It's hard to really hate Juan Castillo. As bad as his defense as been and as much as some of us would like to see someone else running it, I doubt there's an Eagles fan anywhere that doesn't think he's a really good guy. He talked this week about how he's tried to stay positive through this tough season.
"You know what, I think we've all experienced this in our lives. I think that the thing for me is that I just look at all my life, you work hard, you do the things the right way, you do it with class, you treat people the right way, you outwork people, and as a coach you get your players to outwork your opponent, and try to do it the right way, treat people the right way, work hard, fundamentals, and then good things happen always happen. We're still in this, and I believe that. All my life it's happened that way, so you have to believe that because we've been here before in this position. Fundamentally, that's you're foundation. Just like you, you have a foundation. Meanwhile, when things get tough, that's what you go to. Nobody can break you, you know, because that's what you believe in, that's what's helped you become who you are."
Now, as good of a guy as Juan may be and as much as we may have all wanted to see a good guy succeed, the numbers really don't show almost any semblance of success. The team is giving up the 11th most points per game, they're middle of the leauge in terms of yards allowed, but where they really fail is takeaways. They are tied for 21st in the league in terms of takeaways. And while this is not entirely the fault of the defense, the Eagles have the worst turnover differential in the leauge.