Somebody Please Explain Why Asomugha Wasn’t On Fitzgerald?

For a team that has not just fallen, but has disastrously crashed short of expectations, it may have been said that the Eagles have no right to turn their noses up at any opponent, fair enough. On the other hand, for a team that has the talent of contenders, the record of league minnows, and that should have that “brink of destruction” type of urgency, a game against the Arizona Cardinals is the type that could have served as the perfect win and tonic at a time that the Eagles needed it the most.

Sure, the Eagles have their issues, sure a loss to the Bears eradicated the ecstasy that was produced by the thrashing of Dallas a week before, sure, fans were growing a distrust of the coaching staff, but they are the Arizona Cardinals.

There’s a reason that some could have looked down on this particular opponent, because despite their 21-17 win at the Linc on Sunday, they are who we thought they were. They are a team whose biggest threat comes undoubtedly in the form of wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald.

Now forget the fact that the Eagles have DRC on their roster, forget that Asante Samuels exists, you could even forget the fact that Fitzgerald had some Skeleton guy as his quarterback on Sunday. All that is important is that Philadelphia has Nnamdi Asomugha, and that in itself should have been enough, but the Eagles still let them off the hook.

Now the word “should” is not used here to imply that Asomugha did a bad job covering Larry Fitzgerald, not at all. It is instead used to highlight the fact that the man rarely even got a crack Arizona’s No. 1, which prompts the obvious question: Why spend big money on a lock down corner if you do not plan to use him to the best of his abilities?

For years Nnamdi Asomugha made opposing no. 1 receivers look like rookies. He would, on the regular, render one side of the field off limits and force quarterbacks to treat their favorite receivers as their least favorite, all while playing for some pretty bad Oakland teams. The routine was simple; Nnamdi covers player, player gets neutralized. It’s a routine that many expected to continue this year, yet now that he’s in Philly, he is continuously and nonsensically ordered to roam around the field, made to play as if the name “Woodson” is on the back of his jersey and not Asomugha.

Rarely should analysis be simplified to one aspect of a game. Likewise, the key to winning a game rarely boils down to one question, but let’s just put the events of this game into context. The Eagles by all means were not playing well. They were not scoring points, and had 10 of their 17 off of turnovers. On the other side of the ball, the Cardinals were in the game, mainly because of Fitzgerald who was well on his way to becoming the No.1 fantasy receiver on the day. Now just imagine, what would the game have been like, if the most obvious strategy would have been taken, and if the Eagles had put their best corner on the Cardinals’ best receiver?

For those of you picturing such a scenario in your head, you won’t have to think hard. Last year Asomugha covered Larry Fitzgerald as his Raiders played Arizona, and Fitzgerald was limited to 2 catches for 26 yards, yet somehow we were still left to watch that same receiver surpass that amount of yardage on one play when covered by Jaiquawn Jarrett on a 37-yard gain that set up the eventual game winning touchdown.

All sense, all reason, all history, and even the events of the game (Asante Samuel was burned several times) would leave you to believe that had Nnamdi Asomugha been covering Fitzgerald Sunday, this type of play would never have happened, never mind the 7 catches and 146 yards that the Cards’ receiver ended up amassing.

If faced with the question of why Nnamdi was not used in a lock down role, Andy Reid will likely tell you that it was just “not in their game plan,” as he was indicated to reports since the loss, but that is just not good enough. The Eagles have lost once again, using a game plan that had obvious holes and deficiencies when they needed a win the most. The fact that the Eagles coaching staff stubbornly and unbelievably missed this opportunity to simplify their game plan on Sunday will only add more questions to crew that seems more and more to have little answers, proving once again that Philly’s opponents are not their greatest enemies this season, but they themselves are.