Nmandi Asomugha was ultimate get of free agency this off season. The signing of the talented cornerback was supposed to take the Eagles defense to another level. After all Asomugha was supposed to be able to lock down any wide receiver in the league and make him disappear.
Instead of the wide receivers disappearing, it has been Asomugha who has been disappearing. It’s time for his show up and show up a big way. With the suspect safeties, who the Eagles have in the lineup, they need Asomugha to be able to play great man-to-man coverage on these wide receivers.
He needs to step up his game. I would like to see defensive coordinator Juan Castillo let Asomugha matchup with a wide receiver and take him out of the game. The former Oakland corner must get it together immediately.
He was beaten deep in the first game against the Rams and wound up with a pass interference penalty. Other than that play he played well against the Rams.
In the second game of the year against the Falcons, Asomugha played the way we had expected by picking off a pass and shutting down the Falcons talented duo of wide receivers, Roddy White and Julio Jones.
In the third game last week, Asomugha was terrible. First he missed a tackle on Giants wide Victor Cruz after he 
had broken the tackle of Eagles safety Kurt Coleman.
Asomugha was totally out of control when he approached Cruz. He center of gravity was much to high. You have to drop your center of gravity when approaching a ball carrier. If you don’t drop your center of gravity, so you can move side to side, you can easily be juked by the ball carrier.
The veteran Pro Bowl cornerback looked like he had never made a tackle on that play.
In the fourth quarter with the game on the line, Asomugha was playing the deep third zone, when Cruz ran a post-corner. It was the perfect coverage for the route but Asomugha made the mistake of turning his back to the quarterback, which is a no-no when you’re playing zone.
Eli Manning threw the football and Asomugha turned toward Cruz. The ball was coming and Cruz set his feet and timed his jump. Asomugha turned around late and tried to pick up the flight of the ball. He didn’t set his feet for 
balance before jumping and was thrown off balance by Cruz, who went up straight and strong for the football.
Cruz secured the football with Jarrad Page battling him for it. Asomugha was on his way to the ground now, because he hadn’t set his feet before jumping so he went up off balance. Cruz hung onto the football to score the touchdown.
On the third touchdown Asomugha was involved with he was playing man-to-man on one of the Giants wide receivers as the Birds ran a blitz. Safety Nate Allen was sucked into rushing Manning rather doing his assignment of covering Ahmad Bradshaw.
Asomugha was blocked for three seconds as he watched Bradshaw catch the ball on the 30-yard line and run 
untouched into the end zone.
He’s capable of playing much better. He’s got great size, speed, quickness and knowledge of the game, but he’s got to start playing the way he’s capable of playing. He and the Eagles secondary have got to get the job done and they need to do it immediately.
There’s is no doubt that Asmo has struggled so far in the Zone-Coverage Schemes the Ealges have employed.. Asmo has played an agressive Man-to-Man coverage his entire NFL Career (Which is the Raiders scheme) and he is having a difficult time playing in space, back peddling, his anticipation and picking up the ball while in a air, has been very disappointing and I am not so sure that is something you can teach and probably a good reason why he has so few Int’s in his entire Career.. He’s a match-up, in your face and stay on the WR type of Cover guy no matter what th eroutes are and maybe the Eagles should simply let him do what he does best and lock onto a particular WR on the top side and then allow Samuel who is a much better Zone-Coverage CB play more Zone-Cover 2 on the bottome side of the Field
So my solution, Play agressive Man to Man Coverage on Asmo’s side and play a Zone-Coverage 2 with Safety help over the Top on Samuel’s side… You have to develop schemes that fit to your players strengths, this is what the Top Coaches and Coordinators do like the Packers,Steerlers,Patriots,Jets do where they take advantage and put their best players in better position to make plays like Woodson, Palamalo,Revis,etc,etc…
Asmo have been so used to locking on WR and just concentrating on draping all over them so the WR have no space to chatch the ball. He has played with his back to QB and just is watching and suffocating the WR’s (which is why not many balls were thrown his way, hence the low INT’s)
In Zone-Coverages Schemes, CB’s are back peddling and facing the QB a lot more and your major responsibility is to cover an “Area of the Field” and pick up any receivers that comes into your area, as opposed to Man to Man where you are covering a “Specific Receiver” no matter where he goes..
