Did Lee Evans even get a catch last night, given Samuel was covering him all night?
edit: answered my own question.
1-10-BUF 18 (Q1 14:53) (Shotgun) 7-J.Losman pass deep left to 83-L.Evans pushed ob at BUF 34 for 16 yards (27-E.Hobbs). Caught along sideline at BUF 34.
2-10-BUF 30 (Q1 6:28) 7-J.Losman pass short right to 83-L.Evans pushed ob at BUF 39 for 9 yards (22-A.Samuel). Caught along sideline at BUF 39.
2-10-BUF 41 (Q1 5:15) 7-J.Losman to BUF 30 for -11 yards (97-J.Green). FUMBLES (97-J.Green), and recovers at BUF 25. 7-J.Losman pass short right to 86-M.Gaines to NE 46 for 13 yards (22-A.Samuel).
3-6-BUF 33 (Q2 3:05) (Shotgun) 7-J.Losman pass deep middle to 83-L.Evans to BUF 49 for 16 yards (37-R.Harrison). Caught at BUF 49. New England challenged the pass completion ruling, and the play was REVERSED. (Shotgun) 7-J.Losman pass incomplete deep middle to 83-L.Evans. Pass bounced to receiver at BUF 49.
2-7-NE 34 (Q3 6:18) 7-J.Losman pass incomplete short left to 83-L.Evans (27-E.Hobbs) [75-V.Wilfork]. Receiver and coverage along sideline at NE 22.
1-10-BUF 47 (Q4 11:55) 7-J.Losman pass incomplete deep middle to 83-L.Evans (27-E.Hobbs). Receiver and coverage at NE 5.
1-10-BUF 35 (Q4 3:49) 22-F.Jackson right tackle to BUF 38 for 3 yards (22-A.Samuel, 94-T.Warren).
3-5-BUF 40 (Q4 2:24) (Shotgun) 7-J.Losman pass short left to 83-L.Evans to BUF 46 for 6 yards (27-E.Hobbs). Caught in flat at BUF 43.
2-6-midfield (Q4 1:12) (Shotgun) 7-J.Losman pass short left to 83-L.Evans ran ob at NE 41 for 9 yards. Caught along sideline at NE 41.
Asante was covering Evans most of the game and essentially took him out of the game. Plus made a tackle on a running play and on the broken-play fumble-recovery-scramble-pass for a 1st down routine. Not a bad performance. Did roughly the same to Reggie Wayne too.
Did you pay attention to the fact that it was Hobbs on Evens during some of those plays you quoted? Lee Evans has usually been covered by Hobbs the past few years, and for some reason, he generally does absolutely nothing against the Patriots.
Asante Samuel covered Moorehead and others a lot more than he covered Reggie Wayne against the Colts. Hobbs got a lot of time against Wayne in this years game, and he covered him for the most part in the AFCCG. I agree that Asante is very good, but let's not forget what's actually taken place in these games. Oh, and I like how that was the first TD Hobbs has given up this season, and some of us are getting on him for it, when Asante had already given up 3 TD's prior to the Buffalo game. Let's also forget Hobbs' heads up play where he cought the fumble out of the air, and returned it for a TD in this very same Buffalo game.
I'm going to tell all those saying "Keep Asante, and let Stallworth go" that you are completely off. That's right, Asante Samuel has nothing to do with NE's ability to keep Stallworth past this season, and Semual's leaving won't be effected by Stallworth. Here's the deal, NE has already offered the guy a decent contract, and about the max they were willing to offer. Samuel said the offer was almost insulting, and he wanted $10M+ per year, with something like $30M+ over the first three years. He wouldn't agree to sign his tender that earns him $7.79M for one year, until NE agreed not to franchise him next year, if they won 12 games.
Asante IS going to hit free agency, someone WILL give him what he wants, and it is NOT going to be the Patriots.
Sorry, but I really believe you are dreaming if you think Asante Samuel's wearing a Patriots uniform in 2008. Yea, I'd like to keep the guy to, and hopefully he'll come around, but I wouldn't bank on it.
Also, in the past BB and Pioli have proven more than capable of finding replacements in the secondary, and they've been able to get by with other teams practice squad players, so I don't understand why any of you worry so much about Asante moving on. Oh, Let's also remember NE has some pretty nice draft picks this year, and there is going to be a decent amount of top level DB's in this years draft for NE to choose from.