Juan More Time? Not That Thrilled
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Juan More Time? Not That Thrilled
Les Bowen
I've gotten some emails and tweets from people who say they will be just fine, if the Eagles decide to do nothing to shake up their defensive decision-making hierarchy, in the wake of Steve Spagnuolo signing on with the Saints. Their thinking, of course, is that Juan Castillo's defense improved dramatically down the stretch, that players talked of having needed time to come together and grasp their roles, get a sense of one another, so on and so forth.
No question, the Eagles' defense improved, allowing no more than one touchdown in each of its last four outings, yes, against subpar quarterbacks, but looking much better than it had looked against equally subpar quarterbacks earlier in the season. (Ryan Fitzpatrick? Tavaris Jackson?)
Castillo is an earnest, decent man who doesn't deserve to be cast aside summarily. And if you're going to retain Jim Washburn and the Wide 9, which seems advisable, the easiest way to do that is to keep Castillo in place. Still, I want to see a prominent, experienced voice given a position of power on the defensive side, with Juan, in place of Juan, whatever.
The Eagles missed the playoffs for two reasons: Turnovers and Castillo's learning curve. The turnover thing they're going to have to fix by beating Michael Vick over the head with it all offseason. The Castillo problem isn't just magically cured by the former offensive line coach having one season on defense under his belt now.
Yeah, they'll shore up the linebacker position and maybe safety, too, and that will help. But how do we know Castillo won't stand and watch Larry Fitzgerald beat him again when Larry Fitzgerald is the only real weapon on the field for the other team? As much as I like Juan, I don't want to see him matching wits with, say, Bill Belichick, or even Drew Brees, in the third quarter of a close game. There is no way Castillo is going to have the grasp of defensive nuance of someone who has worked on the defensive side for many years, no matter how hard Juan works. My feeling down the stretch was that players and other coaches got Juan to simplify things, to blitz more, to junk the complex zone coverages he'd designed. I don't trust the man's instincts, based on what he planned for his rookie season.
I still think it's inexcusable that the Eagles missed the playoffs in large part because Andy Reid couldn't forsee that making his offensive line coach the defensive coordinator in a lockout year, with no offseason preparation, was going to be a disaster. The lockout didn't just sneak up on anybody. Teams knew it was coming, for a couple of years.
I don't think "well, what the heck, Juan seemed to be catching on there, let's see what happens" is a good way to prepare for a Super Bowl-or-bust season. Reid was incredibly lucky that last year's Castillo decision didn't cost him his job. This year's Castillo decision still could.
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Note to people who might read a couple of the comments below: The Eagles' ranking of 8th in defense pertains strictly to yardage, which is close to meaningless. Ask the Patriots, who ranked 31st there.
The Eagles gave up 27 touchdown passes last season despite having rich talent at the cornerback position. That figure ranked 24th in the NFL, and that stat DOES mean something. They were 30th in red zone defense. They tied for 17th in the league in interceptions, despite tying for the league lead in sacks. When you're getting such good pressure, it ought to convert into turnovers. It didn't.
And I don't think I'm the one bending stats to fit an agenda.
things will get better when we sign a 5 foot 7 inch 180 lb middle Line-Backer to start.— bill the pill- All is well folks...Pee Wee Roseman & Joey Nickels are on the job. The city should start making plans for the Super Bowl parade after the end of next season. Pee Wee Roseman & Joey Nickels are the gold standard of NFL management.......times yours.— kelprod2
- Hey Less-
Every season is a "Super Bowl or bust" season, for every team.
The Eagles also missed the playoffs because of a ridiculous turnover that wasn't Vick's fault, and because Tony Gonzales and that Cruz guy on the Giants made some outrageous plays against them. And yes, because the linebacker play was poor and the defense came together too late.
So the competition at the end of the season was not the best, but the Eagles defensive performances would have beaten better teams. Washington, the Jets, and Dallas all had pretty high hopes for their teams this season, and none had a prayer in their late-season meetings with the Eagles. That is not insignificant.
The Eagles were better than the Giants at times this year, and NY may just be going to the Super Bowl.
If anyone who isn't the single best person in his profession should be fired, you should go before Castillo.— Section 730 
Comment removed.
PSU_Chuck - Dallas plays a 3-4 Jets play a 3-4 dude are you serious? In years past we have done well against the AFC North. You must be thinking about preseason games. With our defense getting better and next year with DRC and Nnamdi on the corners it'll be tough for Brees plus Hanson in the slot is not push over plus he tackles well. Dude don't believe the hype, plus our offense has to be on the field at some point during the game and the Saints defense scares absolutely no one. Cam Newton is good but there is tape on him now he keeps running like the NFL is the SEC he's gonna be on IR real soon.- Don't worry Jeffrey Lurid, these silly Philly fans are whining, but they'll keep wasting their money on Birds tickets and assorted memoragarbaga!— BEMiller
- They can do any freaking thing they want. As long as it will hasten the departure of Andy Reid. Unfortunately, with that said, we will still have the losers in the FO (Banner & Roseman) and the chicken ish owner.— Unstable1
- The farther the Giants go in the playoffs, the more likely you will hear "We(Eagles)beat the Giants easily, and look how far the Giants went. We're not far away" You also have some national writers(e.g. Jason Whitlock)predicting that the Vick-led Eagles are going to the Super Bowl next year. Expect to hear this spin(and more)up to and including training camp.— 76erfn
- @psuchuck: I agree with pretty much everything you said, my only point about the last 4 games is that every other team in NFC East played them, so they beat some of the teams on their schedule they were better than, lost to a few they were better than , and lost all to teams they were worse than. I agree about the talent on D. Which brings me to my overriding point: How was any of that Juan Castillo's fault?— drbob1
- Les, I like the way you qualified some stats as important and others as meaningless at the end of your piece. Especially when they don't support your argument. Why did you omit overall pts allowed? That's important,right?
Must be a slow week, first the TO article relating to a 7 year old story and now the 15th article in the past three weeks about what the Eagles must fix to win the SB next year. There's a couple of coaching oenings, you know so much, why dont you put your name in.— AngryGregR - ALL I CAN SAY IS, OH ANDREW, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?— Pete60
- Love it, Les. Nailed it.— jbrett23
- You CANNOT go into a season where both coordinators DO NOT adjust their play calling throughout the game... If I can correctly guess the plays a team are going to run 80% of the the time, what is a seasoned NFL coach/coordinator gonna do? There is a reason we are not in the playoffs.... ANDY REID and JUAN CASTILLO!!! Period.— MarvelousMCNJ
- I think Andy actually wants to get fired, he has his dream job waiting for him in San Diego and I can't wait till he gets it. He will be totally exposed as a fraud out there. Too bad he can't take Banner with him
- This team needs more ball security and LESS BOWEN!— Eddie Spaghetti
