Castillo's firing: stunning and desperate
Andy Reid fires Juan Castillo
Castillo's firing: stunning and desperate
Rich Hofmann, Daily News Sports Columnist
First reaction: stunned.
I am not surprised that Juan Castillo is not calling the defenses for the Eagles anymore -- and especially not after cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha openly criticized schematic decisions at the end of the Eagles' collapse on Sunday against the Lions. But I figured head coach Andy Reid would protect Castillo, leaving him in place and having secondary coach Todd Bowles begin calling the defenses from the press box. That way, Castillo could continue to wear the headset on the sidelines and relay the information to the players and save face. But no.
Yes, stunning. Castillo is out and Bowles is the defensive coordinator. A year and a half after the world guffawed in Reid's face when he turned his offensive line coach into a defensive coordinator, and months after he flirted with the idea of making a change and giving the job to Steve Spagnuolo -- which would have happened had Spagnuolo said yes -- Reid is very publicly admitting a grievous error. There is no other way to read this.
All of the talk about how things were turned around at the end of last season was just that, apparently -- talk. And any benefit of the doubt that Castillo received after this defense got off to such a good start in 2012 also evaporated pretty quickly. This kind of in-season change happens very rarely in the NFL -- and it is hard to remember a coordinator who was fired from a .500 team with overall defensive numbers that are not alarming.
But the trend obviously was. I have said all along that while we all had our suspicions, it was hard to really know about Castillo because none of us are inside the process, and because they did get better in the second half of last season, and because the defense has been pretty stingy overall in 2012.
But now we know, after two late-game losses, two more blown leads at the end, that Reid feels compelled to make the kind of in-season move that he has never been pushed to make before. He fired himself as the play-caller once during the bye week, but this is different. And it is desperate.
With that, mark down two days:
The day Reid replaced Kevin Kolb with Michael Vick.
The day Reid named Castillo as defensive coordinator.
If this goes badly from here, those are the days that will have gotten Andy Reid fired.
After the Castillo firing was announced, Rich Hofmann discussed the news in a video chat with Noah Coslov of Cinesport.
Get rid of Reid and Vick now— Midnightman322- Getting rid of Reid now will NOT happen. — SC Philly Fan
- 7 blown 4th quarter leads is horrendous. Castillo had to go and
Andy knew it. If Andy kept Castillo and the defense continued
to play that same way then Andy's job would have been on the line.
Andy knew this and he fired him to save his job. If the team
doesn't do any better the rest of the season then Andy will be
shown the door also. Where oh where is Gruden.— associate - If the offense scored points like an average defense, you would not have to have the defense make a last stand every game. As for Gruden, at least how he comes across on TV i think the man has gone insane. — Sidewinder7
- An insane Gruden is possibly better than a delusional Reid — lostintheburbs
- The big question will be if Todd Bowles will be forced to coach the entire defense or be forced to continue this wide nine garbage?— rvb2321
- It won't matter what AR does as he has shown in the past 13 seasons he is not smart enough on game days and draft days to help this football team. First round pick of Kolb, Watkins etc. Passing the ball 50 times a game with a turnover QB.Running a QB sneak from the 1 yard line with a fumble prone QB instead of using your all pro back to get you 1 yeard. Putting an inexperienced Castillo as DC. Time for a change Lurie as AR will never win a SB here.— Pap
- Obviously Reid thinks Vick will beat the Falcons now. Who will he blame next? Jackson? Machlin? Celek? That's right Andy, keeo sending Vick out there so we can finally get rid of you. Do you understand that Todd Bowles is in line for your job?— mario1239
- This will fix everything!!! Except for, um, wait a minute...— Bobby G
- It was the stupidest decision in NFL history to move an experienced offensive line coach to defensive coordinator. You hung that man out to dry. That is on YOU, Andy Reid! I'll pass over the rest of the stupid, yes stupid is the word, decisions, comments and other things you have done. Now, turn in YOUR resignation, "Coach!" Time's yours, and there's not much of it left.— MidStaterUXB
- How is it "stunning or "desperate?"
95% of the writers, pundits & bloggers in this were against Juan as DC from the get go. And if it was a bad decision, is it better to wait 'til the end of the season to correct it?
Not "stunning" or "desperate."
— wordsword - Based on the performance of the units, do you not think Morningweg deserved to be fired first? Or Vick benched? The offense has been twice as worse as the D. Thats what he is getting at, Juan was no stud but he was far from this teams biggest problem. — Sidewinder7
- Don't disagree w/ you.
But the issue was Reid recognizing that Juan was not ready for DC, despite his personal desire to give Juan a shot at coordinator position.
— wordsword - If anyone should have been fired ...it should have been Mornhinweg. The Eagles defense minus the short fields provided by offensive turnovers has been playing pretty well. The Giants put up big numbers against everybody but us. Quit the gimmickly trying to get too-cute-play-calling on offensive and move the damn ball.— mwarren400
- Juan Castillo did everything he could to save A. Reid behind, hold others team offense for under 17 points per game during the 4 games. A. Reid made the wrong call again, winning by 10points, under 5:18 left in the Game. As a coach or offense coordinator u tried to surprise the Lions with another 60rd pass and gets intercepted, put the defense back on the field, 17 turnovers how can a defense maintain its domination if they have to be on the field for so long... no wonder they ran out of gas in the 4th quarter, but hey blame it on the Defense......take care Castillo thanks for your hard work.....— T.K.O
