Eagles Wake-Up Call: Rough Night For Asante


Last summer, when Asante Samuel thought he might get traded, he responded by telling reporters that perhaps the Eagles no longer needed his “play-making ability.”

The veteran cornerback, now with the Falcons, prides himself on reading quarterbacks and coming up with interceptions. His 45 picks rank fourth on the active list.

But in last night’s preseason game, the Bengals took advantage of Samuel, as wide receiver A.J. Green beat him with a double-move and hauled in a 50-yard touchdown from Andy Dalton.

“We were going at it,” Samuel said, per D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal Constitution. “I relaxed on the deep ball a little bit, and he got over on top of me.”

According to the article, Samuel has told coaches that he prefers to play on the left side to take advantage of right-handed quarterbacks (this argument may sound familiar to Sean McDermott and Juan Castillo). Normally, Falcons cornerback Brent Grimes plays the left side. Atlanta’s coaches will have to decide where everyone fits in the regular season.

The Eagles traded Samuel in exchange for a seventh-round pick. He and his teammates visit the Linc in Week 8.

WHAT YOU MISSED

Tim checks in on the progress of rookie running back Bryce Brown.

The injury report Thursday had Antonio Dixon, Nnamdi Asomugha and Joselio Hanson on it.

Eagles fullback Stanley Havili says he has a similar skill set to Leonard Weaver.

Tim’s Twitter Mailbag contains Michael Vick’s thoughts on Nick Foles.

Tra Thomas couldn’t hold back the tears when he talked about head coach Andy Reid.

And finally, I took a second shot at projecting the Eagles’ 53-man roster.

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING

Albert Breer of NFL.com stopped by Lehigh earlier this week and wrote about the relationship between Reid and Vick:

“I can honestly say he’s been the substitute for the man in my life that I don’t have right now,” Vick said. “It’s great, because I really don’t have too many people to lean on.”

The status of Cowboys tight end Jason Witten is up in the air as he recovers from a lacerated spleen. Per Todd Archer of ESPNDallas.com, the plan right now is just for Witten to rest:

Witten’s status still is uncertain for the Cowboys’ regular-season opener on Sept. 5 against the New York Giants.

Per doctor’s orders, Witten must remain idle to help the laceration close. He has been a spectator at the Cowboys’ walkthroughs the past two days and will travel with the team to San Diego on Friday.

And finally, a story about Jerry Jones, Cowboys Stadium and a burned butt. I really don’t have much more to say, except thanks to BGN for the link.

COMING UP

The Eagles practice at Novacare at 2:10, and we’ll hear from coordinators Marty Mornhinweg and Juan Castillo in the morning.

Follow Sheil Kapadia on Twitter and e-mail him at skapadia@phillymag.com.