NOT-SO BREAKING NEWS: Eagles Hire Juan Castillo As Defensive Coordinator?!

February 2, 2011

I’m flabberfuckinggasted(*).

(*)Copyright!

I love Juan Castillo as an Offensive Line Coach – OFFENSIVE LINE COACH! How the hell can The Walrus defend this?! Well, you can listen to his half-assed, cliché-loaded press conference here. And here. FYI, Reid mentions that Castillo has always been a Defensive coach – which makes sense since he’s been the team’s Offensive Line for 13 years.

The move isn’t necessarily unprecedented. Reuben Frank (@roobeagles) pointed out on Twitter: “Notre Dame hired a defensive coordinator who had never coached defense. He was a college & NFL QB and TE. His name was Jim Johnson.” But that was in 1977. And not in the NFL.

Look, Juan Castillo is a really, really good coach and I am positive that he CAN coach the Defense… But that’s not what the Eagles need. This team desperately needs a defensive-minded mastermind, not just a guy that can coach up players (no matter how much Castillo claims to be a “defensive guy”). Can Juan Castillo seriously call the plays on Defense? Can he help find the right personnel for his fledgling Linebacker corps or a stud Defensive Tackle? Can he come up with a Defensive gameplan to dominate a playoff game, ala Rex Ryan versus the Patriots?

Then there’s the deeper issue here… Who exactly is making the decisions with the Eagles coaching staff? We all assume that Andy Reid has final say over all hires and fires, but ESPN’s Sal Paolantonio has been claiming that moves, particularly the McDermutt firing, came from over Reid’s head.  Is there an internal power struggle going on behind the scenes? Possibly, and we can certainly look at the Castillo promotion in three ways:

  • Eagles Management decided, with the looming work stoppage, to force an in-house promotion to save money – especially if they end up firing the entire staff following the 2011 season (let’s cross our fingers!). With their long history of fiscal responsibility (see: Cheapness), this seems more than likely.
  • Andy Reid, in his own stubborn way, decided to balk at The Billionaire and The Devil’s “supposed” demands to upgrade the Defense and instead promoted one of “his guys” to stick it to them. Not necessarily likely – doesn’t seem like The Walrus’ style – but if Sal Pal is right, who knows?
  • Juan Castillo forced Reid’s hand, as he was pining to move up to Offensive Coordinator when/if Marty Mornhinweg left for another job. Maybe Cincinnati contacted Castillo before they went after Jay Gruden and he threatened to leave unless he was promoted in some way? This seems pretty likely (and thanks @briangoldberg for bringing this up on Twitter).

The thing that really doesn’t make sense – and lends credence to the last point – is that the Eagles could have waited four days, interviewed Darren Perry or Winston Moss, and then still have made this move. The timing screams of desperation and is a clear sign that the team was horribly unprepared moving forward with this Defensive Coordinator search. Why even interview Jon Hoke and Joe Woods? Why flirt with Jim Mora, Jr. and Dennis Allen? Something is completely off about this whole situation.

Maybe Juan Castillo turns out to be the next Jim Johnson. Maybe he’s the next Sean McDermutt. Either way, the Eagles just made fools of themselves with a highly-public and unsuccessful Defensive Coordinator search, that ended in the inexplicable promotion of an Offensive Line Coach to Defensive Coordinator. No matter how it turns out down the line, the Eagles have egg on their face.

Can we please just get it over with and Fire The Walrus?

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Posted by Chase Wexler

Whisker Wednesday

February 2, 2011

Welcome to yet another wet, wild Whisker Wednesday! A lot has happened so far this week in Eagles Nation – including the completely unsurprising news that Michael Vick will receive the team’s Franchise Tag and Kevin Kolb will be shopped (more on this later today). Also, the Eagles made an actual Public Relations move, choosing to not raise ticket prices for next season (though if they made it further in the playoffs that probably would have been a different story). For now, let’s get right into it…

The David Akers Drama
A lot has been made this week about Andy Reid’s handling of David Akers in the aftermath of the playoff loss to the Packers, particularly since it was revealed that Akers’ six-year-old daughter was undergoing surgery to remove a potentially cancerous cyst. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Akers family.

For what it’s worth, Andy Reid shouldn’t be criticized for “throwing Akers under the bus.”

Yes, he made specific comments about the kicking game in both the press conference following the game and his day-after conference – offhandedly making a comment about only losing by five while leaving six points on the field. But if anyone should be blamed for the way the kicker performed on Sunday, January 9, it should be the Head Coach.

