Nnamdi is Okay
Posted: November 25th, 2011 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 21 Comments »Close call with him on Thursday at practice. Andy Reid said that Nnamdi felt all along that his knee would be okay. Andy wasn’t so sure, especially when reviewing tape of the incident. Nnamdi just hurt his knee while moving in coverage. Looked really bad, but turned out just to be a hyperextension. Nnamdi is able to walk on the knee, but hasn’t tried to run. He’s questionable for Sunday. Next 2 days are very important.
Maclin didn’t practice. Sounds like he will miss the game. Mike Vick has practiced, but I’m getting the sense that he’ll miss the game. And frankly, that’s the prudent move. We play on Thursday next week. Let Vince Young go this week and then have Vick play at Seattle on Thursday.
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Heartbreaking for the Fish to lose yesterday. That would have been such a lovely Thanksgiving present. Dallas is 7-4 and in 1st place, but do you trust them? Not at all.
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For PE.com I wrote about Juan Castillo and the defense. I wrote that it was time for people to give Juan and the D some credit for how they’ve improved this year.
I am not saying that Juan is suddenly a good DC and deserves to return next year. I think we need to evaluate the full body of work before making that decision.
I do think that all of the talk about Juan as “incompetent” and one of the worst coaching hires in NFL history has proven to be overblown hype. Coaching is more than Xs and Os. Juan isn’t a gifted defensive mind, but he does know how to coach. And coaching NFL players isn’t easy. We’ve seen plenty of guys over the years who couldn’t handle the task. Steve Spurrier is an offensive genius and brilliant coach, but he was terrible in the NFL.
There is plenty to be critical about in regard to Juan and the defense. Avoid the hyperbole and talk about the issues. And do give the man some credit when things go right. That’s only fair.
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Anybody starting to get excited for the Pats game on Sunday? I wrote a lengthy piece on it. I’ll post a link when it is up.
I think this is absolutely a winnable game. And I’m excited by the challenge of facing Tom Brady one last time. There are no guarantees he’ll be on the Pats when we face them next in 2015.
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Check out LSU/Arkansas.
LSU has more talent, but is young.
Concentrate on Arkansas for 2012 draft targets:
DE Jake Bequette
MLB Jerry Franklin
WR Jarius Wright
WR Joe Adams
TOMMY WROTE:
“I do think that all of the talk about Juan as ‘incompetent’ and one of the worst coaching
hires in NFL history has proven to be overblown hype.”
To know incompetence is to know the Joe Kuharich years — starting with his trade of Sonny Jurgensen for Norm Snead.
Then the Jerry Williams years — when the Eagles were 0-11 and won 2 of their last 3 to *lose* the O.J. Simpson sweepstakes . . . compounded by the team’s selection of RB/S Leroy Keyes over DT Joe Greene. (Pete Retzlaff, thank you.)
Then came Ed Khuyat followed by Mike McCormak, a George Allen acolyte and ‘Skin assistant, who traded more than a score of draft choices from the 1974-1979 drafts to rebuild the Eagles.
Unfortunately, when McCormack came on board, the Eagles — unlike the when Geo Allen took over the ‘Skins — didn’t have couterparts to: Sonny Jurgensen, Larry Brown, Charlie Harraway, Charlie Taylor, Jerry Smith, Walter Rock, Paul Laaveg, Lenny Hauss, Bill Brundidge, Pat Fischer, Mike Bass, Brig Owen, Harold McClinton, Chris Hanburger,
Respectfully, Juan Castillo is a long, long way from these Eagle coaches — even factoring in that they were head coaches.
And I’ve not mentioned Rich “two No. 1’s for Antone Davis” Kotite.
Not saying Juan’s the answer. But measuring incompetence when talking about Eagles coaches requires context.
I disagree completely. This is the NFL, the highest level of competition in football. It is not unreasonable to expect the hiring of a defensive coordinator with experience in coaching defense.
It was a bad decision to hire him when the decision was made and Castillo has done nothing to prove otherwise. He’s been so bad at times that he’s lowered the bar to the point where even he has trouble reaching it himself. He’s got a wealth of talent to coach, yet we’re supposed to be happy with “not horrible” because he’s improved? C’mon!
I agree with your first point that he doesn’t get a pass on the early part of the season. He was making a lot of adjustments and frankly, you don’t have the time in the NFL to make all those adjustments and still hope to compete by the end of the year. Frankly, we may have played ourselves out of the playoffs in the first 5 weeks of the season. And yes, the offense has their are of the blame as well, so I don’t want my disappointment in Castillo to be misinterpreted as using him as a scapegoat, but that many blown fourth quarter leads, regardless of if your offense didn’t produce in the 4th to extend the lead, is on the defense.
Having said that, it is unfair not to acknowledge that he has improved a lot. We are not getting consistently gashed in the run game. We have kept the score very close throughout the year, and our defense has looked very good at times. Castillo deserves credit for making the necessary adjustments to help our defense. I am still very down on Castillo and strongly believe we can get a much better DC, but he has had moments, especially recently, that show he is not incompetent as a coach.
