Castillo on Changes: It's Still Monday
The Philadelphia Daily News - Eagletarian
Castillo on Changes: It's Still Monday
Les Bowen, Daily News Staff Writer
The bags under Juan Castillo's eyes looked deeper than the holes Eli Manning exploited in Castillo's defense during the Eagles' 29-16 Sunday loss to the New York Giants.
No, he hadn't yet been to sleep, the defensive coordinator said this afternoon. No, he probably wasn't going to make wholesale personnel changes in a defense that gave up four passing touchdowns for the second week in a row, and two fourth-quarter TDs that turned a lead into a loss, for the second week in a row.
Neither Castillo nor Eagles coach Andy Reid pledged to keep rookie Casey Matthews in the starting lineup; Castillo allowed that rookie nickel linebacker Brian Rolle is playing well. But Castillo said that after the huge play-action mistake on the Giants' first touchdown, Matthews graded reasonably well.
A couple of times, Castillo responded to questions about possible changes with "it's still Monday." The team doesn't practice until Wednesday. A few tweaks are certainly possible.
Castillo's message was what you might expect: Stay the course, work hard, let the new components assimilate into the defense. Set a tone from the top that this is not chaos, that Castillo is in control and he knows what he's doing (even more as people outside the team call that last part into question).
"I''m gonna succeed," Castillo said, "For Coach Reid, for the city, and for my family."
"If you keep working hard, sooner or later, those plays are going to start happening for us," the former offensive line coach said. "They will; they always have in the past. Our guys, they're playing hard ... We gave up two big plays (early in the game), came back and we were really playing really well. The thing is, you've got to finish the game. We gotta finish the game."
Castillo talked before the season about how important the fourth quarter would be early on, before everybody got all the post lockout kinks worked out. Castillo brought that up because he thought his team, with its depth in the d-line and the secondary, would be ready to outlast opponents. The opposite has happened the past two weeks.
Castillo said he is looking at whether his players are getting worn down, searching for reasons why it is they seem to be in the right position -- as Nnamdi Asomugha and Jarrad Page were on the gamewinning fourth-quarter TD pass to Victor Cruz -- but aren't making the plays late.
"Extra film work. Extra drills after practice -- we'll stay after practice this week. We have a couple things that we're going to work on with the guys," Castillo said.
Castillo was asked if he is convinced he has the personnel on hand to succeed. A little while earlier, Reid had been asked the same question, limited specifically to linebackers and safeties, and he'd mumbled something about working harder.
"Yes," Castillo said. "Part of it is they all get to learn, get to get used to playing with each other, too. Understanding how each one does a certain thing -- it's a feel. The longer we're together, the better that will be."
"This is an opportunity, this is a challenge, this is a job. We're all men. We all have had challenges before. So, come on, let's go. You don't panic. You have a plan. We believe in our plan."
We got Vince DiMaggio instead of Joe, Mike Maddux instead of Greg, Ken Brett (good player) instead of George (better player) and Casey Matthews instead of Clay. Just saying.— vaphillyfan1- You were not doing a good enough job on the O-line, Juan. They didn't want to hurt your feelings, so they made you the DC.
Only in Reid's mind does a person who sucks at his job get a promotion.— DanLeone - Amen. Did anyone other than the delusional AR really believe that Castillo possibly could have succeeded? "Promoting" him after his success with the o-line last year would have been like George W. Bush making Michael Brown the Secretary of Defense after the way he lead FEMA in the aftermath of Hurricane Irene. It doesn't matter how hard he works, he;ll never catch up on the learning curve. — DallasEagle
- Jim Johnson (R.I.P.) must have known how much Fat Andy weighed to the ounce....he carried him for years.— Paperchase
- Because Marshall Faulk didn't get 150+ yards for the Rams, Brady didn't torch our D, and Arizona didn't score 32 points including a game winning fourth quarter TD drive. — logicandreason
- the eagles have a defense that belongs in the arena football league.
