During the preseason, I wrote an article entitled, “Juan Castillo: Flying Underneath the Radar”. It was a piece that some readers ranted their disagreements with. I stand by my opinion, especially three games into the regular season.
The Philadelphia Eagles defense has no identity. The Eagles defense has no real leader. Most experts believe that the front four is solid and that the secondary is excellent. Then why is the Eagles defense having so many gaffes, allowing big points?
This falls directly on the man in charge, defensive coordinator, Juan Castillo. I said the decision to hire Castillo was a last minute decision. A ‘fall back’ plan. After interviewing and targeting other candidates, the Eagles out of no where announced that Castillo was their man. Here is what I said:
“Then BOOM!: Juan Castillo. The arrogance was that Andy Reid acted that the choice was part of his grand plan all along. This is how the Eagles organization is: they know better than you.”
“Only time will tell if Castillo is the right man for the job. I know he is passionate. Passion is only a small part of winning. The key is to have the proper schemes that match the weekly opponent.”
In their last two games, the Eagles have given up six consecutive redzone touchdowns. Six. Former defensive coordinator, Sean McDermott, was fired for this exact reason. Last year the Eagles were historically bad defending in the redzone. Now, nothing has changed, except the fact the Eagles have better personnel this year.
Why is Casey Matthews still on the field? He is a third round draft pick. You benched your first round pick, Danny Watkins, saying “he’s not ready.” Kurt Coleman made a couple bad plays and you bench him. He is probably your best safety. Castillo brings in Nate Allen and what does he do? Stinks up the joint.
I am not sure what the Eagles can do at this point. Juan Castillo has the job and is learning on the fly. I hope the adjustments are made to sure up this defense. Maybe the Eagles can bring in an advisor or something. Maybe Juan can buy some cliff notes.
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I totally agree. The Juan Castillo experiment is not working at this time. I dont think we have the personnel to run Jim Washburns “Wide 9″, our linebackers are inexperienced and need to be protected by the d tackles so they can make plays in the run game. I like the pick ups we got in free agency but I would have rathered we scaled back on the high profile pick ups and got some quality pick ups at linebacker and safety. I believe the Eagles will get better on both sides of the ball as the season progresses but you’re right with the amount of talent and the expectations this team has, i believe an established d coordinator should have been brought in.