Eagles Fire Defensive Coordinator Juan Castillo

[TheImmortalGoud]

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/8511166/juan-castillo-fired-philadelphia-eagles

The Philadelphia Eagles have fired defensive coordinator Juan Castillo and promoted secondary coach Todd Bowles into the position, the team announced Tuesday.

Castillo's firing comes after the Eagles blew a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter of Sunday's overtime loss to the Detroit Lions to fall to 3-3.

On Monday, coach Andy Reid had said Castillo would continue to make the defensive play calls but that everything about the team would be evaluated during the bye week.

After a night of reflection, Reid decided to make a change. He will hold a news conference to explain at noon ET.

"I want to make it clear that I have nothing but the ultimate respect for Juan Castillo as a coach and as a person. He's one of the finest football coaches that I have ever worked with. He has served this organization extremely well for 18 years and letting him go was a difficult decision. I know he will continue to be a successful coach in this league and wish he and his family nothing but the best," Reid said in a statement.

"We're six games into the season and average isn't good enough. I know the potential of our team and insist on maximizing it."

Castillo was named the Eagles' defensive coordinator last season, prompting criticism for Reid because Castillo had been the team's offensive line coach. The defense struggled early last season and didn't begin to jell until late in Philadelphia's disappointing 8-8 season.

Bowles was hired by the Eagles in the offseason. He had been on the Dolphins' staff and was named the interim coach last year when Tony Sparano was fired.

On defense, the Eagles are a confusing group. They suddenly can't seem to get to the quarterback. After leading the NFL with 50 sacks last year, they have only seven and none in the past three games. But they were able to limit yards and keep teams off the scoreboard en route to a 3-1 start.

In the last two games, however, they've allowed long drives at crucial times late in the fourth quarter. They can't get stops at important points and nobody on defense seems capable of making a big play. The Eagles have forced just eight turnovers.

Eagles cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha wasn't happy with Castillo's play-calling in the fourth quarter Sunday when the defense went to a zone and blitzed more after three quarters of success covering Calvin Johnson and the Lions' receivers.

Reid on Monday, however, denied the Eagles changed their defensive strategy against the Lions in the fourth quarter.

The defense alone can't be blamed for the Eagles' .500 start, however.

Quarterback Michael Vick has been a turnover machine, throwing eight interceptions and losing five fumbles. Overall, the Eagles have an NFL-worst 17 turnovers. But it's not all Vick's fault. The injury-depleted offensive line has struggled mightily, letting Vick get hit at an astounding rate.

 

[EmpireWF]

:jonesy:

This poor guy....

 

[ralaw]

Why would he change his mind in less than 24 hours when he had been loyal to Castillo all last season? Philly did finish with a top 10 defense though...I bet Reid was told to fire Castillo.

 

[Mogriffjr]

Why would he change his mind in less than 24 hours when he had been loyal to Castillo all last season? Philly did finish with a top 10 defense though...I bet Reid was told to fire Castillo.

Yup, he's under pressure now, remember what the owner said about Reid, I believe 8-8 won't work and they must make the playoffs...

 

[JimLeavy59]

I still find it funny that these so called "experts" can't seen that the Eagles offensive line is an embarrassment to the NFL.

 

[Aso]

I would've fired him too. The Eagles pass defense has been good but they've gotten no sacks which is a big surprise to me from how they played last season. Silly move to convert your offensive line coach to defensive coordinator imo.

But I read that he changed his strategy that had worked to perfection, late in the 4th quarter and he's the scapegoat for their 10 point blown lead with 5 minutes to go.

Here comes Todd Bowles now. Very interested to see how he will fair.

 

[Rudi]

I'm sure Castillo was responsible for all of Vicks turnovers.

 

[ThomasTomasz]

Reid won the power struggle with Joe Banner, so he has to put up or shut up. Interesting that he would make those comments, and then a day later, go back on them, but this was a problem last season. Castillo should have been reassigned as a position coach elsewhere and Bowles should have been brought in to manage the defense. Absolutely stupid to think that would change.

Yes, Castillo is not responsible for all of Vick's turnovers, but with the talent on that defense, they should be performing much better than they did last year, and continuing to do this year.

 

[steeljake]

Odd change to make in the middle of a season... this isn't hockey...

 

[ram29jackson]

since when do guys with names like Juan Castillo get coaching jobs in the NFL anyway ?

who's next..Carlos Ortega ?

 

[U824942]

When you give up a 7 and a 10 point lead on back to back weekends (losses to the Steelers and Lions - that should have been wins), you get canned, given the prior years performance. For those who don't know, Juan Castillo was a very good Offensive line coach for the Eagles. Why Andy Ried promoted him to Defensive Coordinator is still a mystery to me. I feel bad for Juan but he'll absolutely get another job - as an offensive line coach.

As for Andy Ried, he needs to win or he'll be following Juan out the door at season's end. Don't be surprised if Vick gets to sit down for a week or more. I saw all of the Eagle preseason games and the differernce between Nick Foles and Mike Vick was, at least, surprising. Now, preseason is just that, so I never get too excited, however, Foles just seemd to have a much better grasp of what the defense was trying to do and got the ball out of his hands much, much quicker than Vick. I like Vick as QB but he cannot continue if he is going to throw int's and fumble the ball 2 or 3 times per game. I wouldn't be opposed to Foles starting the Atlanta game - birds have a bye next week and some time to get him ready.

