Sunday, November 13, 2011

Phil Sheridan's Latest Column Is Slightly Mis-Informed

There are some people that absolutely despite Phil Sheridan.  Personally, I think there are worse columnists in the Philadelphia sports media than him (*cough*cough*Jack McCaffery *cough*cough*), but the column he wrote after the Eagles loss to the Cardinals is by far and away one of the most ridiculous pieces of writing I have ever written.  Not that I am intentionally getting away from directly talking about the Eagles, okay, never mind, I am, I am intentionally getting away from directly talking about the Eagles second real all-round poor performance of the season, but as poor as the Eagles were today, this column from Phil Sheridan is worse.  After the jump, a FJM style breakdown (Sheridan's words in italics).


With this, his Eagles' latest new low, the issue stops being whether Andy Reid should return for a 14th season as head coach. He should not.

Ignoring the awkward grammar, Sheridan says the issue should not be whether to return for a 14th season.  And then he takes a stance on it.  Okay.  Normally when some says something stops being an issue, the focus goes elsewhere, not one side of the issue.  But maybe I got different English lessons.

After blowing a fourth-quarter lead for the fifth time, after falling to 3-6 with a roster full of expensive stars, after letting John Flipping Skelton outplay Michael Vick - after all that, the issue has become whether Reid can give owner Jeff Lurie even the flimsiest pretense for defying reason and bringing him back for 2012.

Uh, because of a decade of near consistent success, something almost impossible to do in the NFL?  This is a bad year for the Eagles, and it certainly has not been Reid's best, but easy there, there is a "flimsiest pretense for defying reason and bringing him back for 2012."

We really are in end-of-the-line Ray Rhodes and Rich Kotite territory now. That is stupefying, given Reid's accomplishments from 2000 through 2008, but it is still true. This is what it looks like when the bottom falls out.

So we are ignoring the 2009 Philadelphia Eagles and the 2010 Philadelphia Eagles, both of whom made the playoffs.  Now I know someone's clever retort is going to be "But they lost in the wild card round both times!" to which my reply is the NFL Playoffs are largely a crapshoot (though not quite as much so as MLB) and one game should never be the basis of judging a coach's tenture.  Not to mention in the past two-and-a half years, we have seen the evolution of Mike Vick into a top QB in the NFL.  We'll talk much more about him in a moment.

This little episode with wide receiver DeSean Jackson lent an air of utter dysfunction to a season that had already become an embarrassment. Jackson is a grown man who should have been at his Saturday morning meeting, but that is hardly the point. Beginning with the decision to draft a guy everyone knew was as mercurial in temperament as in talent, the Eagles have managed this situation in such a way that this was inevitable.

It lent an air of dysfunction because he had a mental lapse and missed a meeting?  DeSean Jackson is playing for a contract, he'd be mad to intentionally miss a meeting.  And did Phil Sheridan just question the decision to draft DeSean Jackson?  Sure, he has not had a great idea, but he has been vital to the Eagles offense since his drafting and as we'll see, even Mr. The Eagles Should Not Have Drafted DeSean agrees with this.

It's not exactly wrong of Reid to bench a player in order to set an example. But to bench this particular player, with all the issues surrounding his contract and how his production is affecting his value and how teammates like Steve Smith are earning scads more than he is? When some of these players clearly have quit on plays earlier in the season with no apparent consequence?

I do not have strong feelings one way or the other on benching players for not attending a meeting other than that a coach should keep it consistent.  If Derek Landri or Colt Anderson missed a meeting, I would expect them to receive the same punishment/non-punishment.  And if I know Andy Reid like I think I know him, I think he would be consistent should this same situation arise with another player, but that is conjecture and speculation on my part.  And "quit on plays earlier in the season with no apparent consequence?"  Does Sheridan have any evidence that players "quit" on plays?  DRC had an effort mistake last Monday and Steve Smith had an effort mistake today, but it does not mean the players quit or have quit.

It just smells bad. And that stench carried over to Sunday's loss to the Cardinals, the latest in this season of shocking new lows.


Did Sheridan ever stop to think that maybe this putrid smell was just somebody farting?  Who's to say Todd Herremans did not have some bad black bean soup last night?

This Arizona team was 2-6 on merit, traveling to the East Coast for a game that started before noon according to the players' body clocks. They were without Kevin Kolb, leaving a second-year man from Fordham to start at QB.


