Reid's silence an ominous sign for Castillo
The Andy Reid watch is officially over. The Juan Castillo watch continues.
Reid's silence an ominous sign for Castillo
Jonathan Tamari
The Andy Reid watch is officially over. The Juan Castillo watch continues.
And that difference seems very telling the day after Jeffrey Lurie's press conference.
Lurie looked at this past season, recent history and Reid’s hold on his locker room and decided he wanted the head coach back for a 14th year. So he said so and put to rest questions about Reid’s immediate future.
Reid has had the same chance to look back, and has not yet endorsed Castillo or even set a date to talk to the media about what awaits in the next few months. The logical conclusion to many observers is that Reid isn’t talking because he’s exploring his options, is likely to shake up his staff and doesn’t want to meet the media until his new plan is in place. (That doesn’t necessarily mean Castillo is gone – he could be reassigned or left in place with a new coach above him, but the effect would be the same, a new voice on defense).
If there was no change, it would be a simple matter for Reid to say Castillo is back and explain his reasoning. If Reid wants to make a change, that takes time. He might want Steve Spagnuolo, but Spags probably has other options he can also check out. Maybe there are less obvious candidates he needs to feel out. Last year Reid said Sean McDermott would return only to fire him days later. He obviously wants to avoid a repeat by having his moves set before publicly discussing them.
Lurie said Tuesday that Castillo’s future is Reid’s call, but many of his comments pointed toward a change. He emphatically dismissed the Eagles' late season surge – which coincided with the defense’s improvement.
“We weren’t playing Green Bay, New Orleans, Pittsburgh, Baltimore and some of the best teams in the league,” Lurie said. “We proved we could dominate against teams the last half of the year who weren’t that competitive. There’s a lot to be said for the players coming together and the coaching staff holding this group together in a way that was impressive. To hold onto that as the reason to be completely optimistic is, I think, fool’s gold.”
Those four games were Castillo’s best argument for returning. With those contests – against four teams that missed the playoffs and none that had a winning record – the Eagles D finished 8th in yards and 10th in points allowed. But before those games the Eagles were 17th in yards and 22nd in points, and the lasting image before the winning streak was Seattle’s Marshawn Lynch running wild through the defense.
Lurie also made clear that Castillo wasn’t the Eagles’ first choice (helping explain how it took so long last offseason to finally name an in-house replacement for McDermott).
This year, perhaps there are more options. Spagnuolo is on the top of many fans’ wish list and makes sense, though he’ll probably have other choices as well. Two things that might hamper a search for a new coordinator:
-- Do the Eagles keep Jim Washburn, whose pass rush was excellent but whose style essentially dictates to his boss how four of his players line up and might discourage some potential coordinators?
-- Will hot prospects be wary of coming to coach under Reid knowing that without a major success next season, the entire staff could be cleaned out? (The counter argument is that maybe candidates see themselves as eventual Reid replacements, but the guess here is that once the Eagles and Reid break up, the organization goes for an entirely clean, new start).
One last item that may point to a Castillo change was Lurie’s reference to past teams that struggled one year only to win titles the next season. The 2008 Saints went 8-8 and missed the playoffs, but won the Super Bowl the next year. The 2006 Giants were also 8-8 and won a championship the next season.
In both instances, the teams changed defensive coordinators and improved their leaky defenses.
The Saints dumped Gary Gibbs for Gregg Williams. The Giants? They fired Tim Lewis and brought in Spagnuolo.
