I really have no confidence in this guy. I think he was highly overrated for years as an o-line coach and am not expecting him to shine on the defensive side of the ball, either.
Think about that Eagle offensive line over the years. This is a team that has thrown the ball 65 percent of the time, sometimes more in crucial situations. With that kind of passing emphasis, you would think that they would have adoped the Howard Mudd approach a long time ago. Even if they couldn't hire Howard, they could have looked for someone like him, maybe a protoge.
Instead, we had Castillo, who always favored big, plodding road graders who fit the Eagle philosophy of offense like a square peg in a round hole. So instead of Jahri Evans, the Eagles would draft guys like MJG.
For years, I wondered why they would plug these big guys in and never make the best use of their talent. Who was to blame for that? Was it Big Red for not adjusting his offensive scheme to fit the talent of his o-line? Or Castillo for not recognizing the kind of talent he needed to operate with in a pass-first environment? Probably some of both, IMO. I think Castillo has always been one of Big Red's blind spots.
I am very interested to see how this o-line executes this year. They moved out some of the plodders in the offseason -- MJG and Cole. Mudd is moving out some of the remaining plodders, the McGlynns and the Jacksons.
And surprise, surprise -- look who they brought in. Reggie Wells, buried last year by Castillo. I'm not expecting this to happen, but what if Mudd makes him a useful player? That's a damning indictment of Castillo, IMO.
I don't get why this guy has been able to stay with the Eagles, pretty much for life. He's been here since Ray Rhodes. How does that happen? He's practically a civil servant at this point.
Castillo has a lot of talent on this defense and I hope they thrive in spite of him. It's possible. But I'm not expecting much from him. And if the o-line takes a big step forward this year, I'm going to be wondering even more.
Think about that Eagle offensive line over the years. This is a team that has thrown the ball 65 percent of the time, sometimes more in crucial situations. With that kind of passing emphasis, you would think that they would have adoped the Howard Mudd approach a long time ago. Even if they couldn't hire Howard, they could have looked for someone like him, maybe a protoge.
Instead, we had Castillo, who always favored big, plodding road graders who fit the Eagle philosophy of offense like a square peg in a round hole. So instead of Jahri Evans, the Eagles would draft guys like MJG.
For years, I wondered why they would plug these big guys in and never make the best use of their talent. Who was to blame for that? Was it Big Red for not adjusting his offensive scheme to fit the talent of his o-line? Or Castillo for not recognizing the kind of talent he needed to operate with in a pass-first environment? Probably some of both, IMO. I think Castillo has always been one of Big Red's blind spots.
I am very interested to see how this o-line executes this year. They moved out some of the plodders in the offseason -- MJG and Cole. Mudd is moving out some of the remaining plodders, the McGlynns and the Jacksons.
And surprise, surprise -- look who they brought in. Reggie Wells, buried last year by Castillo. I'm not expecting this to happen, but what if Mudd makes him a useful player? That's a damning indictment of Castillo, IMO.
I don't get why this guy has been able to stay with the Eagles, pretty much for life. He's been here since Ray Rhodes. How does that happen? He's practically a civil servant at this point.
Castillo has a lot of talent on this defense and I hope they thrive in spite of him. It's possible. But I'm not expecting much from him. And if the o-line takes a big step forward this year, I'm going to be wondering even more.
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