3 Reasons You Should Still Be Worried About The Eagles

They may have been 7th rounders, but each have shown great ability and promise, enough that despite being 7th rounders they are still on the roster and an open wallet from office hasn’t replaced them with veterans. It’s not like 7th rounders never go on to have great careers.

The playcalling is the only (“only”) thing we have to watch out for. But the way the Eagles front office has been spending this season, we can always hope the coaching staff changes it up as well.

would’nt it be really surprising to use the run in passing situations, i mean, no one would ever see it coming.

Eagles really don’t give a crap about linebackers for a reason. Remember JJ’s final masterpiece, the 2008 Eagles defense? The defense was 3rd in points allowed, 3rd in total yards, 3rd in passing yards, and 4th in rushing yards allowed. Two of the starting linebackers on that team included Chris Gocong and Omar Gaither.

My biggest worry about the team is how quickly everything is going to gel together. You have a new defensive coordinator, new starting DT, new starting DE, one or two new starting linebackers, a new starting corner, a new starting strong safety, a new right guard, and a new right tackle. Oh, and they all have to learn the playbook within a month. At least the first month or so is going to show a LOT of inconsistencies.

1) Juan Castillo has been a defensive coach for the majority of his career. Recently he’s been an offensive line coach, granted – but he was one of the primary assistants to Jimmy Johnson. JJ would keep Castillo after hours to go over ways of making his blitz packages unblockable, which leads to the second point: Castillo understands, intimately, the nature of blocking. He recognizes exactly how and when to overload. And that’s not even getting into the motivational, passionate aspect, which I think we can all agree Castillo has the market cornered on.

Beyond that, credentials. Do you think the Eagles defensive coordinator position was one of the more sought after non-head coaching gigs in the business? I sure do. And I don’t think Andy Reid would have promoted Castillo had he thought anyone else that submitted themselves for consideration was the better candidate. He actually called Howard Mudd and told him, ’I’ll do this, but only if you come aboard’, because Reid didn’t want to settle for an offensive line coach any less than Castillo’s pedigree.

It’s something for rivals to point to as a delusional excuse for us to lose. And will he slip up? Sure. But all signs point to him being far more successful much sooner than any Cowboys or Giants fans are willing to admit.

2) A gaping maw is Dmitri Patterson at starting cornerback opposite Asante Samuel. Jamar Chaney, Moise Fokou, and Casey Matthews do not qualify.

Is it the weakest position on the field? No doubt. But every single one of them gives us reason to believe in them going forward (absent from the round they were drafted, which is about as empty an argument as you’ll ever hear or bring to a discussion) – Fokou has shown he has the energy and skillset to succeed in the system, Chaney has shown flashes that indicate he could flourish in the system, and Matthews has the bloodlines and respect of the coaches which, right now, is enough for me.

While the linebackers are inexperienced, they are not lacking in talent. Moving onward, then!

3) This is Andy Reid. He’s brought us to five NFC Championship games, and to the brink of a Super Bowl victory over the span of an 11-year period. We’ve missed the playoffs all of twice since the turn of the century. Need I remind you where the Eagles organization was when Andy came aboard? This is a non-issue.

Additionally, we were 5th in the league in rushing last year. This has a lot to do with Mr. Vick, granted, but it’s a dimension the oppositions have to account for all the same.

Truly, the only concern is the DeSean Jackson situation, and Jeremy Maclin’s health going forward. If Maclin looks as sharp as where he left off last season and Jackson comes to camp and swiftly renegotiates a contract that is good for both sides, I think we can grab a beer, find a recliner in front of an HDTV, and enjoy the show.

That Castillo is going to be that much of a liability? Has he not been scheming against pass rushes for years now? Do you honestly feel like no one else on the team of defensive coaches which happens to include Jim Washburn would ever say something like “We should blitz here” or “This is what I would do” and Castillo is going to stick his fingers in his ear and scream “I can’t hear you?”

Also about linebackers yeah they’re not great. Please provide me a time when we had fantastic linebackers and they helped us win. Carlos Emmons and young Trotter are the few I can think of and that’s been a while. With the pass rush from the front we have and the secondary we will be fine. Can a TE burn us? probably but how many times can they throw that before someone figures it out?

 People seriously need to relax and enjoy what is going to be an amazing season.

Our defense is DC proof.

Showing your age with some of those references. Good read though.

so congratulations for that. I think all of your points are valid to some extent, but I’m not overly worried about any of them at the moment. They’re the kind of concerns that every playoff caliber team has to consider and many have far bigger problems.

1. Castillo is an unknown right now, but Reid has been shown himself to be a good evaluator of coaching talent, apart from Seam McD, who was really the only viable option after JJ died. Plus Juan has coaching legend Jim Washburn and 5 Pro Bowlers on defence to help him out, making his job that much easier.

2. In the 4-3, linebackers are the one position group where you can lack elite talent and still have a great defence.

3. I like the way Andy loves to throw the ball,the most successful teams in recent years have had pass heavy offences, and he has been known to run the ball when the situation required (see the forth quarter in the first Giants game last year). The general strategy is sound, he perhaps needs greater willingness to change things up as the situation requires.

yea the LB’s are still a concern. same w/ the Safeties being young and Nate Allen recovering from knee surgery. I still believe we can win the SB this year and that we should AT LEAST make to the NFC title game but the Packers are still the team to beat. they haven’t really added anyone but they’re getting back like 12 or more players from IR last year. I still think we can beat them and finally win the big one, but I don’t think we’re the team to beat just yet…