It gets back to coaching and having “Schemes” that best utilize the talent level of your players and right now the Eagles D/Coordinator and postion Caoches are still trying to figure it out and need to step it up for there is not enough time to keep trying different things, schemes, and players. This week is the 4th game out of 16 which is 25% of the Season already..
His struggles are from the stupidity of, square peg in round hole Reid & Ritalin boy Castillo! How do you take the best bump & run cover CB in the league, pay him a zillion$, then immediately change him to a slot CB in pre-season & when the season starts, have him playing zone, that he has never played in 8 years! I absolutely hate this regime & coaching staff! After each day passes, something they do pi$$e$ me off more & more! THEY NEED TO BE FIRED!!! They are the f^#@ing pits & are dumber than a bag of rocks!
I have never seen a regime like this before in my life! They take ever player on their team, & play them to their weaknesses, instead of their strengths. Also trying to force them into your stupid ever changing systems!
SQUARE F^#@ING PEGS, DON’T FIT IN ROUND HOLES, MORONS!!!
Pure, absolute, lunacy & idioticy!!! FIRE THIS STAFF ASAP!!!
The key there is “I would like to see defensive coordinator Juan Castillo let Asomugha matchup with a wide receiver and take him out of the game”. Surprisingly, our DC has been moving him all over the place, and Asomugha himself has said it was disorienting. Can we just let our players play to their strengths and not to the scheme? In this case, it’s not even about playing to the scheme, just let him get comfortable in the D and play fast.
I would almost think that the team is lacking in the basics because they don’t practice them. You play like you practice, you know?
Castillo is way in over his head and we are seeing the results of his inexperience right out of the gate..
never seen anything like this before – then DCAr – you clearly have never watched a football game – ever, ever in your life. Clearly – every eagles game you are blind to the other team the eagles are playing –
As a matter of fact – all my questions about how you can be so clueless have now been answered – you only see one team. You have the amazing ability to ONLY see the eagles – you don’t watch, listen to, talk about, read about, hear about or know anything about any other team – to you the NFL is one team that needs to fire everyone – wow
Let me explain this SLOWLY one more time – read the letters carefully – Coaches, all coaches, every coach, each and every single coach, all coaches, every coach (I mean every single coach in the football universe, all coaches each and every coach in each and every level) look for athletes, and they place those athletes in the position they think will help the team win. All coaches – so in fact – every ‘regime’ does EXACTLY what you are bitching the Eagles do – but don’t let that slow your roll – as I worte earlier -your post highlights a lot about you.
Every coach – do you understand that DCar – I am explaining this to you becuase guess what the next coach is going to do??? That’s right – he is going to build the team around his philosophy and take the pegs that he has and he is ging to stick them in the holes that he has – and then he os going to acquire players and stick them where he thinks they will go best – why (this is a test here to see if you can pay attention) Cause that’s what every coach does, every single coach.
This is vintage GCobb BS here – I remember when Songs was screaming, screaming that the Eagles were not being aggressive and the lack of aggressive in FA and how DRC was ass and when we signed 24 it was like – yeah – and several ‘Kool aid drinkers’ pointed out some possible flaws in 24 – and of course got told we were ‘content’ – so now they sign him, start him, and he has a rough game against the Giants and its becuase Ried is not using him right…
then – frst Ried is stubborn and arrogant – and then you post – and I quote – ‘his ever changing system’ I think this is the first D system change since 2000???