Forget about Akers’ missed 41-yarder in the first quarter – or his track-record of inconsistency kicking in the Linc – Reid should never have put his kicking team on the field for the play in question in the first place. The Eagles had a fourth-and-one at Green Bay’s 16 yard-line, down eleven points with about ten minutes to play. They were averaging 3.9 yards per carry and were actually succeeding in short-yardage situations… But still chose to kick. Even if Akers makes the field goal, the Eagles still trail by eight and are playing to tie, not to win. Guess who gets the blame for that?

Reid put Akers in a position to fail. Sure, a case could be made that Akers should have held himself out of the game, but what professional athlete (aside from Jay Cutler) does that? If Andy Reid had a Championship-mentality, he would have pounded the ball up the middle on that fourth-and-1 play and stuck it to the Packers. Instead, he sent a reeling David Akers onto the field and rest is history.

Should Akers be criticized for his performance? Not necessarily. He was dealing with deep personal feelings, and even if you’ve experienced something similar, you have no idea how those thoughts affected him. Some players thrive on tragedy (see: Favre, Brett and Reed, Ed). Others don’t. Should Reid have been more sensitive? Maybe. But we don’t know what really happened behind-closed-doors leading up to the game.

Again, if Andy had gone for the kill, rather than playing for the tie, maybe this whole point would be moot.

And the Defensive Coaching Clusterfuck Continues…
Joe Woods. Jon Hoke. At this point the Eagles Defensive Coordinator position comes down to Plans F and G.

Not a good start to drastically rebuilding a defense that gave up a franchise-record 31 touchdowns through the air. Though I’m still holding out hope for Darren Perry – the only Defensive Backs Coach the Eagles haven’t interviewed yet and a guy I singled out weeks ago (along with the Jets’ Mark Carrier) – this is becoming ridiculous.

One of the strengths of Andy Reid over the course of the past 13 years has been his ability to go into an offseason with a plan in place and execute that plan. Whether it has been big Free Agent targets, coaching moves, draft strategy – the Front Office typically gets their business settled early and easily (though the outcomes haven’t had the same consistency).  But this offseason so far has been a complete mess…

Firing and hiring coaches with no rhyme or reason. Interviewing any defensive coaching name they can get their hands on. They’re scrambling and it’s noticeably uncharacteristic. Clearly the plan was to simply install Dick Jauron at Coordinator, making for a seamless transition in a very uncertain offseason, but that blew up in their face. Now the team is stuck with whatever coach is willing to take the job.

ESPN’s Sal Paolantonio made a very interesting point yesterday on Mike Missanelli’s show on 97.5 The Fanatic… There is uncertainty in the league and with the Eagles. Coaches with good jobs, working for good organizations, won’t be so quick to uproot their families and move, partially due to the CBA issues, but mostly because they don’t want to take a job with a Head Coach that might not be there after this next season.

Now Sal Pal has mentioned his belief that this will be Andy’s last year in Philadelphia, barring a Super Bowl(*). But this goes deeper. Would coaches really not try to advance their careers solely because Andy Reid’s future may be in doubt? I find that hard to believe. If you’re a Defensive Coordinator in the NFL and you lose your job because of the Head Coach, chances are you’re getting another gig on the same level. Hell, even Sean McDermutt is still a Defensive Coordinator(**). And it’s not like they’d be taking a bad job. The Eagles (as much as it pains me to say it) are one of the top organizations in the league, the Offense has the ability to be fantastic, and the Defense can only improve, especially on a talent-level. That should be a sought-after job.

(*)And Fire The Walrus Nation rejoices!

(**)By the way… Somebody asked me: What happens if McDermutt succeeds in Denver? Well, it would prove that the personnel on this Eagles team is definitely below-average; that Jim Johnson really does produce top-notch coaching talent; and that Andy Reid is at fault, once and for all.

Speaking of Mike Missanelli
I want to give a special thank you to Mikey Miss for plugging our little space on the interwebs yesterday and discussing Monday’s piece on Andy Reid’s regular season record splits (hopefully audio of it is uploaded soon at 975TheFanatic.com).

Yesterday was a record-setting day here at FireTheWalrus.com and we welcome all of the new members of Fire The Walrus Nation! You won’t be disappointed… at least until the 2011 season ends with an interception and no Super Bowl.

Another wet Whisker Wednesday is just getting started. Check back later today for more icy fun!

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Posted by Chase Wexler