Decision to fire Castillo a "miscalculation"
The Philadelphia Inquirer Blog - Eagles
Decision to fire Castillo a "miscalculation"
Jeff McLane, Inquirer Staff Writer
NEW ORLEANS -- It may sound like an obvious statement after the last two games, but the Eagles' decision to fire Juan Castillo over the bye week was labeled as a "miscalculation" by one of the team's decision-makers following a 28-13 loss to the Saints on Monday night.
In an attempt to shake-up the team following a disastrous overtime loss to the Lions on Oct. 14, Eagles coach Andy Reid fired Castillo as defensive coordinator and replaced him with defensive backs coach Todd Bowles.
Bowles had never been a coordinator in the NFL. He was hired in January after a stint with the Miami that ended with him as interim head coach for three games in 2011.
Castillo was promoted from offensive line coach in Jan. 2011, a move that was criticized by many at the time. Castillo struggled in his first year as coordinator, but his defense showed improvement in 2012.
But back-to-back fourth quarter collapses against Pittsburgh and Detroit led to his firing.
Bowles hasn't had the opportunity to blow any fourth quarter leads because his defense has put the Eagles behind in the last two games. The Falcons scored on their first six possessions in their 30-17 win over the Eagles on Oct. 28.
The defense showed marginal improvement against the Saints, but could not keep the Eagles in the game after Michael Vick threw a pick six that spotted New Orleans a 7-0 lead. The Saints offense gained 371 yards and scored 21 points as the Eagles missed many tackles and were poor on third down and in the red zone.
@lets eat maybe AR should follow the previous Eagles Head coaches Oh! That’s right they didn’t win an SuperBowl neither. Go root for another team.— TrueEaglesFan- as i mentioned 6 weeks ago,juan castillo was ready to take over the team as interim coach,BIG RED fired juan because he knew juan was a possible replacement coach,,marty morningday should have been fired first,then BIG RED and mike conVick needs to be cut with-in the next 2-4 weeks,,jon Gruden is the perfect coach to go after.....GO MITT!!— wolf 4
- STOP IT....he had to go and it is of no consequence....talent selection of players and coaches (mudd and washburn and april and MM) doomed this club......thank YOU AR and Howie.......Note to Jeffery....You now know you should have fired him at the end of last year when you said things were "unacceptable"....so just do it and get it over with....— nuggett
- Hiring a DL coach that runs a gimmick scheme before hiring a DC was a miscalculation.
Naming an OL coach as the DC was a miscalculation.
Bringing in a new OL coach with a totally different system so intricate that the OL coach needs "his guys" to run it was a miscalculation.
Giving a QB that had a history of being average at best a $100M contract based on 10 games was a miscalculation.
Naming a lawyer with no football background whatsoever the GM was a miscalculation.
This entire franchise is a frickin joke.— Only in Philly... - Give me a break. There isn't one reporter in a 100 mile radius of Phila an any reporter for any other sports radio or newspaer that said Juan shouldn't be fired. But now we have Jeff Mclane sayin this was a miscalculation. get real clown you an all the other bozo experts along with Obozo himself wanted Juan gone an now u say a miscalculation - hindsite is great as a reporter isn't it Jeff.— Del/inFla
- Learn to read (and spell). One of the team's "decision makers" called firing Castillo a "miscalculation", not McLane.
Nice that you threw an unrelated, political cheapshot in there too. Classy.— phillychaos - How many bad decisions is this coach going to be allowed to make? Pleas fire him already.— krautmef
- The firing of Coach Castillo was a Big Mistake. It's a done deal. The only way the eagles will win a game is if #1, Coach Castillo shows up to the game and sits the the Fans and cheers the team up. #2. Says a prayer for the Defense and the team...I don't think so. #3 Has a couple of beers and gives some cold ones to his ex players, maybe they will fall down and make it look like a good tackle. Eagles will only win 2 more games. It's sad but you need to start blaming the players. It's not a game for these guys, its always been about how much money Can I Make. its a job that pays them too much money. I am joining Coach Castillo 's team. I quit. no more Eagles— sidelines2012
- The firing of Coach Castillo was a Big Mistake. It's a done deal. The only way the eagles will win a game is if #1, Coach Castillo shows up to the game and sits the the Fans and cheers the team up. #2. Says a prayer for the Defense and the team...I don't think so. #3 Has a couple of beers and gives some cold ones to his ex players, maybe they will fall down and make it look like a good tackle. Eagles will only win 2 more games. It's sad but you need to start blaming the players. It's not a game for these guys, its always been about how much money Can I Make. its a job that pays them too much money. I am joining Coach Castillo 's team. I quit. no more Eagles— sidelines2012
- Foles can't run and he can't hide. How will he do better with no O line?
The Eagles should hire the Marines to guard the QB. Let Vick line up behind center in an armored personnel carrier.— C. S. Liston - you have to blame reid for this mess.i dont know how reid convinced lurie to hire him as coach and give him complete control. reid did not have any experience as a head coach ,offensive coord. etc... this is his baby and it needs to be aborted— swgaston
- The last few years were a miscalculation. This was just one of them.— dlivesay
- Castillo was just a scape-goat. When you need to fix anything you should follow the 80/20 rule first. 80% of your problems should be addressed by the first 20% of your effort. The defense was NOT the biggest problem even though they have failed to get the sacks and turnovers. Over the first 6 games the defense allowed an average of 20.8 points but the offense managed only 17 points. The league average is 23 ppg so clearly the problem with the Eagles has more to do with with the offense underperforming than the defense.— cleansports
