Philadelphia Eagles: Firing Juan Castillo Will Change Very Little

After yet another disappointing loss that prompted Eagles head coach to declare post game that he was going to “tear things apart,” Philly defensive coordinator Juan Castillo was the first coaching casualty of the still young 2012 NFL season. Secondary coach Todd Bowles will accept the promotion to interim defensive coordinator.

While it is not really in argument that a change or a mix up of some sort needed to happen, I’m on the fence of thinking this will really change anything. Is Juan Castillo responsible for Michael Vick turning the ball over every other play? Is it his fault that the high dollar guys on offense can’t make a play in the clutch to save their lives? No.

Is it his fault that Nnamdi Asomugha has been exposed on a team with actual expectations? Err, maybe. But is that enough for him to be the fall guy for the Eagles third loss in three games? Apparently.

I’m having a hard time remembering the last time that a defensive coordinator was fired after a 3-3 start that saw his team fielding the 12th ranked defense in football. At only 20 points per game allowed, how are you going to fire your defensive coordinator? Well, you could argue the lack of a consistent pass rush. Through 6 games, the Eagles have tallied 7 sacks, which isn’t abysmal but isn’t what they were able to accomplish last season. The real reason this happened is because Philly has had a knack for blowing games late this year.

Other than the beating that Arizona gave them, Philadelphia has lost their other two games by a combined total of 5 points. And all three victories have been by a total of 4 points. This could very easily be a 5-1 football team without giving up leads late in games. That’s the only real reasons I can see that Castillo was relieved of duty.

Still, after just six games into the season, I cannot understand how this is justified. It hurts to lose one in the fashion that they did this past Sunday, especially headed into the bye week. But this just seems like a fall guy for Andy Reid to take the hot seat focus off of him. I’m not saying Andy threw him under the bus…but maybe I am thinking it.

To think that this will fix all of the other problems on the team is a mistake. Other than a quick interim position with the Dolphins after the firing of Sporano last year, he’s never done more than coach defensive backs. Perhaps this is his big break, I get that. But in the interim, don’t expect serious changes to the defensive scheme in Philadelphia. This late in the year, changing schemes, even at a bye, could be disastrous for a team who has a defense that is just a single yard per game from statistically being a top 10 defense in the NFL.

If anything, Andy Reid should focus on finding out how to get his quarterback to quit making stupid decisions in the clutch and turning the ball over. Maybe then he could think about who he’d like to hire as the new defensive coordinator next year instead of where he’ll be coaching at this time next year.