And the brillinat solution – fire the staff immediatley, wow.
paul is d jauron the d cord in cleveland or did he take a lateral position , here was a creditable guy on our staff and we chose the lb in high school
Jauron is the DC for the Browns, Remember he was the Seondary Coach with the Eagles under McDermott last Season, He’s a midwest fella and was offered the DC position by the Browns while Coach AR was working behind the Scenes to lure R Mudd out of retirment to bring in as OL coach which then in turn allowed Coach Reid to move Castillo as DC which is a big roll of the dice no doubt
I really don’t think Jauron was seriously considered or offered the Eagles DC job and I think he was not particularly fond of the East Coast and wanted back to the mid-west which is where is his from and has spent most of his playing and coaching carrer (Bears and BIlls)
What does Asomugha care? He got his money, plus he’s used to losing
Exactly DDcar! we saw the same thing with Albert Haynesworth in Washington. I cant start to tell you and these coaches how important it is if you sign a player play him to what you signed him for. His years in Oakland was to beat up and smoother whos in front of him. They have him playing off guys and this is all Andy Reid… Its been his philosophy for years… Play off guys so we can go for the big play interception…. Sign small defensive fronts so we can be quick enough to the sack.. Run desean 30 yards down the line so we can go for the big play… Dont run the ball because running consist of moving the chains and we’d rather throw and take our chances with a big play…. Teams realize this about the eagles system and they know if we are going to beat them no big plays and thats what teams are doing. Its time for a change philly.. Even if you defend reid and his successful 10 years as coach old dog dont learn new trick and we have seen the same andy reid for the last 10 years.
On another note how about dem Red sox!!! hahahaha biggest choke in sports history
All you ever hear from Reid is how its his responsability to put the players in the best position to win and he has the best press cover guy in the league playing zone coverage, does this make sense? I guess only to Andy Reid it does.
Andrew – did you actually watch the game this Sunday – Cruz’s two TD – was Coleman NOT in position to tackle Cruz on the first one – because to me – he looked like he was – he looked like he missed – now was 24 in postion to make a tackle – cuase it lloked to me like he was – sorry pal – not buying this I can’t tackle and its Reids fault I can’t tackle –
Now the second TD, how much closer did you want 24 to be? Have much closer did you want the safety to be – if its Ried’s job to put them in position – then god damw boy, what the hell are you looking at? What are you watching – they were freaking 3 ft away- 24 actaully was bumping Cruz –
Cruz kicked 24’s butt and took the ball from both the CB and the S – the coahces put both of the players in position to make the play – they didn’t – that simple………
this constant ‘I can’t belive the coach drafted the left handed player and is making him masturbate right handed, its totally screwing up his mojo’ is such a pile of horse dung… 24 is a professinal CB in the NFL getting paid gazillions of dollars – he got beat – that simple – on both plays – some times – it is actually that simple, the player didn’t make the play.
Damn – they even have the pictures in the story – look – go up to the top and look! How the hell would being in press (whihc I think they were in the first but Coleman was coming up from safety as DRC blitzed) have changed either of those two plays –
you guys just make shit up –
Didn’t Just Babin thrive with a change in style? Why wouldn’t the opposite hold true?
EaglesSuck, you made a good point. Albert Haynesworth is prime example, though his lack of motivation was a major contributor to lack of production.
How dumb can some people be? It really perplexes me.
Buddy Ryan used to drop Reggie White into coverage, because Reggie ran a legitimate 4.6. Since that time, how many coaches have dropped their ends into coverage, only to have them burned?
You lean to your player’s strengths. It seems the Eagles love to switch people’s positions and try to make the player fit their scheme, rather than the opposite.
No, not all coaches try to fit players into their scheme do that, only the dumb ones.
It’s amazing that someone would actually go a long rant and berate others, and be just as wrong as the coach, himself.
It doesn’t matter how many times, you repeat it, you’re still wrong. You’re just wrong that many more times.
