Report: Washburn was roadblock to Spagnuolo
Over the weekend, I linked to a National Football Post report that said Steve Spagnuolo's decision came down to the Eagles and the Saints.
Report: Washburn was roadblock to Spagnuolo
Sheil Kapadia, Philly.com
Over the weekend, I linked to a National Football Post report that said Steve Spagnuolo's decision came down to the Eagles and the Saints.
And he chose New Orleans in large part because Drew Brees provided a better chance than Michael Vick and the Birds to win the Super Bowl.
But there were other factors involved as well.
SI.com's Peter King says one of them was Jim Washburn:
Someone Who Knows told me a major roadblock to Steve Spagnuolo taking the defensive coordinator job in Philadelphia was the presence of very strong personality Jim Washburn on the defensive line.
King's note is interesting because he mentions Washburn's personality, not his system.
Last offseason, Andy Reid hired Washburn to coach the defensive line before appointing a defensive coordinator. By all accounts, the Eagles' pass rush was among the best in the NFL under Washburn. The Birds finished with 50 sacks (tied for a league-high), and 46 of them came from defensive linemen. If you look at which defensive players met or exceeded expectations, almost all played on the defensive line. (Jason Babin, Trent Cole, Cullen Jenkins, Mike Patterson).
During the past several weeks, there's been a lot of talk about whether the wide-9 could co-exist with a system that relied on blitzing and dropping linemen back into coverage. Paul Domowitch of the Daily News wrote a good piece for SportsWeek saying yes, the two aspects could co-exist.
But apparently, Spagnuolo's reluctance had more to do with Washburn's strong personality than his system. During the Eagles' loss to the Patriots last season, Washburn and Marty Mornhinweg had to be separated after a heated exchange on the sideline.
King also reports that Sean Payton emphasized three things during his pursuit of Spagnuolo: winning, Brees and total autonomy. Obviously, his recruiting pitch worked.
As for the Eagles, Les Bowen of the Daily News and Jeff McLane of the Inquirer are reporting from the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala., where Juan Castillo isn't saying much.
It seems clear now that the Eagles were interested in Spagnuolo, but no one knows for sure in what capacity. Plan B could either be to fall back on Castillo or pursue another coach.
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Sometimes I wonder if some of you posters are even old enough to drive. The two teams that are playing in the super bowl this year are on the bottom of the defensive stats. The Giants LB's haven't done much and the Patriot's LB's are even worse but yet you all complain and like a parrot repeat the gibberish these so called media types print. I'm not going to make excuses because the Eagles lost early, had their chances but couldn't pull out a game or two to win the division. I'm going to sit back and read all these nay-sayers praise Reid and Juan during next season when we have a 12-4 season, go deep in the playoffs and Vick wins the MVP of the Super Bowl.- Dude you are dellusional if you think that Reid and Juan are going to right this ship and even more so dellusional if you think Vick will ever be Super bowl MVP.He is a horrible quarterback. You should in fact just never comment on football again because you have no idea what you are talking about.Go back to beating 10 year olds on Madden
— mikedog44 - Was that so much the defense or a lucky break? A catch made by a WR with his helmet and Plaxico making the game winning catch. As I recall Brady was pretty much having a decent game against that defense. Lucky break got that win not the defense. Do you know what you are talking about? In that case Reid is a QB guru because he coached a SB winning QB. Spags inherited a good defense, Reid inherited a mess and has, how many more wins and playoff wins than Spags? Yeah that's what I though you don't know what you are talking about and don't comment until you know what you are talking about.
- Wow you beat a 10 year old!! yeah im sure 87-0 was the score but it might be your IQ. Truth be told the Giants could very well win their 2nd superbowl in 4 years. They were going 18-0 and the Giants shouldn't have even been in that game but they won which is more than the Eagles have ever done. I love the birds but facts are facts. If he inherited such a great defense then how come they were the worst defense in the league the first 3 games of that season Einstein? They werent any good and Spags turned it around something Juan couldn't ever do. The fact is that Reid is a horrible coach and a poor decision maker and don't even try to come at me with Reid's great record because out of the 136 wins only like 30 of them were against teams with winning records. on a final note anytime you want play some Madden step up. I will beat you much more then 87-0. You can defend the birds all you want but there is nothing you can say that can defend not winning the Superbowl. Smart guy — mikedog44
- You must be that 10 year old I beat just last night. What's the matter junior, you still mad about getting whooped 87 - 0.
- Forget about Spagnulo. He is history, let's move forward quickly to find an even better D-cooridantor to replace Castillo. Get him here prior to the draft. Perhaps he can convince the brain-trust that he wants and needs BIG, HARD-HITTIN LINEBACKERS!!— billtfla
- Sounds like ol' Spags doesn't like to be challenged by other coaches and you guys say Reid is arrogant. That's a sure sign of a guy that thinks his way is the only way and if anyone is around to challenge it he doesn't want them around. Say what you want but that sounds like a weak minded man and no wonder the Rams defense was weak, the offense was weak and he was fired. The Saint's defense is weak and now they got a weak DC. Who needs Spags, we sure don't.
- Spags won a Superbowl with his defense which is more than I can say for the Eagles.His weak defense shut down the undefeated patriots. Just stop commenting! You obviously don't know what you are talking about — mikedog44
Comment removed.- Some people really need to get a life. If all you got is to get on a message board and complain about things you have absolutely no control over then you are living a sad existence.
- I think some of you boys should have been coaching in the old Pat Lani Football league. You would would have fit right in.— ceocreates
- I'm from Philadelphia. I love the Phillies, Flyers and Sixers but I cannot root for the Eagles until Lurie, Banner and Reid are gone.— fixiethis
- castillo will have a top 5 defense next year. book it.— djack10
- Don't worry about a thing - Big Andy's gonna get everybody in position to get the job done.— Boru
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