A team's W/L record is not always a merit-based statistic, especially in the NFL where a season is only 16 games long, although the Cardinals record is rightfully poor this season.  And said second-year man from Fordham did not have a particularly strong game, either.

They were ranked among the worst teams in the league in pass defense. The biggest danger going in was that the Eagles could win without changing anyone's opinion of them.
Can you make sense of that last sentence?

But to lose? And to look utterly clueless on both sides of the ball? How does anyone explain that?

Explainable through the fact that, yes, the Eagles did play a bad football game today.  Unfortunately for the Eagles, it just so happened to occur in the midst of a season where Lady Luck has been nothing short of Cruella De Vil in her spite of the Philadelphia football team.  Consider this, at 3-6, the Eagles carry a +17 point differential, good for 2nd best in the NFC East.

"It's my responsibility to make sure that everybody is on the same page," Reid said. "Obviously, by this performance, that didn't look very good. That's my responsibility. I don't know about disconnects and those types of things, but I have to do a better job, along with my guys."


It drives fans crazy that Reid repeats such things after every loss. It sounds especially empty now. That's because the problems and failures this year are the direct results of Reid's decision making. The Eagles aren't losing because of injuries or bad luck or anything else. They are losing because of poor decisions that seemed obvious to anyone outside the Eagles' NovaCare bubble who was paying attention.

Now imagine this.  The Philadelphia Eagles have a head coach who in post-game press conferences after losses, consistently singles out players for poor performances, blames the refs, and curses out the media at every opportunity he gets, i.e. someone the opposite of Andy Reid.  Do you know what the reaction to said head coach would be?  HE DOES NOT MAKE HIMSELF ACCOUNTABLE!!!!!!!!  FIRE HIM NOW!!!!  It is a double-edged sword where as a head coach, you can't win.  If you always blame yourself in press conferences, you risk being too bland or repeating the same tired cliches ad nauseam with the media wanting every mistake Reid confessed to never happen again.  But if you go the other way and don't blame yourself, you risk losing your locker room on the strange count that players do not like being thrown under the bus, and criticisms from not making yourself accountable for mistakes you made.

It was Reid who made Juan Castillo his defensive coordinator. One of the presumed candidates, Pittsburgh assistant Ray Horton, was hired by the Cardinals instead. That was his defense embarrassing Reid's offense all afternoon.


Ray Horton was a presumed candidate?  Do a Google search.  This comes up in a total of one report, which cited Ray Horton as an "interesting name that has not been mentioned as frequently" and "a name to keep in mind."  Hardly a presumed candidacy.  Do we know if the Eagles ever interviewed him?

It was Reid who married Jim Washburn's unique-for-a-reason defensive line approach to woefully mismatched linebackers and safeties.


Which is why you remedy this in the off-season by keeping Washburn and focusing on picking up (specifically) linebackers who can tackle.

It was Reid who threw money at Nnamdi Asomugha, Vince Young, Jason Babin and Smith instead of Jackson, a player who had actually won games for him.

Howie Roseman is the Eagles' general manager, not Andy Reid.  The problems here.  Nnamdi is being used incorrectly by Juan Castillo, Vince Young was brought in to be a backup, Jason Babin is having a very solid season, having already recorded 9 sacks.  And Steve Smith, well, there's one disappointment.  But there is no long-term commitment to him as he is only a one year deal, so his signing is hardly something to completely crucify the front office for.

It was Reid who committed real gold to Vick based on a few fool's-gold games last season. In his last 16 games, Vick has thrown 18 interceptions. The Eagles are 7-9 in those games, with Vick failing on fourth-quarter drives in five of them.


The most interceptions Donovan McNabb ever threw in a 16-game season with the Eagles was 13.

As the Cardinals made clear, defenses have figured out how to limit this guy and, with him, this offense.


