Castillo Stunner: Panic Setting In?
Last spring, Juan Castillo vowed that he would "take a bullet" for Eagles coach Andy Reid. Tuesday, he did.
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.
It's not panic, it is only realizing what everyone else knew. To paraphrase Churchill, AR will always do the right thing, after he has tried everything else.— 2ndNlong- What about the QB coach? What kind of impact has he made on Vick or this offense? If scapegoats are being made, there is another.— Chris F.
- Those of you wanting Reid to bring in Foles will be disappointed. If there is one thing we all know about Reid..he always makes the wrong decision.— Carlos2
- How can anyone let this guy run your football operations. Better off picking a coach from DisneyWorld.
- If the Eagles lose to Atlanta, and lose big, who will get the blame? Everyone but Mike Vick. Well, at least they now have an interim coach if they fire Andy in mid season and the Eagles are not getting better because they did not fix the main problem. The offense that has one of the best receiving corp in the NFl and a top five running back. They just don't have a quarterback complements these players. Todd Bowles is a coach in waiting.— mario1239
- Must agree, mario.
But NO quarterback averaging more than two giveaways per game could complement ANY group of players. Frankly, I should have thought the axe would have, most reasonably, fallen on Marty Mornhinweg's neck, but it seems the offense has stuff that doesn't stink.
— BEMiller - Panic is a sudden sensation of fear which is so strong as to dominate or prevent reason and logical thinking, replacing it with overwhelming feelings of anxiety and frantic agitation consistent with an animalistic fight-or-flight reaction.
Not seeing here. Ugency, yes. Panic, not yet.— ijustam - Let's see - the offense is 31st in scoring, the team is turnover prone, and all that was needed to win the last game is to go on a time consuming drive. So they threw a long pass that was picked off, after a sideline pass to Jackson where he went out of bounds? And instead of staying with the quick drop passing that worked reasonably well, in OT all of a sudden it is 7 step deep drops that worked out real well. And they fire the defensive coordinator?— MarkinSJ
- The only real change will come with the fat man's departure at the end of the season.— Justaschmuck
- I guess it depends on how you look at it. Against Pittsburgh, the D did not step up on that final drive. They were all gassed from playing most of the game. This past Sunday it was an offensive collapse that cost the game. The Eags must lead the league in one other category - Most 3 and outs......— Mike Boryla
- Offensive collapse? Like getting a 10 point lead with less than 6 minutes to go? The offense isn't great, or even very good, but the defense gets this one squarely at their feet. — dlscholt
- Andy should not be fired Mid-Season. He's given 13 yrs as the best coach the franchise has had, so he has earned the right to finsih out the year. That being said, firing Castillo appears to be the Eagles way during his regime. Either being one step behind ala (getting a number one reciever after they get blasted by Carolina in the NFC championship game,) or just doing something that makes no sense with Castillo. It appears Reid has set himself up to crash and burn during the final 10 games of this year with a bad quarterback, shaky offensive line, and a coach in Morhinweg calling plays who should have been fired along with Castillo today.— ryanrockzzz
- I agree, A premeir running back that get 14 touches. Morhinweg should have been fired. Where's Childress? — stevem292799
Comment removed.- I wished it would have been morniwheig head instead of castillos. Playcalling and turnovers are the main reason why this team is lucky to be 3-3.— stevem292799
