The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

Well, as I wrote earlier in the day, now former defensive coordinator Juan Castillo was the least of the problems for the struggling Eagles. The Atlanta Falcons proved that today. Until the late part of the game, when it was already decided, I can't remember a time when the Eagles' defense was able to stop the Falcons' offense. Atlanta's first drive of the game lasted almost 9 minutes and their second drive propelled them to a 14-0 lead when the Eagles' offense had only possessed the ball for three plays. Philly had to play catch-up seemingly from the first snap of the game on their way to a 30-17 defeat. Rumor now has it that that head coach Andy Reid is thinking about benching Pro Bowl-quarterback Michael Vick in favor of rookie back-up Nick Foles. Reid must be on a choke collar if he's even thinking about doing that. The Eagles are 3-4, just fired their defensive coordinator a couple weeks ago scapegoating him as the central problem to the team. After a bye...

Shortly after the Philadelphia Eagles blew a 4th quarter lead against the Detroit Lions a couple weeks ago - their second such loss in consecutive weeks - defensive coordinator Juan Castillo was fired. Castillo took over the duties last year and his defense struggled in the first half of the season, before showing some signs of promise in the second half, especially the team's final four games. The club started off strong this year as well, winning three of their first four - in large part due to the play of their defense. However, it has felt as if the defense has regressed to the early stages of last year during their two recent losses to Pittsburgh and Detroit. Even in saying that, however, I don't feel this move was warranted. Overall, the Eagles' defense is ranked in the top half of the league in all major defensive categories. The problem has been with the offense and also the special teams. If anybody should have been fired, it should have been offensive coordinator ...