Well here it is.  His critique of Mike Vick.  What Phil Sheridan will not tell you is entering into this Sunday's game with Arizona, Mike Vick was 4th most accurate passer in the NFL according to Pro Football Focus's Accurate Percentage which takes completion percentage and modifies it to eliminate spikes, throwaways, and receiver drops.  Unfortunately, I do not have the ability to give you the accuracy percentage for Mike Vick's performance today, but I can tell you that from watching it, his throws were not crisp, he was missing receivers, and he did not have a lot of help from his receivers.  My gut would tell me his accuracy percentage would decline after this, though because I have not done the work I cannot say for certain.  But from observations, this most certainly appeared to be the worst game Vick has played this season.  Also, 16/34 for 128 yards, no TDs and 2 INTs is ugly no matter how you slice it.  Vick did have a bad game, but he has not had a bad season.  While interceptions in the last 16 games may be alarming, if you go back and look at several of the interceptions he had in the beginning of the season, you will find that a sizable amount of them were tipped balls that can only be considered the product of luck.  His 2 picks today were well deserved, but again, this was Vick's 1st all-round poor game of what has been a very solid season for him.  Even if Phil Sheridan will never admit that.

"Our goal was to be really physical," former Eagles linebacker Stewart Bradley said. "The kind of blueprint that Chicago laid out [last week]. You can attack him with good old-fashioned physical football across the board. It wore on him."

Especially when, through benching Jackson and failing to give DeSean McCoy enough carries, Reid and his staff minimized two of the Eagles' best weapons.

"It made things a little easier not having to worry about that deep threat," Arizona cornerback A.J. Jefferson said.

While I believe LeSean McCoy should have gotten significantly more than 14 carries today (especially when it became obvious Vick was not having a good game) and Andy Reid erred in that situation,  I have never seen DeSean McCoy play so I cannot give a proper analysis on whether or not he should have been any carries in today's game.  Also, didn't Phil Sheridan just infer the Eagles should have never drafted DeSean Jackson?  Now he is inferring he shouldn't have been benched?  Strange logic. 

But the Jackson benching reverberates even more off the field. It was almost quaint, Reid trying to set the tone the way he did early in his tenure.

That was a long time ago now. Reid has let his program drift away from the high-character standards he set early on. He now has a team that plays soft and that seems more interested in contracts than contact. His ship appears rudderless, and there's no one to blame but the captain.


Yeah.  It's almost as if the Terrell Owens saga never happened.  What we have here is the foundation of a future narrative that will soon read, "Reid started out strong on high-character guys, but then he became soft."  Terrell Owens signed in 2004.  The controversy played out in 2005.  That was 6 years ago.  If Reid ever drifted away from "high character guys," he did that a long time ago.  But if you look at Reid's track records, Terrell Owens is the exception, not the rule for Andy Reid.  Also, if Reid has gone soft on character, how does one explain the off-the-field transformation of Mike Vick?  It could have all happened in prison, but by and large, Vick has stayed away from any meaningful trouble since joining the Eagles, something that could not be said about his time in Atlanta, even before the dog-fighting scandal.
It's funny.  Phil Sheridan goes on and on and on and on about the Eagles' problems, but only once does Sheridan mention Juan Castillo, and that was just to say that Reid hired him.  If you look at the deep pass to Larry Fitzgerald that set up the game-winning touchdown, you will see that Larry Fitzgerald was left to be covered one-on-one by........rookie safety Jaiquawn Jarrett, playing in only his 4th NFL game.  Nnamdi Asomugha and Asante Samuel were both healthy and on the field for this play, and Jarrett's alone with Fitzgerald.  Now all the credit in the world to Larry Fitzgerald who made a great catch there, but how do you have a rookie safety covering Larry Fitzgerald?  One-on-one.  Alone.  On the outside.  Up by 3 with 2:55 to go.  Inexplicable scheme from Juan Castillo.  That is what needs to change.  Not Andy Reid.  Even with his penchant for ignoring running backs no matter how good they may be, Andy Reid has been a consistently successful coach in the NFL.  While some may associate Reid with Castillo by association for hiring him, it is very rare that a coordinator gets fired during the middle of a season.  Let's see what happens in the off-season.  The Eagles have had by-and-large an unlucky season with one game that could legitimately be considered terrible all the way around (Cardinals).  Their true talent level is probably somewhere in the middle of the pack in the NFL this year.  Last week's DVOA from Football Outsiders certainly seems to suggest that.  

Despite what Phil Sheridan says, given history, both recent and not-so-recent, this season is hardly grounds for firing Andy Reid.  And no, I do not believe a head coach should be fired because of one bad defensive coordinator hiring, especially if Reid relieves him of his duties in the off-season.

10 comments:

  1. Sorry, the only thing worse than the Eagles are the arguments you present in this blog. You are part of a stubborn, dying bunch of people who still believe Andy Reid can win a championship. Do you watch the movie Titanic and get shocked when the ship sinks every time? Kind of like that...