Reid can't make a decision even when he has to hit the john. When are people going to figure it out. His arse was saved by really good assistants many years ago and the last 6 while he was making the decisions have been ho hum. Hasn't won a playoff game in how long? He is more worried about his next big mac.— alwaysphil1- Castillo would be the first DC coach to lead his defense to TOP 10 in the NFL and be fired. If anything his experience and incredible success on both sides of the ball should make him a good HC candidate. But he's in Philly with the most racist media in the U.S. so their spin is will he be fired? That's insane! How's does a top 10 coach, and by the far the most talented coach on the Eagles get fired? Just as Lurie is a bigger man than to let Klan mentality run his team you will soon see that Andy will not bow to dirty filthy racism. Most Philly fans are embarrassed by this racist spin the Philly media is putting on this good, hard working man. Hang in there Juan, true Philly fans are behind you.— Mudman2
- This is an absolutely ridiculous post. To try to shadow a man's inability to do his job by accusing those that point it out of being racist is just plain idiotic. Everyone knows Castillo had no place running that defense, so much to the point that there is no chance of sugar coating that abomination. You're the racist here. Yes, there might be some people that don't like him simply because of his background...but the majority do see him for what he is, a mediocre offensive line coach that was put in way over his head as an incapable defensive coordinator. I don't care if he's purple, he cannot call a defense. — voodoochile75
- mudman is the only racist on here. No one has ever said a word about Castillo's heritage anywhere except to praise him. Most Philly fans are embarassed that the likes of mudman can make such stupid posts and think that he's intelligent. — mike l
- thanks for saving everyone time voodoochile— peteike
- Has anyone ever thought of maybe it's not Juan's fault but instead Marty Mornhinweg's fault? He was the play-caller on offense and screwed up a few times calling more pass plays then running plays when we had a great lead in the 4th quarter. Marty put the defense in a position that they would have to defend a short field more then Andy and Juan would have liked. If your last name isn't Rodgers, Brees or Brady, if you call 40 plays a game for your QB to throw, you'll get intercepted and that's what happened. Look at the niners, bills and seattle game.— JayLoyola
- They had more turnovers than a pastry chef on crack. Until that changes it doesn't matter what they do. Can you coach less turnovers?— Eddie Spaghetti
- Spags is the closest to doing what Jim Johnson did, allow Andy to just forget the defense, but will Spagnoulo work with the line coach and wide nine?— robinlupe
- I think Reid's silence is good news for Castillo. Reid's track record is to publicly praise/support a player or coach and then quickly stab him in the back. There's a long list of former Eagles employees who were showered with praise and then thrown under the bus. Of course, this presumes that Lurie hasn't put Reid on a tighter leash....— ijj
- LT Eagles watcher. In the end, its the play calling - should run, they pass (over and over throughout the years) it's how they lost to the Packers last year. No, nothing will change in that regard, so we'll have another next year just like the past years. Close, but the predictability of our plays clues the defenders with terrible results for us. The pieces are right, but the whole doesn't work.— joemash
I hope spags comes back i don't see why he wouldnt hes not gonna get another head coaching job right now and the names we have on defense along with his familiarity with the team have to be attractive to him..i hope— wcm65- Spagnuolo can not only coach defense at the highest level; he can expertly command Dlines and identify talent. Neither Spags nor Castillo are probably any good with linebackers, as one might expect given JJ's legacy of LB neglect, so little will change there.— HeelYes
- The other thing being missed here is how many big plays didn't happen by the other offenses due to dropped or ill thrown passes. All those plays we got gashed on in the first half of the season were still there to be had, but a few guys finally started tackling. Another thing that watchers can pick up watching the NFL this year is sacks do not equal wins many times, that goes for the whole league if you look at the numbers. Bottom line is we cannot afford to allow our D coordinator to learn on the job next year.— MidGreen
- Let's get back to real Eagles defense: Giving up less than 20 points, hard hitting, mistake free football and BLITZING like crazy in the red zone.— MidGreen
- Has anyone noticed that the Eagles defense ranked 8th in the NFL while Green Bay was dead last at 32nd? Perhaps the Packers should hire Juan and be truly unbeatable OR maybe it doesn't make any difference. Did anyone notice that the Eagles finished 10th in yds gained on offense and the Packers were 27th? During each game sPit happens that changes the outcome. The variables are enough to drive coaches, players and fans crazy. There's more than just numbers involved here. But when all is said and done, It's just a game, guys. Win some, lose some - Take a deep breath and enjoy the ride, whatever the outcome, the sun will come up tomorrow. I'm looking forward to 2012 regardless of who the DC maybe - why, because it won't make any difference in the final standings.— mannoman
