In the final month of the regular season, with any realistic possibility of making the playoffs gone, the focus of conversation in the Eagles locker room shifted to, What happens next?
When a season unravels as badly as this one, it is only natural to assume there will be changes. With the Eagles, most of the questions revolved around the coaches and the growing public sentiment that owner Jeff Lurie should clean house and start over.
The players were quick to rally to the defense of head coach Andy Reid. Often, they didnt wait for the question to be asked. They would voice their support for Reid and scoff at the call for his dismissal. It was predictable to a point, but it was worth noting how often the players took the initiative.
A player would be answering a question about something else entirely and almost in mid-sentence, he would interject a comment about Reid and how he is a great coach and does not deserve to take the fall for the disappointing season.
Agree or disagree, there seemed to be a genuine conviction in what the players were saying. I didnt see the same support for the other coach in the crosshairs: defensive coordinator Juan Castillo.
Where the players were upfront in their support of Reid, there was a reserve in their support of Castillo. I dont recall anyone volunteering an endorsement. If you asked a specific questionShould Juan be back?the players would say yes, but thats what you would expect.
The point is you had to draw it out, which made me wonder.
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Now that the decision has been finalized and Castillo is back for another season running the defense, you will read comments from players about how this was the right move and Juan is the best man for the job, but it is party-line stuff. These are bouquets delivered after the fact. I dont put much stock in it.
I think back to those long pauses and carefully chosen words in response to questions posed in December. That told me the players had their doubts about Castillo. My guess is they still have their doubts.
Maybe they will come around. Maybe they are willing to give Castillo the benefit of the doubt and see if he can be better with a years experience and a full off-season of mini-camps to put his system in place. At this point, they dont have much choice. Thats the hand they have been dealt.
Maybe this will work. We will learn that down the road. Im just saying all the happy talk about how everyone is on board with the decision and believes that status quo is the way to go is so much spin.
I have to believe most players, while they did their best to be politically correct in their answers about Castillo late in the season, really believed there would be a change. When a team breaks down as badly as the Eagles did last season, it is only natural to assume there will be a shakeup and the fact that Reid talked to former assistant Steve Spagnuolo about rejoining the defensive staff indicates he was thinking along those lines.
But in the end, the shakeup consisted of firing Johnnie Lynn as defensive backfield coach and replacing him with Todd Bowles. While that probably is an improvementBowles is a fine coach with excellent credentialsare we really to believe all the problems with the defense were solely the fault of Johnnie Lynn? I dont think so.
I understand part of Reids thinking. He does not want to change defensive coordinators for the third time in four years. As Reid said numerous times in Tuesdays press briefing, there were a lot of moving parts on defense last season, too many. He wants to give the coaching staff and roster a chance to settle. OK, I understand that.
It is true the defense came up with some things late in the season that showed promise. There were new blitz packages and personnel groupings that were different and effective. If they were Castillos doing, he deserves credit. Reid probably sees that as something the coordinator can build on. I get that, too.
But there is danger is putting too much emphasis on the final month of the season. Reid referenced it several times, how much better the Eagles played in winning their last four games. But if you watched the tape and counted the number of breakdowns in coverage, it was not a pretty picture. The defense benefited from playing some lousy quarterbacks and it distorted the results. It should not, however, distort the evaluation.
Were the Eagles better defensively in the final month? Yes. But were they so much better that now you can say they have things figured out? No, they werent.
Reid said he offered Spagnuolo a place to land after his firing in St. Louis. But saying you will take someone back is different from saying you really want them back. If Reid felt adding Spagnuolo was critical to making the defense better, he should have pursued him more aggressively. He should have made Spagnuolo an offer he couldnt refuse. If it was a matter of money, well, there is no salary cap for coaches.
Steve and Juan together would be dynamite, Reid said.
Well, Andy, you should have done more to make it happen. Instead, Spagnuolo went to New Orleans and Castillo stays on, albeit with a better lieutenant in Bowles. Will he be a better coordinator this season? For Reids sake, hed better be.
E-mail Ray Didinger at viewfromthehall@comcast.net