What Keeping Juan Castillo Means For The Eagles

"The only goal is to win the Super Bowl,"-Jeff Lurie, 8/4/2011

"Whatever it takes to try to get there, that's what we're going to do. I want the players to feel like that's the goal. If we fall short of that, then we didn't hit the goal. It's really that simple"-Joe Banner, 7/30/11

"We do this to bring a championship to the city of Philadelphia, to get the ring and that's why players play, that's why coaches coach"-Andy Reid, 1/31/12

It's majestic talk, really. And exactly what you'd want your team leaders to say. But for all the bluster, there is only one takeaway from the Eagles decision to retain Juan Castillo as the team's Defensive Coordinator, and that's this: Eagles brass is patently unserious about winning a Super Bowl title.

A team with serious championship aspirations does not hire a Defensive Coordinator who has never coached D in the first place...and it certainly doesn't perpetuate that mistake by bringing back said DC for a second season of on-the-job training. Especially when it was that defensive coordinator's inexperience that just torpedoed the 2011 campaign.

Juan Castillo, of course, has his apologists. Philadelphia Daily News columnist Rich Hoffman suggests that it's not Castillo's fault that he couldn't figure out how to successfully deploy 3 pro bowl cornerbacks (Seriously!). ESPN's Dan Graziano, while allowing that "there were times when Castillo looked overmatched as a playcaller", writes that it was really the lack of offseason that did Castillo in--there just was not enough time to incorporate new players and schemes (but look at how well they did down the stretch!). And Andy Reid predictably makes the same assertion, saying there were lots of 'moving parts' and that he thought it would take some time to come together.

I know we live in a short-attention-span society, but have we already forgotten the five blown 4th quarter leads? The failure to recognize that the defensive personnel was not equipped to run the "Wide 9" scheme during the season-killing four game losing streak in September and October? The folly of believing that overmatched rookie Casey Matthews was the answer at middle linebacker? The failure to utilize one of the league's few shutdown corners, Nmandi Asomugha, in the most common-sense way (i.e. putting him on the other team's best receiver)? The pathetic schemes that permitted John Freaking Skelton to lead an Arizona comeback at the Linc?

Let's unpack the pro-Castillo arguments. Regarding Rich Hoffman's dreamy, absurd assessment that Castillo was burdened with an untenable cornerback situation (i.e. having 3 pro bowlers): I'm positive that any real defensive coordinator would love to have the problem of figuring out how to utilize Asante Samuel, Nmandi Asomugha, and Dominique Rogers-Cromartie in the same system. And I don't think it's too presumptuous to say that an experienced DC could do so far more ably than Philly's career offensive line coach did.

And the Graziano/Reid assertion that the lack of an offseason was the root cause of Castillo's woes? This is a classic red herring. The root cause of Castillo's woes was the fact that he is simply ill-equipped to run a defense and should never have been hired to do so. Especially in light of the fact that the pending lockout was clearly going to hijack the offseason, hence guaranteeing Juan would have minimal time to get up to speed...

The simple fact is--coaching matters. We need to look no further than the Houston Texans for the antithesis of the Eagles situation on D. Unlike the Eagles, the Texans hired an accomplished Defensive Coordinator in Wade Phillips and moved from 30th in the league in Total Defense in 2010 to 2nd in the league in 2011. More importantly, the Texans record flipped from 6-10 to 10-6 despite a rash of injuries on both sides of the ball...and despite ‘having to' incorporate some talented new defensive players into a new system with minimal offseason workouts. Unlike Philadelphia, they were able to do so with success because they had an experienced defensive coordinator running the show. Coaching matters!

Other Castillo sympathizers like to point out that the Eagles finished the season ranked 8th in Total Defense this year...yet much of the marginal statistical improvement (Philly finished 12th in 2010) came against also-rans down the stretch, well after the season was in the tank. But don't take my word for it. Here's Jeff Lurie:

"We proved we could dominate the last four games of the year against teams that weren't that competitive. There's a lot to be said for the players coming together and the coaching staff holding this group together in a way that was impressive, but to hold onto that as the reason to be completely optimistic I think is fool's gold"

Hear that? Fool's gold.

And yet, Castillo remains. And despite Lurie's windy orations, no one has been held accountable for the Eagles disastrous 2011 campaign. Unless, of course, you considered fired defensive backs coach Johnnie Lynn to be the source of the Eagles defensive woes this season. (By all accounts Todd Bowles is a significant upgrade as a defensive backs coach; but when your problem is an overmatched defensive coordinator, upgrading a position coach is like taking Advil for a venereal disease--you may appease a few symptoms, but at the end of the day you've still got VD)

It is said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. And yet after this sh*tshow of season, Andy Reid, Jeff Lurie, and Joe Banner have committed to doing the same thing for 2012. And Eagles Nation is supposed to expect a different result?

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"I'm responsible for the whole shebang". Andy Reid, 1/31/12

You got that right, Andy.

Super Bowl, my ass.