Juan Castillo: Why Can't New Eagles Defensive Coordinator Switch Sides?

Only football places so great an emphasis on dividing sides. You play offense or you play defense. Most other sports require a player to partake in both, even if their defense can be described as a human turnstile.

The same goes for coaching. In football, you’re a defense guy or an offense guy. Other sports require coaches to teach both aspects of their sport.

Why has football decided to take a partisan approach? If you coach on the offensive side, do you not need to understand what the defense is doing, or vice versa? Then you do understand the schemes on the other side. Why is there a cult like division in the NFL that labels coaches A or B, O or D? If you can dissect and diagram what the other side is going to do, shouldn’t you be able to step in to a role on that side?

Coaching comes down to the execution on the field. These Eagles never executed for Sean McDermott, and nowhere was that more evident than in the red zone.

In Juan Castillo, the Eagles now have a coach that by all accounts guys play for. They go beyond what they think their limits are. Castillo grinds and polishes out his player’s best effort. Tell me how that is a bad thing for this defense. A defense with underachieving players who were high draft picks and undrafted or late round players who need to get the most out of their ability need a coach who can get the best from each guy.

Look at Rex Ryan. He gets the most from every player on his defense, especially subs and replacements. His Jets have made the AFC Championship game two years straight. If Castillo can bring his trademark energy to his whole defense, expect good things. Don’t expect a top 10 defense, not without personnel improvements. Andy Reid showed he wants to improve his defense when his first five picks were defenders, and nine of 13 overall picks were on defense. Expect a similar draft with the nine picks the Birds have. A free agent signing at one of the key spots is also likely.

Expect to see an improved defense. Castillo’s fire, combined with improved personnel and strong position coaching, should improve on last year’s product. Castillo knows the game. He knows how to inspire athletes. This will be his first experience calling a defense live, but McDermott excelled with X’s and O’s and he couldn’t get results.

When it comes down to it, football is about whether you can beat the guy across from you or not. Genius schemes don’t make that happen. Hard work and desire do. Juan Castillo has plenty of both, and the guys playing for him show it. If this switch is successful, and I think it will, don’t be surprised to see more guys crossing over when given a shot. A good coach is a good coach after all, on either side of the ball.