More on the state of the Eagles later this week, but the news just broke that the Eagles have fired Juan Castillo in the wake of that devastating fourth-quarter collapse against the Lions on Sunday. Secondary coach Todd Bowles was promoted to take his spot. A couple random knee-jerk reactions to this:
- This smells of a move of (warranted) desperation on the part of a head coach who sees his job in serious peril.
- Todd Bowles – who was the interim head coach for the Dolphins last year and who received several head coaching interviews this offseason – might be the next Eagles head coach.
- I have some very, very cautious optimism that this will mean a total readjustment to the defensive scheme vis a vis Nnamdi. Can we FINALLY use this SUPREME talent the RIGHT WAY?!?!?!?!? PLEASE… For three quarters yesterday, we saw just how INCREDIBLY good this guy is when you put him on one receiver man-to-man. He eliminated the best receiver on the planet. Then, they took him off Megatron in the fourth quarter and he had over 100 yards…IN A QUARTER.
- Wasn’t this plan doomed to fail from the beginning? How can you promote your offensive line coach to defensive coordinator, then hire the best and most respected D-Line coach in Jim Washburn one year and then the hot, up-and-coming, head-coach-in-waiting Secondary coach in Todd Bowles the next year? How can you have these strong personalities under a guy who has never coached on that side of the ball and not expect dissent? Just a really poorly conceived idea from the jump.
- Maybe the loss Sunday has a silver lining, because going into a bye is the best time to make a major change, so this may have been the only time they would have done this. Needless to say, this defense is WAY, WAY, WAY too talented to blow consecutive fourth-quarter leads and be pushing the franchise record for most consecutive plays without registering a sack.
- One more thing: Fight, fight, fight for the Cherry and the White…Yes, Mr. Bowles is a Temple Owl!
