Reid: I Alone Fired Juan, More to Come
The Philadelphia Daily News - Eagletarian
Reid: I Alone Fired Juan, More to Come
Les Bowen, Daily News Staff Writer
Eagles coach Andy Reid answered questions for 26 minutes Tuesday in front of the cameras, then spoke with a few reporters privately for 12 more minutes, explaining the extraordinary decision to fire defensive coordinator Juan Castillo with the Eagles sitting at 3-3. Reid replaced Castillo with secondary coach Todd Bowles.
More on Bowles background here.
The upshot Tuesday: Reid was vehement that he alone made the decision, that saving his own job was not part of his thought process, and that whether reporters, fans and even players might detect a whiff of panic was beside the point.
Reid also hinted at other pending changes. Asked about turnover-plagued quarterback Michael Vick, Reid repeated what he'd said a day earlier about Castillo, that Vick was the starter "as I sit here right now" -- even though Reid happened to be standing behind a lectern -- but he said he would continue to evaluate all phases of the operation during the team's bye week.
"I'm going through and evaluating our football team, both coaches and players. This is one of the moves. We'll see where this goes from here," said Reid, who said firing his loyal assistant of 14 years was "one of the tougher things I've had to do."
It was Reid who shocked the football world during Super Bowl week February 2011 by making his offensive line coach the defensive coordinator. It was Reid who saw Castillo struggle matching wits with experienced offensive coordinators during a series of disastrous fourth quarters last season, then decided to stick with Castillo after evaluating his disappointing 8-8 team at the end of the year. And it was Reid who finally gave up on the experiment Monday night, sitting down with Castillo to tell him he was done.
"We all know how much I care about Juan Castillo as a person and as a football coach. He's a good football coach," Reid said. "Tremendous football coach."
Asked about perception, Reid said: "All you can do is tell the truth. I've been questioned on every decision, whether somebody else made it for me or didn't make it for me. That's not what this is about. At all.
"You can't worry about [perception]. I've got to do what I think is right right now. That's what I've got to do. It's as simple as that. I completely understand where people will come from. I got it."
Reid had spoken Monday of beginning a lengthy evaluation process, first at his day-after news conference, then during his weekly radio show. On the 94 WIP radio show Monday evening, Reid stressed that he hadn't done anything, wanted to let the anger and disappointment from Sunday's loss to the Lions subside before making any decisions. Within a few hours, presumably, he was delivering the news to Castillo.
Asked about that Tuesday, Reid said: "There's ways of buying time in this business, where you can think. Mondays are pretty crazy. You want to make sure you step back a little bit."
Reid stressed his continuing regard for Castillo, said he'd spoken to him again Tuesday morning.
Reid said repeated fourth quarter failures last season, and then again the past two weeks, were part of his decision.
"I thought we made progress" toward the end of last season, Reid said. "I thought we kind of did that through training camp, through the first couple games, and then there were just some things that I go 'I've got to look at this.' That's kind of where I went."
Bowles, who turns 49 next month, was a star safety at Temple who played 8 NFL seasons for the Redskins and 49ers. He served as interim head coach for the Dolphins last year after Tony Sparano was fired.
Reid said he didn't bring Bowles in last offseason to replace Castillo, though a cynic might suggest Bowles got the job as soon as he became familiar with the personnel and scheme. Reid said the defensive scheme would not change.
"He's all-in, works hard, smart," Reid said of Bowles, whom he said had made a lot of good sugestions this year. "Seems to have a good feel for the game, is a good communicator."
Reid said in speaking with Castillo he was "as real as I could be, to a good friend. He understands the business. Thank goodness he understands it. He knows that he's going to be all right. This isn't the end of his road or anything."
it's a relief to hear that Bowles is "all in." More pedal to the metal for the Dream Team Dynasty.— coloradoeagle- Talk show hosts in Las Vegas are now seriously talking about Andy Reid being the next Chargers' coach.— 2smart4philly
- Lets take up a collection to buy a seat...er 2 seats and fly him out there! — Sidewinder7
- That sounds a bit absurd. As I posted previously, "He MAY sign with another team. The entire NFL has book on Reid. Even if he signs with a team, his same bad habits will forever remain with him as he seems incapable of changing. I wouldn't be surprised to find he suffers from chronic obsessive-compulsive disorder. In addition,the's sure to drag Moronweg along with him as is his past habit of showing benevolence to out-of-work coaches. I'm sure most owners realize hiring Reid will be a last resort. They're watching.
