Boysboy
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Seriously-Andy Reid has to be the DUMBEST coach for getting his team into this fine mess.
http://www.thebulletin.us/site/index...d=576361&rfi=8
Inside Today's Bulletin
Eagles' Samuel Still Has Got A Ways To Go
By: G. Cobb, The Bulletin
06/06/2008
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You can believe that veteran cornerbacks Sheldon Brown and Lito Sheppard have been on the phone with each other, talking about the fact that the Eagles gave Asante Samuel "the bank," even though he's not head and shoulders better than them and can't play pure man-to-man defense as well as they are able to.
I could just see their faces as Samuel was beaten a number of times by some of the team's backup receivers in 1-on-1 drills this week. There had to have been some emotion coming up in Sheppard and Brown from the fact that the Eagles had given so much money to a guy who hasn't made a single play for the Eagles, as of yet.
All-Pro and all, Samuel had free agents who are long shots to make the team running right by him. The 1-on-1 drill clearly is not his game.
In fairness, the game consists of doing much more than just playing pure man-to-man coverage, even though Samuel should be good at it. I haven't seen the acceleration out of his backpedal that I expected to see when receivers are going deep.
Samuel also doesn't seem comfortable coming up into the press technique. He seems to be more at ease when he's playing off the receiver and looking into the backfield to get an idea of what type of route the receiver is going to run.
He's much better when he's coming up on the pass route, rather than turning and running. He wasn't especially strong with his jam of the wideouts when they came off of the line against him when he was in press technique.
I don't want to make more of the matter than it deserves, but Samuel is clearly more of a system left cornerback than Brown or Sheppard.
I'm not saying they're better, but it's going to take some effort on Samuel's part to adapt his game to Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Johnson's system.
Samuel is much better when he knows the other team's tendencies, the formation, and he's had a chance to study the opposing quarterback. He's the very best in the game at this, and nobody's a close second.
I know he's smart as a whip and does a great job of reading quarterbacks. He exhibited some of that ability during the previous minicamp when he picked off second-year quarterback Kevin Kolb.
He read Kolb's eyes and stepped in front of L.J. Smith to pick off a slant route. This is the strength of Samuel's game, as he seems to be able to cover more ground when he breaks on a ball than anybody in the league.
Still, you can't just leave him by himself like Deion Sanders in his prime or Champ Bailey now. Samuel is also a gambler, someone who takes chances to make the big play, but sometimes is wrong.
Who did David Tyree beat for a touchdown in last year's Super Bowl? It's amazing that the Giants went after Samuel, even though Ellis Hobbs was on the other side.
Hobbs gets beat all the time and got beat for the Super Bowl clincher, but Tyree had beaten Samuel earlier for a score.
I talked to a league source who is close to the Eagles, and he was shocked when the Birds decided to give the mega-deal to Samuel. He thought it probably had something to do with Johnson's frustration with Sheppard and his high-wire act.
The source, who spoke on a condition of anonymity, told me that Johnson doesn't like the feast or famine attitude, which best describes Sheppard's style of play. He would like to see him be more consistent, rather than making a habit of taking too many chances in pursuit of big plays.
The source went on to say that Sheppard knows that big plays are the key to making the Pro Bowl and signing mega-deals like the one Samuel just agreed to.
The source is familiar with Johnson's coverage schemes and said that Samuel will have to make some changes in order to fit into the Eagles' defensive packages.
According to the source, "Jim likes his cornerbacks up in the press position in the face of wide receivers. He likes his corners to jam the receiver as they come off the line of scrimmage. He's always screaming for that, but Asante likes to play off of the receiver."
The source also went on to say that he thought Samuel was the best in the game at breaking on the ball, but he's not a pure man-to-man coverage guy.
The source pointed out that he liked Samuel's ability to transition from up in the bump technique to off the receiver and vice versa. He talked about Samuel's ability to play mind games with a quarterback.
Another league source said that he thought Sheppard and Brown are better pure 1-on-1 coverage guys, but that Samuel is the best in the game at reading a quarterback and jumping a route for the big play.
