Castillo Vows Eagles' Turnaround Coming
The Philadelphia Daily News - Eagletarian
Castillo Vows Eagles' Turnaround Coming
Les Bowen and DN staff
Eagles defensive coordinator Juan Castillo vowed that things would change and the team would start winning.
“Here’s what I know about the city of Philadelphia, the fans, our owner: we’re going to win, and we’re going to turn this around," he said. "We have the answers, and then when we win, I know they’ll understand.”
Asked why he was so confident, Castillo said, “Because I’ve been through this before. It’s not the first time, and I’ve had success. It doesn’t matter if there is problems because our job is to solve the problems. We’ve started off like this before, and we believe in our plan and we believe in fundamentals. We believe in the way we work, we understand that, and we know that every week we get better, and better, and better. That’s the way it’s happened here before, and we’ve been here 12 years. Our record speaks for us, but now we all want to win the Super Bowl. We believe in what we’re doing, so what we do is we keep working harder and we correct some of our problems.
He said the best thing the defense could do to avoid wearing down in the fourth quarter is get off the field, play fewer snaps.
“We’ll get better and that’s my responsibility," he said. "We’re going through some things, and some of the things I’m taking care of in practice and some other things I have to take care of. Together, as a defensive group, we’re going to take care of things and we’ve been working on them. We know what to do, and we’ll get better.”
* Castillo said last week he had Nnamdi Asomugha in too many packages, and that was the coordinator's fault. He said he gave Asomugha too many things to learn, without the benefit of an offseason. "He's human," Castillo said. He said he had envisioned Asomugha as a versatile weapon like Charles Woodson, but that might be expecting too much so soon. He said he plans to scale back Asomugha's responsibilities this week.
* He said it was a difficult decision to have to cut DT Derek Landri in the preseason, but he is glad Landri returned this week. "He has a big heart," Castillo said.
* Darryl Tapp was a full participant in practice yesterday as he recovers from a strained pectoral muscle. Castillo said Tapp looked good. Tapp agreed that the plan seems to be for him to start this week.
* Offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg said turnovers and penalties are killing the Eagles in red zone. He also cited third and short, which has been harder than third and medium.
* He said ball security was the Eagles' biggest problem right now, and that is his responsibility.
* He said the Eagles have been able to move the ball in the fourth quarter, just haven't scored.
* Mornhinweg said the Bills rush the passer real well, even if the stats don't show it.
* On Michael Vick's performance against San Francisco, he said, Vick had great numbers but it was not good enough to win.
* Special teams coordinator Bobby April said he was looking forward to returning to Buffalo, calling it a "special place." April worked for the Bills for six years.
* April said rookie kicker Alex Henery, who missed two fourth-quarter field goals against the 49ers, "has gotta get 'em through the uprights. He knows that. That guy has a big job."
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he better hope they win this weekend because if they don't the playoffs are out of the question— bouldereagle- Whoever referred to Juan as Soupy Sales (in an article a few days ago), that was comedic gold! Just giving you your props!
Anyone who believes the miraculous turnaround is coming this week is high.— Penfold18 - Ok, maybe Castillo wasn't exactly the right D-Coordinator for the Eagles, but I'm keeping the faith that he will fix the issues...Like tightening up the wide 9, teaching up the young linebackers and letting the CB's play man coverage instead of zone...— MrMiles1
- Hey Juan, I don't want to hear about the labor pains, I just want to see the baby. But in the meantime, you might want to sign up on Monster.com, I think you'll need it come January.— jimmymack
- What is he resignning... OR is AR resignning? This is the beginning of the end of AR. Thanks for the parade... ooops, we haven't had one for you.. my bad. Don't let the door hit you on the way out AR. Look for forward to 2012 season.— UGHROLF
- really you've been through this before???? funny, i was under the impression that you have no defensive coaching experience at the college or pro level!!!!!!— psualum
- Juan , couple weeks ago you said this linebacking core was good enough to win superbowl Why bench superbowl caliber players? Jumping up and down on sidelines like you need ritalin is not coaching . Never saw Bud Carson, Belichick or any coach in control do this? the eagles have cheerleaders they don't need anymore. RESIGN , go home you were mediocre OL coach and now you screwed up defense worse than last year. Just resign man, turn it over to someone who knows what they're doing if you care anything about this team.or your buddy Riedd , your gonna get him fired You look so foolish with the ranting and raving, this isnt't pop warner league. Please people pay good money for tickets and NFL ticket to watch football not some guy jumping around like a duck on a hot plate,who is clueless. (HTML deleted)— ajdrumz
Dexter - I like that you've kept perspective and can learn from that, because I've run out of excuses for them. I totally agree that you want to employ a scheme that compliments your best players strengths, but at the same time they have so many guys that don't belong on an NFL roster than you can't expect them to be successful at it. They employ a hybrid of man and zone because they don't have linebackers and safeties that are adequate in man to man coverage vs backs, tight ends and slot receivers. I think they have the corners and linebackers in place, but once again the FAILED to address the weak spots in their roster adequately. It's not the first time, it's every frigging year since 2000. WR, OT, TE, DT, DE, LB, FS,SS, PR, KR, P, K all positions that they have failed when they had the rest of the pieces in place to compete for title. Football is a team sport and like a chain it's only as strong as it's weakest link.
Is he gonna fire himself?? I still find it hard to believe how this loser got the posistion in the first place!— citysims- In order to dumb down the Defense, Juan asked Howie the Accountant to draft dumb players. Be careful what you ask for.— younged
- Juan, you talk too much, just shut up and show us!— JBP
- 90% of you posters make me sick. When we were losing 10 to 12 games a year, every year, we would still cheer our team. We are going through a bad stretch and Andy and Company will right this ship. I have been a happy football fan for the last 11 years and I support our team and coaches. Thanks Andy, Juan and the Eagles for putting a team on the field that I have proud of more often then not Go Eagles!— Tozmanian
- Work harder means you haven't been working hard enough. You don't have a clue and don't have good enough players to cover for you. I wish you well in your future profession. In case you were wondering, AR will throw you under the bus to save himself.— Ssteve115
- the rookie kicker makes one freaking kick inside 40 yds (out of 2) and we're 2-2. vick doesn't get concussed vs. atlanta and we're 3-1. reid doesn't go for it on 4th and 1 vs. the giants and we're 4-0.
the sky is not falling. they need to go 9-3 the rest of the way. scary.— djack10 - I think Juan's a bright guy with a bright future, ...but I think he would have been much better served by being named an asst. under an experienced coordinator first.
He's kind of been thrown to the wolves on alot of levels, ...new defense, no off season camps, new personnel, glaring weaknesses in his roster, and a head coach that's pass happy rather than ball control T.O.P. oriented.
...That's alot for anyone to overcome, let alone a guy with zero experience beyond being the offensive line coach.
Opposing offensive coordinators are very good at what they do, and Reid and Roseman have left Castillo with some sizable vulnerablilities to exploit.
I applaud his attitude and work ethic, but....— andyd
