games into the season and average isn't good enough. I know the potential of our team and insist on maximizing it."
Of course, cynics will note that Castillo's defense has been much better than Reid's offense this year, but Andy isn't firing himselft, or offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg.
Anybody remember Joe Kuharik? The fans paid to have a plane with a banner stating "JOE MUST GO" fly over Franklin Field during every home game. The chant from the stands was "JOE MUST GO". Who is ready for "ANDY MUST GO"? I know I am.— jerseyshorefan- Any properly tuned car will run better than it did before, but you can't expect even Chevrolet quality performance from a Yugo.
— LarsMendte2 - phew tough town
I oft wonder the effect of such harsh negativity.
Perhaps it is a factor in no title since 1960.
The four major sports teams have a total of 10 titles in my over 60 years of following sports in Philly. hmmmmmmmmm— retzlaff - I'd be OK in principle with the Eagles at 3-3, considering where the rest of the league is right now, but I'm not OK -- nobody is -- with the way they got there. That loss on Sunday was the kind of gutless, stupid stinker that couldn't go unaddressed. And much as we all would like to see it, Reid isn't going to fire himself.— Dave Clemens
- Castillo, a good man, is the first to take the fall for Reid's arrogance in believing he was capable of being a DC when everyone else in the league has been coaching D for 20 years. Firing Reid at this point during the season doesn't make sense. Even though the wide 9 is a disaster and team is playing terribly, I don't think you can just tear apart everything they've been practicing and put in a new system mid stream.
Same with Foles. I'd like to see him in there but the writer is correct in stating that could signal surrender to the team. I wouldn't want to see the kid playing behind that line as it stands anyway. Let Reid lay in his own (you insert the word) and tear it down after the season.— drenner - It's a joke to subject Foles to the punishment Vick receives behide this Offensive Line. Fix the line and you fix Vick and the Offense. Juan may be a good dude, but he was in over his head. You don't change what was working for 3 quarters. If it's not broken don't fix it. However, Juan's defense have loss 6 4th Quarter leads over the last two years. There is no excuse for that kind of collapse.
Now, Marty should be fired before 3:00 to complete the cycle. The game plans considering the failures of the Offensive Line have been horrible. It's safe to assume that if Vick is not getting hit and taking so much punishment in the pocket he doesn't fumble as much. He doesn't get time for his receivers to get open down field, so the play calls should be more 4 or 5 yard routes and the receivers should be in a position to gain yards after the short catch. Shady should get the ball more often in the flat where he's one on one with a linebacker. Advantage Shady. The play calls have been horrible.— Dexter - The D itself has loads of talent, and I for one can`t believe how people can`t see that.. Juan should have been fired after last season, bc it was clearly his scheme and play calling that was making this D look bad.. Asomuage will look a lot better, bc I`m sure the new D coordinator will realizes his strengths which is man to man coverage, and not zone or as a Charles Woodson type role... Look what he did vs mega tron for 3 quarters, before dumb Juan changed the defense.. The guy is as shut down as they come, and with DRC on the other side with the improved LBs, and D line this D should be top 10 in the league easily.. Our D line has looked bad, bc we never blitz to give the other teams O line something else to think about.. This D will be much improved and they will beat the Falcons out of the bye mark my words.. This is still a playoff team if you can stop turning the football over.. Vick and Reid will be gone next year unless they win the super bowl which I doubt is happening, but the playoffs will happen for these eagles..— Dangles 28
- Andy's gone in Jan and we need either Cowher or Chuckie. We need a hard hitting saftey and more depth on the O line and we're back in the hunt. This can happen if Jeffrey is paying attention.— athousandgods
- Neither of those Coaches have "Built" a team to contend in the NFL, what makes you believe they can with the Eagles? Pittsburgh has always had an extraordinary personnel department and talent evaluators. Gruden, won using Dungy's team once and did nothing to retool that team when it was obvious they were aging and non competiive. — Dexter
- Design an offense that makes the other teams defense pay for their blitzing. Go get an offensive line if your current line can't do the job. Play center yourself you got enough blob to improve your red zone offense. Comments directed to Reid.— fafink
- fire Marty and sit Vick for first half of next game to send him a message. Vick needs to watch film of how other QB's move in the pocket to avoid the rush. He is a statue and then goes to panick mode if the ball doesn't come out. Other QB's seem able to make the small moves in the pocket to avoid sacks. That needs to be enforced and taught to Vick other wise he'll continue with turnovers!— connorjr
- Mike Holgrem is now available, Maybe Lurie will replace Reid with his former mentor.— Bob112
- Juan should not have been put in this position, shame on Reid. Unfortunately for Juan the error had to be corrected now, or by Andy's replacement anyway. But Iggs are last in NFL points scored. Marty Moronwig should be next, this week too.— warwhit1
- Please, after this year no more west coast offense or wide nine. I just want a solid offense and defense. Is that to much to ask?— RobertB