Wow, my typing sucks today.
where’s the story about charlie? huge game last night
I may be a Giants fan that lives in NY but I never was a yankee fan and I hated baseball until I watched the 08 Phillies and been a fan since. Which brings me to gcobb and your point runtheball09 is what I was thinking this whole time.
navyeaglefan, If Nnamdi was allowed to do what hes been doing the past 6yrs which is play at the line of scrimmage and hit his man we wouldnt be having this conversation, they have the man playing 5 yards back, watch an see for yourself, sorry but this isnt how you utilize him, let him do what he does best.
The problem is Castillo. Andy and the front office out thought themselves AGAIN, making a damn Offensive line coach with no NFL experience with defense,the DC, Sit for a second and tell me how fucking stupid is that? Andy should be fired alone simply because of this move and we will not win a superbowl with this defense. I DONT CARE WHAT WE DO.What the hell took Casey so long to get benched?
Asante isnt the best corner on this team either. Im tired of idiots saying that. We just have an IDIOT DC. This defense is suited only to Asante’s strengths. Thats what the problem is. Why is Asomugha playing zone? Was he playing zone in Oakland? is that what hes known for?
Ok Castillo then why in the fuck isnt he playing man coverage? Same with DRC why the fuck is he playing in the slot and not man? They act like they’re afraid to tell Asante they he needs to be on the bench a few plays. I would love to see both corners in Man to man. But we cant BECAUSE OF ASANTE. This is why we shouldve traded him for FEW lbs
Once again this is on Andy& Castillo, Dont blame Asomugha!
Everytime i think about this defense , i just want punch Andy & Castillo in the face. Asomugha didnt become the best corner in the league playing zone coverage. Other defensive coordinators are probably laughing their ass off, because they know we arent using Asomugha right. Same with DRC he’s a press Cb as well.
Take Asante off the field I DONT CARE WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO. BUT THOSE GUYS NEED TO PLAY MAN COVERAGE. KNOCK ALL THE NON SENSE OFF. THIS STUPID ASS ORGANIZATION WOULD RATHER LOSE GAMES JUST TO KEEP ASANTE HAPPY AND CATER THE DEFENSE TO HIS STRENGTHS , THAN USE OUR High priced free agents that are better. THIS IS THE PROBLEM GUYS.
Asante is not the problem… he can play off and still have Nnamdi play press… it isnt about Asante….
What they need to do is make the other players as comfortable as Asante is… his side isnt the problem… the problem is them feeding Nnamdi too many different assignments without him being comfortable doing any of them…
Let Nnamdi do what he does… press cover… stop being cute and lets play to our strengths across the board
To respond to the group –
yes, different players ‘thrive’ in different ways. Some runnng backs do well with 10 carries – others don’t get rolling till 25 – for the D – you have to call a play and the players do there thing. Overall I have been impressed with 24 – I think he is doing fine. The thing i think everyone is missing is name the other CB when he played in Oakland…… exactly – every QB knows Asante Samuel is sitting on the other side, so 24 may get tested more. But again – on either of the two plays where 24 got beat (the missed tackle and where Cruz took the ball from him) – had ZERO, I say again, ZERO to do with being in press or zone coverage – 24 was banging into Cruz on his second TD –
on the two big plays against St Loius – the long pass and the PI penalty – guess what coverage he was in – 24 was playing man –
again – the Eagles have ENOUGH problems without you guys making crap up – really they do. The D Coordinator should put this in press in the slot while the other guy is saoft playing a zone while the 3rd can do sit on the middle outside haskmark inside the 20 and only if he has a red mouthpiece – how dare Ried make them wear green mouthpieces. Why do we constantly give players the benefit of the doubt?
Eagles couldn’t score in the Red Zone becuase Schmitt got stuffed on 4rth and 1 – you realize the play before that Schmitt was WIDE THE F OPEN on the left flat – Vick didn’t see him – Damn ied playcalling – you realize on the 4rth and 1 – McCoy had a whole 10 yards wide and was free and clear if he ran off tackle – Ried put both those players in position to succeed – I don’t know why Vick didn’t see Schmitt or McCoy didn’t run behind Peters –
that’s why its a TEAM game – ya think?
