Andy Reid under fire

PHILADELPHIA -- Andy Reid took a breath, narrowed his eyes and looked directly at the television reporter who dared asked what everyone in the room was thinking: Was the Eagles' coach concerned about his job security?

"I am concerned," Reid said as he stared down the reporter, "about getting ready to play the New York Giants."

There always has been a defiant, even smug, edge to Reid. In the best of times, that was tolerated, even celebrated, by Eagles fans. This season, however, is anything but the best of times for Reid and his Eagles. And as his 3-6 team heads into Sunday night's game against the Giants at MetLife Stadium needing a win to have any reasonable hope of staying in the playoff picture, Reid and his staff are finding themselves under constant fire.

Reporters at Reid's midweek news conference not only wanted to know what he felt about his job security but also asked if he is concerned that he might be losing his players. (Surprise! He sidestepped the question by saying he is "concerned about getting ready to play the Giants.) Several media outlets are running fan polls as to whether Reid should keep his job. One Philadelphia television station, the NBC affiliate, has a breakdown of possible Reid replacements on its website.

So why all the venom? Reid has had only two losing seasons in Philadelphia since he took over in 1999, and before the start of this year, he seemed as secure as any coach in the NFL. But after the Eagles' massive shopping spree before the season, expectations were incredibly high for this team.

They signed free-agent cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha, the top free agent on the market. They traded for Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, another decent cornerback, and poached wide receiver Steve Smith from the Giants. They also added backup quarterback Vince Young and well-regarded defensive linemen Jason Babin and Cullen Jenkins.

Add all this to a 10-6 team last season, and it's understandable that expectations were high.

But it's one thing to collect a bunch of expensive parts and quite another to collect a bunch of expensive parts that work well together. The Eagles oddly compounded their chemistry problems by refusing to revisit DeSean Jackson's contract before the season. The relationship between Jackson and management has gotten so bitter that he purposely skipped a team meeting last week and was suspended last Sunday.

The Eagles seem to understand that the rest of the league is looking at them and not exactly admiring what they see. "Every team has an identity. The question is whether it's a good one or not," Jenkins said. "Right now, our identity isn't very good. It needs to be better. The only way to change your identity is to improve and get better."

The ugliest part of the Eagles' current identity is that they just can't play defense when it really matters. They have blown an NFL-high five fourth-quarter leads, and a lot of the blame seems to be falling on defensive coordinator Juan Castillo. Before he was elevated this season, Castillo was the offensive line coach and hadn't coached defense since he was at a Texas high school in 1989.

Even before the start of the season, Reid took some heat for his out-of-the-box decision to promote Castillo. Now Castillo seems almost distraught about the thought that Reid is under fire because of his defense's performance, and on Thursday he made an impassioned defense of the head coach and the job he is doing.

"Nine out of 12 years going to the playoffs is not a bad thing," Castillo said. "It's not over yet. We are working our butts off. The players are doing it. The coaches are doing it. You talk about coach Reid? Le me tell you, that man works 20, 21 hours a day."

Three hours of sleep a night? That may go a long way toward explaining why Reid always seems so defiant and edgy. Apparently, the only thing Reid needs more than a win over the Giants is a soft pillow and a sleeping pill.

Of course, if his team loses to the Giants Sunday night, he will have plenty of time this postseason to get a few extra zzz's -- a fact he seems to understand.

"I'm not thinking about the playoffs right now," Reid said. "I'm just thinking about the Giants."