The only positive is that the Eagles will have an opportunity to finally get a REAL football coach."
Owners have seen the difficulty Reid has had with his philosophy. Owners are aware of his stubbornness. Owners are aware of his propensity to benevolently hire old cronies who've failed elsewhere (Moronweg) and his utter reluctance to abandon them until the ship has all but sunk. Owners are aware that his earlier successes were due to opponents unfamiliarity of his version of the WCO and owners are all to aware that the rest of the league has caught up to and most can anticipate EVERY move Reid makes on the football field. Owners are aware of Reid's reluctance, or INABILITY, to adjust or change on the fly or even at all. And I'm sure other owners can see Reid's total dependence on the forward pass is self-defeating. That Reid has premier running backs that he rarely uses. That Reid's selection of some players are not suitable to execute his scheme. That his players are undisciplined. That Reid probably doesn't hold his players accountable to better execute plays, and on, and on. I stand by that premiss.— essell - I don't care what QB you have behind that offensive line. They are all going to be eating dirt after almost every snap of the ball. As it stands, Vick is probably the best option to play the game of "Run for your Life QB."— MrPhilly
- As bad as Vick has been I don't see Andy benching him for the Atlanta game. to throw in a rookie against the only unbeated team who will also be coming off of a bye week does not make sense.If they fall way behind then you will see a change late in the game. If they don't play well I see a change for the next game. I think getting rid of the defensive coordiantor is a start but they have to stay with the wide 9 until Bowles ccan come up with something else which is hard mid year.He change everything in less than 2 weeks.He might rotate the line somewhat differently and call for more blitzs but thats about all he can do.
Andy is trying to save his job and the season and with their schedule 8 and 8 looks like a reach. do you think they can beat the Falcons, Saints, Dallas twice, the Redskins twice, a better Gaint team then they palyed weeks ago,even Tampa Bay loks better. It will be a new crew in 2013 and trades galore for draft picks to rebuld by the new administation.— carltonlakes - I don't get the fire Roseman part. If the issue is the team is not performing to the talent level. Well that is not the fault of the GM. The GM's job is to assemble the talent. The coach has to make them perform. That being said please fire Marty. 2 games in a row time was left on the clock allowing a team to drive down the field and score. Yes it's the defense's job to stop them. But throwing the ball 46 times a game in which you led or never trailed by more than 6 is absurd. We lose the time of possession every week. All with a pro-bowl running back and an offensive line that can't pass block.— bobf876
- Another patsy to play second string on the defensive pecking order to Washburn. It's Washburn's fault Juan was even hired in the first place. Either Washburn sacks up and takes the big job or he gets canned. He can take the entire offensive coaching staff and the QB with him, too.— oyoyer
- I guess Nnamdi was right after all.— NYC - Philly
- I guess Nnamdi was right after all.— NYC - Philly
- Juan is the loneliest number that you'll ever do
Two(Reid and Marty) can be as bad as one
It's the saddest number since the number Juan— dasher - HaHa...A good one! — bonnerlou
- So is Reid is right, and he won't make any other changes, than the Eagles will beat Atlanta and New Orleans and most of their remaining games. You really do believe that, don't ypu. Talk to you after the Saints game.— mario1239
- The biggest "uncorrectable" problem on this team is that the O-line is sporting 2 backups as starters. They are not going to be as good in pass protection and run blocking, period. And it will remain the same for the rest of the season due to injuries. The Eagles must live with that problem. So, that brings us to the 2 biggest "correctable" problems. With a shaky O-line, the defense MUST play up to their ability and shut down the oppenent, especially when this offense manages to get a lead. That must happen for this team to win. With this O-line, the Eagles simply won't score 40 points like years past. And #2, the offense (esp QB) CAN'T turn the ball over and expect to score a reasonable amount of points with their O-line deficiencies. If they protect the ball, they can score enough to win, as long as the defense does their job. SO, correctable problem #1 was addressed today, and correctable problem #2 will be addressed in the next few days, I believe.— mish798798
- The only way Reid will bench Vick and go with a rookie at QB is if he gets assurance from Lurie that he will not be fired at the end of the year.— Russ