— bloodymess - Castillo's in over his head, and that's Reid's fault. Yet another example of Captain Andy trying to show that he's smarter than everyone in the room by going against conventional wisdom and hiring an offensive coach to lead the defense. I don't care how many all-pros they have on defense; they won't succeed with a coordinator who can't put them in a position to succeed.— iceman
- We need football players at our linebacker and safety positions. There is nobody on this team who can step up. Don't be surprised if they do something stupid and desperate like make Aso a safety. It wouldn't surprise me.— ej610
- Castillo sucks, yes.....however, to use an anolgy near and dear to Philly phans....it would be like putting a poodle in a dogfight with a pittbull.....how can you be mad at the poodle.....it was the stupid owners fault for creating the situation...ie, REID!!!!!!!— PhillyguyinVA
- It is pretty apparent that Page and Matthews cannot play. Why would you put Matthews at OLB with no NFL game experience? That isolation pass to the RB down the left sideline is bread and butter. That is completely unacceptable. The second round draft pick, Jarrett, should be ready to play. Otherwise, he is a bust. I hope to see Jarrett at Rolle next week rather than Page and Matthews.— arrowamy
- Castillo is lost. Even though the Giants burned Ernie Sims for a big gain last year with the same exact play Jacob's scored upon. Juan and his staff never went over that play with Casey Matthews.
http://bloggingthebeast.com/2011/09/25/video-breakdown-the-giants-burned-the-eagles-badly-two-straight-years-on-the-same-exact-play/
"After the game, I had a chance to ask Matthews if he remembered seeing that play in film study this week. He hadn’t. Bad job by the Eagles’ defensive staff. When a play works so well the previous year, I find it hard to believe they didn’t have their defense ready for it. Obviously, the Eagles weren’t, and it cost them an early 7-0 deficit."
That's completely inexcusable. Juan is putting his players in position to fail, and they are obliging him.
— Blankman - iceman, you are absolutely right on. Fat Andy always has to show that he is the smartest head coach in the NFL and that he is still in full control. What a pig head. He should be fired. But as long as Lurie is still filling the stands, Luire does not care about winning the SB. He only wants to win enough games to keep the fans filling the stands. He makes his millions at the fans' expense. Some day the fans will wise up and quit buying tickets to the games. I find watching the Eagles games makes me want to scream; I cannot stand to look at Fat Andy walking the sidelines. I will never again buy another Eagles ticket until Fat Andy is gone. Enough said; I am frustrated.— oneway
- Juan was no good as O line coach as our O line was weakness last year and now he is made D coordinator and appears no good at this either. Demote Juan, Mathews, Page, Coleman, and Fokue. Move Nmadi to FS, Jarrette to SS, Cromartie to CB, Rolle and Clayton to LB, and play a 5-2 D as we have many more good linemen then LB's and that will keep OL off our LB's and put pressure on the QB while stopping the run. Not sure why on one runs 5-2 but we should try with this personnel.— connorjr
- This defense is so outmatched it's comical at this point. I mean really, who didn't see this one coming?! The day they signed Nnamdi my first question was 'who's going to play linebacker this year?' which effectively remains unanswered and so far it has cost the team 2 losses in the first 3 weeks. Congratulations Andy and Howie, you've built a defense with a paper mache foundation. If the Niners offense wakes up from its coma and marches up and down the field next week, you can pretty much stick a fork in this season. It's do or die time— stikolaboloni
- Maybe it's none of these guys... just maybe it's drafting... like years and years and years of bad drafting? Wait.. that's still Andy isn't it?....— HighDrama
Comment removed.- So they don't get back to practice until Wednesday? Maybe they should start a little sooner so they don't look like the keystone cops when they hit the field and embarass themselves and me for supporting them in front of the entire world.— JohnnyH
- yea blame the coach. idiots— fman727
- Comment removed.
- What's the point in reshuffling the linebackers? They are not good players, therefore changing their positions mid-stream is only going to set them back further.— kozykoz26
- Game 3 and Castillo's worried his players are getting worn down? WTF, is this guy for real? Andy if you don't want to be in the Luck Sweepstakes, you better admit your mistake and replace this Putzwaffle now! Juan doesn't know Defensive talent or strategy and he doesn't know how to change schemes during the game. He's an embarrassment! If nothing is done, the other players who CAN play will say whats the use and tank the season! The Birds might wind up like Dallas last year!— younged
- Actually, I would love to get into the Luck sweep steaks. He'll be much better then Vick on a good day. I've never been a Vick fan.
However, I would also take a 1-15 year if it meant Andy and his cronies all got chopped. Bring in some new blood and get these players motivated. Andy never will be able to put his players into better positions to win games, because he can't figure out how to do that.
