Philadelphia Eagles Will Most Likely Stick With Juan Castillo, With The Stats To Back It Up
Being a die-hard Eagles fan as I am, sometimes my perception is skewed. I know the Eagles went on to win the last four games with defense looking solid. That is not what this article is focused on. After looking at the season ending defensive numbers, I was surprised, to say the least.
The NFL ranks defenses based on yardage allowed. I am not a proponent of this to be the statistical measure of ranking defenses. I look at points allowed as the most telling stat of a good defense. Let us take a look at how the Eagles defense fared at both in the 2011 regular season.
The Eagles defense allowed a combined 324.9 yards per game ranking them eighth in the entire NFL. I found that shocking considering the team finished 8-8, missing the playoffs. To put that in perspective, the New York Giants finished 27th, allowing 376.4 yards per game.
O.K., the Eagles must have been amongst the worst defenses in points allowed per game, right? Wrong. The Eagles defense finished tenth overall, allowing 20.5 points per game. Again, to put that in perspective, the New York Giants finished 25th overall, allowing 25 points per game.
Being a rookie defensive coordinator, Juan Castillo deserves a second season. I cannot believe I am even writing this, however, the numbers do not lie.
The bottom line is that the Eagles defense was not the reason for a failed season………As an offense, the Eagles led the NFL in turnovers. Isn’t protecting the football an essential aspect in winning a football game? Andy?
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I have mixed feelings… the defense took a long time to get up to speed. The last four games were not exactly vs. powerhouse offenses. I agree that the defense was not terrible but with the personnel that the Eagles acquired in the offseason, and what they already had, they should have been better, and sooner.
Does Castillo have a good handle on it now? How can we possibly know? I am not completely opposed to giving him another shot if Spags is not available, but I do think that Spags is a better option all around.
Those are the two most misconceiving number for a defense in football. 16th against the rush, 24th in Passing TDs allowed, 17th in rushing TDs allowed, 10th in turnovers with almost all of them coming from teams with a below .500 record. I mean more than 1/5 of them were gifts from Rex Grossman alone. The Red Zone Defense was a pitiful 29th. Jim Johnson was always in the top 10 here. They were also terrible in plays over 20 yards, but I can not find their exact ranking. Plus 5 blown 4th quarter leagues, misusing Nnamdi Asomugha, starting Casey Matthews and not making mid-game adjustments are all reasons he needs to go.
Maybe if we had a decent dc, we would’ve been first instead of eighth.