    A response to your blog (multiple posts):

    "Ignoring the awkward grammar, Sheridan says the issue should not be whether to return for a 14th season. And then he takes a stance on it. Okay. Normally when some says something stops being an issue, the focus goes elsewhere, not one side of the issue. But maybe I got different English lessons."

    Ignoring your own awkward English ("some says" ?), Sheridan's thought is pretty clear. The debate over whether Reid should return is OVER. I believe reasonable people no longer think he SHOULD return. The real debate is whether Lurie is stupid/greedy/disengaged enough to bring him back IF this team goes under .500. That is what makes this exciting

    "Uh, because of a decade of near consistent success, something almost impossible to do in the NFL? This is a bad year for the Eagles, and it certainly has not been Reid's best, but easy there, there is a "flimsiest pretense for defying reason and bringing him back for 2012."

    The Patriots, Colts, and Steelers are three teams who have had pretty consistent success over the last decade. Do you know what those teams have that Reid's Eagles don't? At some point, you realize the ship is going to hit an iceberg and won't make it, no matter how well it sails before that. If that's the case, what's the point of continuing it? I'll give him credit for his successes (regular season record, preparation) and bash him for his negatives (clock management, game day adjustments/coaching, pure arrogance, abandoning the run, etc). I'll also tell you the negatives outweigh the positives. I'd rather get rid of this "consistent success and subsequent failure" and hire someone new to give the team a CHANCE to win a superbowl.

    "So we are ignoring the 2009 Philadelphia Eagles and the 2010 Philadelphia Eagles, both of whom made the playoffs. Now I know someone's clever retort is going to be "But they lost in the wild card round both times!" to which my reply is the NFL Playoffs are largely a crapshoot (though not quite as much so as MLB) and one game should never be the basis of judging a coach's tenture. Not to mention in the past two-and-a half years, we have seen the evolution of Mike Vick into a top QB in the NFL. We'll talk much more about him in a moment."

    One game isn't the basis of judging Fat Andy's judgment. 13 years of championship failure are! In 2008, they made the playoffs by luck (Tampa losing to Oakland) but had a decent run (this time hitting an Arizona berg). In 2009 and 2010, they didn't even make it past the first round. Don't give me that crap shoot garbage. Otherwise, Marty Schottenheimer would still be a head coach.
    As for Vick being a great QB...LOL? We'll get to that below.

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  2. "Did Sheridan ever stop to think that maybe this putrid smell was just somebody farting? Who's to say Todd Herremans did not have some bad black bean soup last night?"

    I think the smell was the Eagles laying a giant, stinking shit pile at home against a hapless Arizona team. It still stinks today.

    "A team's W/L record is not always a merit-based statistic, especially in the NFL where a season is only 16 games long, although the Cardinals record is rightfully poor this season. And said second-year man from Fordham did not have a particularly strong game, either."

    Fair enough about schedule not reflecting merit, but your last post on the Eagles compared all their opponents to the St. Louis Cardinals (not based on RECORD I hope?). Also you made predictions based on the strength of the Giants, Cowboys and Eagles upcoming schedule (what is this analysis based on). By any stretch, Arizona is NOT a good team. Other than sharing the same mascot, these Arizona Cardinals are in no way comparable to the St. Louis CARDINALS.

    "They were ranked among the worst teams in the league in pass defense. The biggest danger going in was that the Eagles could win without changing anyone's opinion of them.
    Can you make sense of that last sentence?"

    Sure, will be happy to. Going into this game, a win was absolutely expected. The real question was whether Philly would win CONVINCINGLY enough to give people hopes that they could still make a playoffs. Therefore, a loss was shocking to many.

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  3. "Explainable through the fact that, yes, the Eagles did play a bad football game today. Unfortunately for the Eagles, it just so happened to occur in the midst of a season where Lady Luck has been nothing short of Cruella De Vil in her spite of the Philadelphia football team. Consider this, at 3-6, the Eagles carry a +17 point differential, good for 2nd best in the NFC East."

    2 out of 4 in the NFC East. Wow, yippee. Here's another stat: the eagles have blown more home 4th quarter leads than any team in NFL history. Real teams know how to finish. Kotite's team didn't know how finish (the season). Therefore, few remember his 7-2 starts. It is the W that ultimately counts.

