Philadelphia Eagles: Should Juan Castillo Get His Walking Papers?

Philadelphia Eagles fans are not the most patient people during the best of times, but with a 1-3 record to start the season, head coach Andy Reid has been at the forefront of a lot of rumors questioning his job stability. To someone who has grown up in the Andy Reid era, this is the equivalent of heresy.

But is Reid really the big problem here? We all know that Reid is an offensive coach; he runs his offense (which is still damn good) the way he wants and he gets the job done. His record is exemplary to say the least.

The masterful work by him and the rest of the Eagles management landed some of the biggest players on the free agent market and a couple of high profile position coaches in Howard Mudd (who has the hard job of improving the offensive line) and Jim Washburn (the defensive line coach), both of whom are great at what they do.

But despite all of Andy Reid's great attributes, he is not (nor will he ever be) a defensive mastermind. He basically went out and got Jim Washburn to run his wide-nine defensive formation. He forgot, however, to get the team the talented middle linebacker necessary to protect against the run in the wide-nine.

He is also learning the hard way that Casey Matthews is not a good enough stop-gap to play the most vital position on that defense. So, now, because of all this Andy Reid may be on the chopping block. But wait, if Reid doesn't run the defense, then who is responsible for its bad play?

The answer is Juan Castillo, who somehow got the job after 20 years as an offensive coach. Castillo has very little experience on the defensive side and the only position he has any real experience is the defensive line (at Texas A&M University-Kingsville...from 1982 to 1985); and with Washburn on staff, he is really not needed there.

The problems don't stop there, as the entire defense got a face lift in the offseason and they need a steady hand calling the plays. That is not to mention that the entire defensive staff is also brand new and no defensive position coach is going to look at Juan Castillo like he can bring the defense together.

The Eagles defense is the biggest problem, and between the short offseason, the new players, the new coaches and all the expectations, Castillo is completely out of his depth and needs to be removed for the good of the team.

The Eagles need a veteran defensive coordinator right now—something Castillo simply cannot provide. Longtime Titans coach Jeff Fisher is the logical (and most popular) name being thrown around, but it seems as though the management want to stick with Castillo. It may work out, but not this season.

I want to end this by saying that if Andy Reid is fired at season's end and Juan Castillo is not (which may actually happen) I will fly to Philadelphia and punch owner Jeffrey Lurie in the face.