And with the season 10 games in, I find myself curious as to the fortunes of last year's DC, versus this years DC.

and what do I find statistically?
Eagles defense (right now) is ranked 12th on yards allowed, and tied with Atlanta at 16th for points allowed.   We are 14th in rushing yards allowed and 11th in passing yards allowed, and our takeaway number is a modest but not terrible 16.

The new Carolina defense run by Sean McDermott is 27th in yards allowed, 31st in points allowed, 30th in rushing yards allowed and 17th in passing yards allowed.

The eagles defense got off to a horribly rocky start, and is by no means an elite defense yet.  But I can say without hesitation that the decision to jettison McDermott and bring on Juan Castillo seems to have been wise now that the smoke is starting to clear.

I think it's even skewed more severely as the eagles learned new line and wide 9 techniques on the fly coming into this year.   And as poorly as the linebackers have played, we've seen some folks step up and seem to be more adjusted to the scheme and the reads.

We're not "there" yet.   But I think Juan has more than answered the question of can he cut it running a defense in the NFL.

I expect our defense will get better each year from here on out.    The best sign of optimism?    Our defense has changed to adjust and improve.