    "Now imagine this. The Philadelphia Eagles have a head coach who in post-game press conferences after losses, consistently singles out players for poor performances, blames the refs, and curses out the media at every opportunity he gets, i.e. someone the opposite of Andy Reid. Do you know what the reaction to said head coach would be? HE DOES NOT MAKE HIMSELF ACCOUNTABLE!!!!!!!! FIRE HIM NOW!!!! It is a double-edged sword where as a head coach, you can't win. If you always blame yourself in press conferences, you risk being too bland or repeating the same tired cliches ad nauseam with the media wanting every mistake Reid confessed to never happen again. But if you go the other way and don't blame yourself, you risk losing your locker room on the strange count that players do not like being thrown under the bus, and criticisms from not making yourself accountable for mistakes you made."

    Reid won't throw people under the bus (unless they are David Akers in a contractual dispute and dealing with his child having cancer). But here's a question: WHy does not throwing players under the bus mean he has to repeat the same tired cliches? Why won't someone follow up and ask about why he's had to be doing a better job for 13 years? What are the consequences of him failing to meet his responsibilities? Why does he keep saying the same thing over and over again without results? Instead of this arrogant buffoon snipping at the media after a loss, maybe he could show real passion by yelling at himself (not the refs, not the players) and showing real emotion.

    "Which is why you remedy this in the off-season by keeping Washburn and focusing on picking up (specifically) linebackers who can tackle."

    Good thing this is the first time the Eagles ever had problems with linebackers. Never was an issue before until this year otherwise our savior would have surely fixed it. Just like the problem with the Titanic, the real fix is to add more deck chairs.

    "Howie Roseman is the Eagles' general manager, not Andy Reid. The problems here. Nnamdi is being used incorrectly by Juan Castillo, Vince Young was brought in to be a backup, Jason Babin is having a very solid season, having already recorded 9 sacks. And Steve Smith, well, there's one disappointment. But there is no long-term commitment to him as he is only a one year deal, so his signing is hardly something to completely crucify the front office for."

    If you think Reid has no part of the front office decisions, you're insane.

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  4. "Well here it is. His critique of Mike Vick. What Phil Sheridan will not tell you is entering into this Sunday's game with Arizona, Mike Vick was 4th most accurate passer in the NFL according to Pro Football Focus's Accurate Percentage which takes completion percentage and modifies it to eliminate spikes, throwaways, and receiver drops. Unfortunately, I do not have the ability to give you the accuracy percentage for Mike Vick's performance today, but I can tell you that from watching it, his throws were not crisp, he was missing receivers, and he did not have a lot of help from his receivers. My gut would tell me his accuracy percentage would decline after this, though because I have not done the work I cannot say for certain. But from observations, this most certainly appeared to be the worst game Vick has played this season. Also, 16/34 for 128 yards, no TDs and 2 INTs is ugly no matter how you slice it. Vick did have a bad game, but he has not had a bad season. While interceptions in the last 16 games may be alarming, if you go back and look at several of the interceptions he had in the beginning of the season, you will find that a sizable amount of them were tipped balls that can only be considered the product of luck. His 2 picks today were well deserved, but again, this was Vick's 1st all-round poor game of what has been a very solid season for him. Even if Phil Sheridan will never admit that."

    Well here it is, the inane defense of conVick. Two can play the interception game. Yes, some of the picks this year were not his fault. However, some of his early 2010 success was also due to defenders dropping easy INTs (e.g. Lions, Jacksonville game). On the whole, the stats balance out. conVick is a QB who can have good games (especially with weapons), but who can be covered by a prepared defense. Even in 2010 the Giants in the first game (and 3 quarters of the 2nd game) showed the league how to limit Vick. Since that time, most defenses have adjusted to the point where even a loser Arizona defense (one of the worst pass defenses in the NFL) made Vick look like mediocre. Face it, one the shit-filled foundations of this arrogant organization now collapsing is the long term deal for this guy. He is not an elite, let alone a great QB. He is very elusive and can run like no other QB, but he's not what people deluded themselves into thinking.
    However, worse QBs than Vick have won the Superbowl (see Trent Dilfer). The real problem is lack of defense and Reid's stupidity on offense. Instead of CONSISTENTLY utilizing the greatest weapon they have (#25), Reid goes back to his normal bag of tricks. REID WILL NEVER WIN A SUPERBOWL.