I guess this season requires a short memory, but what counts as “recently”? The Eagles blew a 4th quarter lead against the Cardinals two games ago.
Don’t get me wrong. Like I said, I am down on Castillo and unlike Tommy, I don’t think seeing improvement the rest of the season can excuse the first half of the season, but the defense we saw the first 5 games was a lot worse than the defense we saw the last 5 games. They absolutely still have had times were they played poorly, and some of those mistakes are very much on Castillo, but they have also had times they looked great, particularly against Dallas and at times against the Giants, and I think Castillo deserves a little credit for that. Still though, you’re absolutely right. We still see Castillo struggle in key moments and that is unforgivable.
Please read this:
ASANTE SAMUEL FAILED TO CARRY OUT HIS ASSIGNMENT!!!
I’m sick of people ripping on Juan for the long play to Fitz. That was totally on Asante. Juan had man coverage called. Asante and Jarrett were supposed to have Fitz doubled. Instead, Asante bit on some underneath route that wasn’t his.
Not the coach’s fault.
On the TD pass…right D called. Kurt should have tackled the guy for minimal gain, but whiffed.
My comments weren’t about the hire. No human being thought that was a logical move.
My point is that Juan has shown that he has some defensive coaching ability. I’m nowhere close to calling him a good DC.
There has to be a middle ground between good DC and complete imbecile.
We’ve ripped on Juan for those times when the defense was terrible. It is only fair to give him some credit when things do go well.
My comment had nothing to do with the actual hiring or his future.
I think Tommy’s view on Castillo is logical. Yes he’s struggled, but the defense has played well at times. And as much as some people don’t want to admit it there is a chance he is back next year, and as mentioned in the blog you have to look at everything when making that evaluation.
Thoughts on Kenaan Robinson as a SAM prospect?
Didn’t get to see him last night.
He’s disappointed this season when I’ve watched him. Did impress me last year.
Yes, the Eagles gave up a 4th Q lead to the Cardinals 2 weeks ago.
BUT WHERE WAS THE VAUNTED OFFENSE?
Juan’s had problems. But so has the offense — which has scored fewer 4th Q points than any other team in the NFL.
This season’s been a team effort all the way around.
Frankly, given their relative experience, if the fans want get on one of the coordinators, then maybe Marty’s the guy who deserves more heat.
MM has more experience. And more talent to work with. But yet his offense is terrible when it counts most in the 4th Q.
And that’s been true since he became the Eagle OC several years ago — during the McNabb years — after Childress left.
Back then, the problem was D-Mac couldn’t win a game late.
Now, it’s Juan can’t hold a lead.
Marty seems to skate along immune (or substantially immune) from criticism.
Again . . . TEAM EFFORT this year.
Vaunted offense was sans 2 ribs.
The offense absolutely shares the blame. I don’t think anyone can really deny that. However, in five of the six losses, the offense had gotten us a lead going into the 4th quarter. While scoring more points in the 4th quarter could have padded a lead and potentially sealed the game, when you have the lead in the 4th quarter, the defenses job is to maintain it. They failed to do so in 5 games. Yes, it is a team game, and the offense has been awful in certain areas (4th quarter, red zone, etc.) but a blown lead is still a blown lead because the defense couldn’t make a stop when it needed one. To me, that’s on Castillo.
Ah New England, how I both loathe and admire thee. It’s a paradox really. I’d be happier if Vick is starting, Young was great at the end of last game but honestly he was pretty bad up until the end. If Vick isn’t capable of playing at a high level thats one thing, but really our season is teetering right now and we really need to play every game like its a playoff game.
Don’t underestimate the importance of having a game under his belt and the extra week of practice. VY could be much different.
I hope you’re right. VY is just such an oddball guy he makes me nervous, I can’t trust him.
I, for one, will be very happy if we get 2nd half vs. the Giants Vince Young for the whole game this week.
Tommy:
Any thoughts on WR Patrick Edwards from Houston? I didn’t see much of today’s game (8 rec, 181 yards, 4 TD), but did see most of the Rice game (7 rec, 318 yards, 5 TD). I’m curious how he might be ranked for the coming draft. I don’t know much about how receivers transition from the spread to a pro offense, or if that’s an issue at all.
I can see the obvious. Edwards is fast and very elusive in the open field. Some of that, undoubtedly, is the level of competition in CUSA. Still, he had 5 multi-TD games this season, and 7 games with at least one reception of 40 yards or longer.
Tommy,
Panthers released FB J. Felton who we had interest in the last time he was cut… Do you see us making a claim for him now?
Interesting. Wonder why they cut him?
I doubt we make a move at this point in the season, but you never know. Owen Schmitt is hardy irreplaceable.
Tommy,
I’ve tried to focus more on Kuechly the last couple of weeks and I’m really sold. Obviously I don’t want him in the early 1st, but late first early second is a must pick. They need to make sure though that if he’s still there when teams like the Giants are picking that they need to swoop in.