And I'll end by saying Andy Ried needs to balance his offensive attack a bit more - RUN THE DAMN BALL!! IT SETS UP THE PASS!!!

 

[ThomasTomasz]

When you give up a 7 and a 10 point lead on back to back weekends (losses to the Steelers and Lions - that should have been wins), you get canned, given the prior years performance. For those who don't know, Juan Castillo was a very good Offensive line coach for the Eagles. Why Andy Ried promoted him to Defensive Coordinator is still a mystery to me. I feel bad for Juan but he'll absolutely get another job - as an offensive line coach.

As for Andy Ried, he needs to win or he'll be following Juan out the door at season's end. Don't be surprised if Vick gets to sit down for a week or more. I saw all of the Eagle preseason games and the differernce between Nick Foles and Mike Vick was, at least, surprising. Now, preseason is just that, so I never get too excited, however, Foles just seemd to have a much better grasp of what the defense was trying to do and got the ball out of his hands much, much quicker than Vick. I like Vick as QB but he cannot continue if he is going to throw int's and fumble the ball 2 or 3 times per game. I wouldn't be opposed to Foles starting the Atlanta game - birds have a bye next week and some time to get him ready.

And I'll end by saying Andy Ried needs to balance his offensive attack a bit more - RUN THE DAMN BALL!! IT SETS UP THE PASS!!!

You say the Lions and Steelers like they have terrible defenses. First of all, those leads were 7 to 10 leads, not insurmountable for any average offense. Second, both teams have had their troubles, but each have talented playmakers across the board on offense. I agree that it's the right move to get Castillo out of that spot, because he was overmatched LAST season. You can easily keep him on as a coach somewhere else on the team. Now, a guy who was loyal to the Eagles and Reid is gone, and it's not like the justification is there, from what you are saying.

 

[steeljake]

When you give up a 7 and a 10 point lead on back to back weekends (losses to the Steelers and Lions - that should have been wins), you get canned, given the prior years performance. For those who don't know, Juan Castillo was a very good Offensive line coach for the Eagles. Why Andy Ried promoted him to Defensive Coordinator is still a mystery to me. I feel bad for Juan but he'll absolutely get another job - as an offensive line coach.

As for Andy Ried, he needs to win or he'll be following Juan out the door at season's end. Don't be surprised if Vick gets to sit down for a week or more. I saw all of the Eagle preseason games and the differernce between Nick Foles and Mike Vick was, at least, surprising. Now, preseason is just that, so I never get too excited, however, Foles just seemd to have a much better grasp of what the defense was trying to do and got the ball out of his hands much, much quicker than Vick. I like Vick as QB but he cannot continue if he is going to throw int's and fumble the ball 2 or 3 times per game. I wouldn't be opposed to Foles starting the Atlanta game - birds have a bye next week and some time to get him ready.

And I'll end by saying Andy Ried needs to balance his offensive attack a bit more - RUN THE DAMN BALL!! IT SETS UP THE PASS!!!

Ummm... yea firing him will stop Vick from throwing the ball to the other team...

 

[steeljake]

 

[NAHSTE]

since when do guys with names like Juan Castillo get coaching jobs in the NFL anyway ?

who's next..Carlos Ortega ?

Wow.

 

[ram29jackson]

Wow.

LOL its a joke numbnutts. i'm not a racist like Steeljake.

 

[shag773]

It's a shame that Castillio had to be the scapegoat in this, when his defense is in the top half of the league and the offense is ranked 31st. Alot of people on sports radio point to the fact the defense has given up 4th quarter leads in 5 of the 6 games this season (IIRC). Well no shit Sherlock, when your offense is scoring 16 fucking points a game your defense will have an almost impossible task of holding teams under that in a league that favors the offense to begin with. Although the 4th quarter of that Lions game was mind blowingly bad on both sides of the ball.

By the way, this isn't the last move he'll make during the bye...

 

[ThomasTomasz]

It's a shame that Castillio had to be the scapegoat in this, when his defense is in the top half of the league and the offense is ranked 31st. Alot of people on sports radio point to the fact the defense has given up 4th quarter leads in 5 of the 6 games this season (IIRC). Well no shit Sherlock, when your offense is scoring 16 fucking points a game your defense will have an almost impossible task of holding teams under that in a league that favors the offense to begin with. Although the 4th quarter of that Lions game was mind blowingly bad on both sides of the ball.

By the way, this isn't the last move he'll make during the bye...

I'm sure it won't be. The speculation bandwagon is already in full force that Vick is going to be benched, as the exact same phrasing was used to describe Vick's hold on the starting job as it was to describe Castillo and the DC position.

 

[shag773]

I'm sure it won't be. The speculation bandwagon is already in full force that Vick is going to be benched, as the exact same phrasing was used to describe Vick's hold on the starting job as it was to describe Castillo and the DC position.

Bingo..

 

[Point Blank]

This could be good news for the Falcons since they face Philly in 2 weeks. Heard he worked under Nolan before, so perhaps Nolan knows some of his tendencies and such.