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  5. As for Vick's personal life, he did enough to get a contract. You may continue to believe he is really reformed and I will believe the opposite. I've seen enough of his comments to know he is an asshole deep down still blaming others for his tragedy.


    "While I believe LeSean McCoy should have gotten significantly more than 14 carries today (especially when it became obvious Vick was not having a good game) and Andy Reid erred in that situation, I have never seen DeSean McCoy play so I cannot give a proper analysis on whether or not he should have been any carries in today's game. Also, didn't Phil Sheridan just infer the Eagles should have never drafted DeSean Jackson? Now he is inferring he shouldn't have been benched? Strange logic. "

    I'm not sure who DeSean McCoy is either, but I'm sure he would probably do a better job coaching than Reid. As for DeSean, Sheridan is ambiguous. He seems to say the Eagles MISMANAGED DeSean since they drafted him. This could mean that he was a worthy investment but needed better guidance.


    If you really are a former Fire-Andy-Reid guy who converted, then kudos to sticking with your guns no matter how wrong you are. If I was a more conspiracy minded individual, I'd say Jeff Lurie's hacock graces a bank note you regularly deposited since last year. If the latter is true, then congrats on finding a way to profit in this shitstorm of a football team. Eitherway, the City is more than ready for a new coach, like it or not.

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  6. Mr. Fire Andy Reid, what you have just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever read. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having read it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

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  7. Subtracting return touchdowns, the Eagles have scored 24 against a vaunted Rams D, 17 against the Bears, 10 against the Cardinals, and 16 against the Giants.

    I think you're defending the offense on yards and not actual points.

    Reid is the Arsene Wenger of the NFL. He has peaked as an NFL head coach. Actually he peaked at about 2005. I guess you life 10-6, 11-5, or 12-4 seasons as the Eagles crapshoot their way out of their 10 millionth home playoff defeat.

    I'm amazed you have that much patience for Reid. I would want him gone now.

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  8. The negatives of the offense this year are DeSean Jackson's down year and turnovers at the worst possible times, even by those who are normally sure-handed. That and the timing of them is more a product of coincidence than not being "clutch," as some may as if "clutchiness" is a definable skill.

    Heading into this week, the Eagles were 7th in Offense DVOA, according to Football Outsiders. I do not need to tell you that that is quite good. Now given that Vick apparently broke a few ribs on the 2nd play of the game (that would explain a thing or two) and the subsequently bad offensive performance all the way around, this will likely go down when the ratings are updated tomorrow, although I would still expect the Eagles to be in the top half of the league.

    As long as the 10-6, 11-5, and 12-4 teams make the playoffs, I do not care that they are not 13-3, 14-2, 15-1, and 16-0. The Eagles went 13-3 one year and lost in the Super Bowl. The best team of the past decade lost in the Super Bowl to a 10-6 5-seed. You get the point. The aim of the game is not to try to go 19-0, but to make the playoffs, and that is what Andy Reid has done about as consistently as anyone can in the NFL without Peyton Manning playing quarterback.

    I have patience for Andy Reid because I know he is a good football coach, and outside of Bill Cowher, none of the options strike me as definite upgrades. I mean, some people are calling for Jay Gruden. Ffs, people.

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  9. They're calling for Jay Gruden? You meant Jon, right?

    Andy Reid can make the playoffs all he wants, as long as he refuses to adjust his gameplanning and decision-making he will go to his grave with no rings.

    He'll get more time because he doesn't normally have it this bad, but I have to think one more bad year and he's gone. I don't think Reid should be completely absconded from blame when the Eagles haven't been a legitimate Super Bowl contender since 2004.

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  10. @ SSR: No. I meant Jay. This Guy Jon Gruden's brother. Current offensive coordinator of the Cincinnati Bengals. (http://twitter.com/#!/IgglesNest/status/135839191673212928)

    To be predictive, unless he gets to another Super Bowl, I think 2013 (when his contract is up) will be his last season, if not before. As far as normative, I think the Eagles should get rid of Castillo, then see what happens in 2012 with Reid still at the helm. If Reid does not recognize the mistake and get Castillo out of the D-Coordinator, then it might be time to seriously consider that the best move would be to fire him. I'm okay with a risk that does not work, but at the end of the season, Reid needs to rectify it and at least get him in a lesser role. With defense or offense, I do not care.

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