The only up side is I didn't waste any money on tickets or merchandise :)— pokerplayersunite - Castillo should shuffle himself off of this team. Take Page and Coleman with him.— eaglesman1
- Move the deck chairs while you are at it. The defense is too small and the offense never sticks with the run. Jim Johnson hid too many of Reid's flaws. This is what a Reid team really looks like.— SAmori
Castillio should be bought up on charges and arrested for impersonating a Defensive Coord!!!!!!— citysims- No, Castillo should move them around again because it obviously worked the last time. They should keep moving them around, so that by the end of the season Matthews will be playing punter and Chaney will be playing right tackle. I know, sounds daft, which means I would be the perfect Eagles coach.— Hemingway
- No,next yr., I hope Juan is gone as will be Andy. They team is in disarray and it is the coach's fault. Of course, some guys are hurt ala Macklin, Vick et al and Jax has just disappeared.. So perhaps it is real tough coaching ala the Ryan guys to spark these guys.— Koons
- Even if we get new coaching it will still take time for the players to learn a totally new scheme. We'll be back to where we are right now. I want Reid gone too and if that happens we'll still be waiting for everything to come together. Not going to get a Gruden in Tampa like SB, because these are Reid's drafts not Tony Gungy's.
- Castillo is correct. They will turn it around and start winning. They're the better team the 1st three games for 90% of the game. They need consistancy. Only a loser turns on a team and coach when they go through a rough stretch.— MikeP
- Well, at least Juan knows what day it is.— CousinEddie
- Can't blame Juan. He has to run a 9 wide up front. That's Washburn's scheme and Juan is trying to fit around it. Andy hired Washburn not Juan. He didn't draft the LBs, for the most part he has them in position. Juan can't go on the field and tackle, he can't go on the field and play the ball aggressively, and he sure can't go on the field and stop a guy from biting on play action. Don't blame Juan, blame the players for losing focus and not stepping up and making a play. I don't hear anyone, including the media asking for Washburn to refine the wide 9 and adjust it to the players he has. I don't see anyone calling for Mudd to refine his scheme for the players he has. Why is a rookie center starting when we have a vet that played very well before he was injured? He is healthy, so how long do we have to watch blitzers come untouched up the middle? All we needed was a RT to protect Vick's blind side. The line was fine but now we got a mess.
- Right on TNEaglesFan! All of the above posters never mention how Castillo has been handcuffed by Washburn wide nine system. Castilo I'm sure is forced to do this because Reid convinced Young to come here along with paying big bucks to Jenkins and Babin. With what is paid out to Asomugha and Samuel, there's not much left for lb's and safeties. Hence Bradley and Q are gone. The wide nine guarantees the lbs will be blocked out of the running plays by o-line. Leaving the cbs and safeties to tackle massive runners, often with arm tackles. Kudos to Asante---I remember he did make a nice tackle on a big back.— Eagle_1960
Gonna be a long, long year....- One can only hope that the Casey Matthews experiment is over. He is not ready to be a starting lb. Nor is he ready to be the first sub off the bench. Brian Rolle may not be ready either but at least he is athletic enough to make up for some of his mistakes.— reveugene
- This Is exactly what everyone's greatest fears were before the season started. Reids arrogance and Hubris has once again come back to haunt us. Just like throwing 70 percent of the time and having less then average receivers. Take the worst defense in 20 years and put a failing Oline coach in charge of it. This last act of arrogance will hopefully cost him his job— yourdaddy!
- "Well, at least Juan knows what day it is." Just a lucky guess on Jaun's part.
— oneway - I just don't see much that points to this team getting better. The defense is about the worst I've seen take the field for the Eagles. Yes, it's on the players but also ask yourself if Jim Johnson would ever put something this awful on the field, no matter who his players are. Castillo may get it and succeed but it's not going to happen fast. On offense, the combination of the suspect line and Vick taking so many hits (holding the ball and running) makes it very unlikely he doesn't miss more than a few games.
I'll change my outlook if they can win out to the bye week. But I think it's more likely we hit the bye at 2-4. At that point it will take miracles to salvage the season.
— s - Last year the Giants gave the league the blueprint on how to stop Vick with blitzing. This year they gave the league how to attack their defense with running. If Stephen Jackson doesn't get hurt the Eagles are 0-3. There are no answers to fix this.— greenflyer
- "I''m gonna succeed," Castillo said, "For Coach Reid, for the city, and for my family." He forgot God and country.
— watsonmr
