This may be just the start of the shakeup.
During his press conference to officially announce the firing of Juan Castillo and promotion of Todd Bowles to defensive coordinator, Andy Reid said, “This is one of the moves and we’ll see where it goes from here.”
The evaluation process is ongoing, the head coach said. The strong suggestion is that more changes could happen before the bye week is out.
“I can surely do a better job myself. I put Juan in this situation and things didn’t work out as I hoped here. I take full responsibility for putting him in that situation.”
Reid said that he delivered the news to Castillo in person and called it “one of the tougher things I’ve had to do as a head football coach.”
The Eagles’ defense started out strong but gave up two fourth-quarter leads the last two weeks against the Steelers and Lions. The unit coughed up five leads under Castillo last year.
“I started seeing trends come back that I was not real happy about,” said Reid.
He reiterated that Michael Vick is his quarterback “as I sit here today” but that he is still going through the evaluation process (more details on that here).
A switch at quarterback, taking play-call duties away from Marty Mornhinweg and making other personnel changes are all still on the table.
Reid said that he appreciated how Bowles approached the situation when he came in this offseason and “didn’t cut [Castillo's] legs out from under him.” He believes Bowles has the respect of the players.
Reid doesn’t anticipate making any additions to the coaching staff right now. Bobby April III, already in-house, will assist with the secondary.
As for what type of defense he expects from Bowles, Reid said: “I expect aggressive, emotional football. One thing I expect is as a football team you play for four quarters, you never let your foot off the pedal.”
