Re: James sanders cut (merged)
The Pats had the 5th ranked pass defense in 2007.
FOOTBALL OUTSIDERS: Innovative Statistics, Intelligent Analysis | 2007 DEFENSIVE EFFICIENCY RATINGS and Samuels 6 INTS helped NE get to the Super Bowl
Asante Samuel NFL & AFL Football Statistics - Pro-Football-Reference.com I dont see Butler or the other scrubs below him helping the NE pass D to get better.
And you think Butler and Wilhite can do better? Really? Butler was on the field last Saturday during 2 TDs.
LOL. Aside from the Philly game, he didn't help us get to the SB. I looked up the games he got INT's.
Bills, Bengals, Browns, Redskins, and two against the Eagles (one for a td).
Asante is a pure Cover 2 corner, despite whatever asinine idea he has in his head about him.
This is the player who would thought BB had something against him.
"I ain’t never said it, but Belichick, I just felt like he had a thing for me," Samuel said. "He had something against me. I have no idea why. He was going to start Troy Brown, a receiver, at nickel [corner] and I’m over here sitting healthy and he don’t want to even play me."
Samuel felt he wasn’t ever full appreciated for his 22 picks in a Patriots uniform, blaming the media and Belichick for that one, too.
"Ty Law in New England, he’s making all these picks," Samuel said. "Oh, he’s a great corner, this and that. But I all of a sudden go and do it (and it’s), ‘Oh, he’s in a Cover 2 defense, that’s why he isn’t as good and this and that.’ But when Ty Law does it, it’s all gravy."
Finally, Samuel takes on the notion that people criticize the fact that he doesn’t absolutely love to tackle. You think that? Yup, you’re drinking Haterade.
"If you can’t respect that, you’re hatin’," Samuel said. "Anybody else had those stats, people would be going crazy.
Asante Samuel was a Cover-2 CB most of the time. He, more often than not, had a S over the top and was playing a shorter zone (with the occasionally Cover-3 or Cover-4 deep zone). Lot of picks, no tackles, because he hovered back and let someone else do the physical work.
Ty Law could occasionally play man, and that let guys like Rodney Harrison blitz. The Safeties never really blitzed in the Samuel-as-main-CB years, because Hoodie could never afford to not have a S over the top of Asante Samuel. If he didn’t get a pick (and that was 50% of the time), it was a TD at the other end, unless that S was in place over the top.
Obvious example being helmet-ball – Samuel’s in a short zone, comes off his man because he’s eyeballing the QB, and then inexplicably comes forward to attack Eli Manning instead of dropping back to get into a passing lane. And sure enough, Hot Rod was (almost!) in position to save Asante’s butt.
If you read the rest of that article, Asante Samuel thought it was a conspiracy by Hoodie to keep Samuel out of the Hall of Fame…
This is an eagle's reporter's thoughts about the great Asante
“I see a free-lancing cornerback on one side — Asante Samuel — who has a terrific knack for intercepting passes, but is allergic to tackling and playing press coverage, and frequently got his lunch eaten on bubble screens last season as teams started noticing he was lining up in another zip code,” Domowitch wrote last week.
Oh, I also remember this little tibbit from the idiot
Back in 2004 Asante Samuel flipped out when Belichick played Troy Brown at CB instead of him.
"I ain’t never said it, but Belichick, I just felt like he had a thing for me," Samuel said [to Mosher]. "He had something against me. I have no idea why. He was going to start Troy Brown, a receiver, at nickel [corner] and I’m over here sitting healthy and he don’t want to even play me."
If you really think that the 'great Asante' was the reason we went 18-0, then you have to blame him for Black Sunday
The Giants scored 17 points and Asante Samuel was responsible for 7 of them.
He also blew the coverage on helmet-catch – Asante Samuel was meant to be man-covering David Tyree, covered him for a while until Eli Manning broke out of the pocket, and then for mindbogglingly stupid reasons let his man come uncovered and tried to charge down Eli for the sack. He was only incredibly lucky that Rodney Harrison saw Asante leave his guy, because otherwise Tyree would’ve been completely uncovered and might have even scored.
So that’s two ways in which Asante Samuel screwed up in the most important defensive drive of a Super Bowl.
In case you bring up his personal accolades especially from his last year. Here is my rebuttal.
Samuel's stats were artificial. He was only asked to do the short zone in a Cover-2, so anything deep wasn’t assigned to him in terms of attributing blame for blown coverages, etc. Samuel wouldn’t ever go deep, so he never had a deep pass listed against his name. Quintin Mikell saved Samuel’s bacon so many times it wasn’t funny in that respect. Heck, even Cris Collingsworth said the same thing during one of the Eagles SNF game last year.
I suspect that’s why Andy Reid was so intent on replacing Samuel in the lineup – a) he’s very limited in terms of what he can/will do, and b) no more Mikell in 2011. He’s great if he plays to his strength (he’s only got one – sitting in a short zone and reading the QB), but if he’s asked to do more… bleh.
He knows it, too. He flipped out whenever anyone called him a “Cover-2 CB” in New England
Ty Law in New England, he’s making all these picks," Samuel said. "Oh, he’s a great corner, this and that. But I all of a sudden go and do it (and it’s), ‘Oh, he’s in a Cover 2 defense, that’s why he isn’t as good and this and that.’ But when Ty Law does it, it’s all gravy."
"If you can’t respect that, you’re hatin’," Samuel said. "Anybody else had those stats, people would be going crazy."
Cool story, Asante. Yet both Belichick and Reid have considered Samuel expendable at one time or another
Reid reported wanted to trade McNabb + Samuel for Asomugha a couple of years ago.
Oooh btw, since you really want the 'great Asante' back in NE, why don't we also bring in another idiot-AD/AT
Good riddance locker room cancers.