For the record, I liked Babin last time he was here – thought they should have kept him. I sent Ried that e-mail – he ignored me
NAVY, don’t talk down to me you f^#@ing bozo! Why don’t you go f^#@ yourself! Let me say that slowly retard- Go F^#@ Yourself! Who are you? You claim to be an x coach & all of the bull$#!t you spew! You & Schiller get no respect & agreement, because you both talk down to people, with your idiotic, condescending, stubborn attitudes. Don’t tell me i’m clueless! You guys are proven wrong every f^#@ing week, yet you still find ways to put Reids d!@k in your mouths! The ever changing system, was meant to refer to the musical chair of players, that don’t fit in the system. I misspoke! BTW, stop making excuses for your butt buddy Reid! Every coach, everywhere, in the entire universe, doesn’t change their players to fit their systems. You name me somewhere else that takes a veteran, pro bowl, future HOF CB, that has played a certain way, that was dominate, his entire career, & make him & slot CB & change him to a style that puts him in a position to fail!? Especially since there is ZERO, over the top Safety help! You are the clueless one my friend! If you really knew/ coached football, like you said you did, you would know all of the problems, inadequacies, & never ending non-adjustments, that this moronic HC & regime has! So get your facts right, before you rip me brother. Don’t get mad at me because you & your boyfriend Schiller, are proven wrong & we are proven right every week that this season continues, with this team stinking up the joint! YOU ARE WRONG & YOU ARE A CONDESCENDING, ARROGANT, STUBBORN, @$$CLOWN!
NAVY, you continue to go on these long tangents, arguments, excuses & explanations, with all of your posts, but are continually proven wrong & idiotic with all of your comments. It comes down to this, you are an excuse making, condescending, rock headed, arrogant, stubborn, ba$tard, that thinks he is right all of the time, & doesn’t want to be proven wrong. But you are proven wrong most of the time. If this team proves me wrong this year, which they won’t, I will come on here & officially apologizes to you & your boyfriend Schill. But I have a great feeling that, that ain’t going to happen! Stop making excuses for Reid, it is only going to end in disappointment & heartbreak for you. Take a breath & say I am wrong & DCAR i’m sorry, it will make you feel better! BTW, don’t talk down to people & treat them like they are stupid, when you don’t even know them! You would be surprised, if you only knew who you where talking too! The only reason i’m coming at you like this, is i’m defending myself with all of your prior crap that your spewing at me! I would never talk down to anyone, nor claim i’m perfect or know it all! I’m far from perfect, but i’m very confident in my assessment of this current team & it’s FO! If you don’t agree, you don’t agree! That makes you a delusional, excuse maker, that is content with being second best & in contention every year! I’m not! I want passion, brains, healthy change, loyalty, respect, & hunger out my teams, just like I give! This team give you nothing but ego driven, stubbornness, arrogance, delusion, BS, non-change in philosophy & adjustments, & a condescending, $hitty attitude, towards the fans & the media!
Navy
Reid ignored you? I guess he’s smarter than I thought.
Dcar – why do YOU get offended by how the team treats the media? You like the media? SERIOUSLY? Wow
And dude, for someone who goes ‘leggo my ego’ everytime someone posts an argument against yours, you sure are ballsy to suggest Navy posts ego driven shit.
Schiller, dude you sure are a laughable @$$ clown! I don’t like, nor dislike the media! I don’t like someone, that talks down to someone, just trying to do their jobs. They are after all, an extention to us as fans. Also for a post to be an argument, your side of the talk has to be correct! You guys are proven wrong every week! Leggo my eggo, your pathetic! BTW, you & your rump jockey buddies are media haters! You say the media is negative, the media influences us, blah blah blah! STFU! What in all that i’ve ever said on here was egotistical!? YOUR A NUTBAG! Go back in hibernation, in Reid’s @$$!
“leggo my eggo”, schiller, you are a piece of work, wtf