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On Tuesday the Philadelphia Eagles, coming to the obvious conclusion that the man to blame for their terrible offensive line play is the former offensive line coach, fired defensive coordinator Juan Castillo. Todd Bowles was named the new defensive coordinator; presumably Howard Mudd was asked first and said no.
The firing followed an embarrassing loss to a bad Detroit Lions team that dropped the Eagles to 3-3. After two straight losses marked by lackluster play from Michael Vick and the offensive line, awful special teams and especially poor clock management and team discipline, the natural move was to dismiss the defensive coordinator.
There's an old saying in sports, that offensive line-coaches-turned-defensive-coordinators are "hired to be fired." But the move was still shocking, and once again shows the continuous lack of commitment to winning under Jeffrey Lurie. A caller to the morning show last week said that if the Eagles one day win a Super Bowl, he'd boo Jeffrey Lurie at the parade, and it's hard to disagree.
Yes, I know the Eagles are 3-3 and not 0-6. I know there's a lot more football left to play, the Eagles have a long history of looking dead in the water and then making a late-season run, and they've never lost the game after a bye under Andy Reid. But none of that matters to me. The Eagles are doomed.
Fire Andy Reid. Fire Marty Mornhinweg and Bobby April, too. Bench Vick and put Lunchpail Philly Guy Nick Foles in, and trade a few draft picks for offensive line help. This is the NFL! This isn't a game!
Juan Castillo never should've been a defensive coordinator in the first place. And shame on the Eagles for throwing him under the bus.
Other Philadelphia sports takes:
- The Eagles last Sunday honored Ricky Watters at halftime. Watters named his autobiography "For Who, For What," which would be like if Donovan McNabb wrote a book and called it "I Didn't Know There Were Ties in the NFL."
- With the Yankees getting swept out of the playoffs, Thursday was the one night that even I would rather listen to WFAN. But now that Alex Rodriguez is reportedly available, I think the Phillies should make a run at him. They need a third baseman, and you can't argue with 647 homers.
Besides, with Ryan Howard, the Phils have already shown themselves willing to commit five years and nine figures to a guy in his 30s who's not putting up numbers like he used to. If the Yankees agreed to pay, say, half his salary, $15 million a year is quite a bargain.
Would you rather have A-Rod at third next year, or Placido Polanco? I rest my case.
- If you think Andrew Bynum is going to play a single minute for the Sixers this year, you're fooling yourself.
- I'm not sensing much excitement this fall about the Flyers. Do something, Paul Holmgren!
- Bill O'Brien referring to Facebook as "Spacebook" is by far the most embarrassing thing any Penn State football coach has ever done.
- The most tragic thing about a guy getting stabbed at a 49ers game in San Francisco is that the media says mean things about Philly fans.