The Eagles hope to get quite a few of those big plays this fall.
http://www.thebulletin.us/site/index...d=576361&rfi=8
Inside Today's Bulletin
Eagles' Samuel Still Has Got A Ways To Go
By: G. Cobb, The Bulletin
06/06/2008
Email to a friendPost a CommentPrinter-friendly
You can believe that veteran cornerbacks Sheldon Brown and Lito Sheppard have been on the phone with each other, talking about the fact that the Eagles gave Asante Samuel "the bank," even though he's not head and shoulders better than them and can't play pure man-to-man defense as well as they are able to.
I could just see their faces as Samuel was beaten a number of times by some of the team's backup receivers in 1-on-1 drills this week. There had to have been some emotion coming up in Sheppard and Brown from the fact that the Eagles had given so much money to a guy who hasn't made a single play for the Eagles, as of yet.
All-Pro and all, Samuel had free agents who are long shots to make the team running right by him. The 1-on-1 drill clearly is not his game.
In fairness, the game consists of doing much more than just playing pure man-to-man coverage, even though Samuel should be good at it. I haven't seen the acceleration out of his backpedal that I expected to see when receivers are going deep.
Samuel also doesn't seem comfortable coming up into the press technique. He seems to be more at ease when he's playing off the receiver and looking into the backfield to get an idea of what type of route the receiver is going to run.
He's much better when he's coming up on the pass route, rather than turning and running. He wasn't especially strong with his jam of the wideouts when they came off of the line against him when he was in press technique.
I don't want to make more of the matter than it deserves, but Samuel is clearly more of a system left cornerback than Brown or Sheppard.
I'm not saying they're better, but it's going to take some effort on Samuel's part to adapt his game to Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Johnson's system.
Samuel is much better when he knows the other team's tendencies, the formation, and he's had a chance to study the opposing quarterback. He's the very best in the game at this, and nobody's a close second.
I know he's smart as a whip and does a great job of reading quarterbacks. He exhibited some of that ability during the previous minicamp when he picked off second-year quarterback Kevin Kolb.
He read Kolb's eyes and stepped in front of L.J. Smith to pick off a slant route. This is the strength of Samuel's game, as he seems to be able to cover more ground when he breaks on a ball than anybody in the league.
Still, you can't just leave him by himself like Deion Sanders in his prime or Champ Bailey now. Samuel is also a gambler, someone who takes chances to make the big play, but sometimes is wrong.
Who did David Tyree beat for a touchdown in last year's Super Bowl? It's amazing that the Giants went after Samuel, even though Ellis Hobbs was on the other side.
Hobbs gets beat all the time and got beat for the Super Bowl clincher, but Tyree had beaten Samuel earlier for a score.
I talked to a league source who is close to the Eagles, and he was shocked when the Birds decided to give the mega-deal to Samuel. He thought it probably had something to do with Johnson's frustration with Sheppard and his high-wire act.
The source, who spoke on a condition of anonymity, told me that Johnson doesn't like the feast or famine attitude, which best describes Sheppard's style of play. He would like to see him be more consistent, rather than making a habit of taking too many chances in pursuit of big plays.
The source went on to say that Sheppard knows that big plays are the key to making the Pro Bowl and signing mega-deals like the one Samuel just agreed to.
The source is familiar with Johnson's coverage schemes and said that Samuel will have to make some changes in order to fit into the Eagles' defensive packages.
According to the source, "Jim likes his cornerbacks up in the press position in the face of wide receivers. He likes his corners to jam the receiver as they come off the line of scrimmage. He's always screaming for that, but Asante likes to play off of the receiver."
The source also went on to say that he thought Samuel was the best in the game at breaking on the ball, but he's not a pure man-to-man coverage guy.
The source pointed out that he liked Samuel's ability to transition from up in the bump technique to off the receiver and vice versa. He talked about Samuel's ability to play mind games with a quarterback.
Another league source said that he thought Sheppard and Brown are better pure 1-on-1 coverage guys, but that Samuel is the best in the game at reading a quarterback and jumping a route for the big play.
The Eagles hope to get quite a few of those big plays this fall.
