Asante Samuel

It started with allowing Asante Samuel to leave as a free agent. New England took action to replace him by drafting Terrance Wheatley and Jonathan Wilhite in the 2008 draft. 

The following off-season, after witnessing the failure of last year’s decisions (promoting Ellis Hobbs to right corner back and signing Deltha O’Neal), the Pats again addressed the problem area by drafting Darius Butler and signing veterans Shawn Springs and Leigh Bodden. 

Continue reading "Very INTeresting"

fense limited the Eagles to just three field goals (although an interception of Tarvaris Jackson by Asante Samuel gave them 16 points for the half).  On offense, the Vikings looked more than decent against a difficult-to-decipher Philly defense and got two Adrian Peterson runs for scores.

Continue reading "Eagles 26, Vikings 14: Can't Quite ..."

LB Junior Seau was chasing the ring that eluded him for 18 years. CBs Asante Samuel and Randal Gay were free agents, as was S Eugene Wilson. The deal they signed WR Donte Stallworth to was a one year contract in disguise.

Continue reading "Eye to the future"

Sounds like the Asante Samuel-type before there was Asante Samuel.

To make room for O'Neal, TE Stephen Spach was released. But the Patriots are far from done. They've hosted G Evan Mat

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High School before moving on to the University of Maine for college.

And then there's old friend Asante Samuel. It was no surprise that he took the money and ran to the Eagles as a free agent. Tonight he gets to give his final good-bye to the fans, which may not be very hospitable to "A$ante $amuel."

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haw to roll Woods over and strip the ball away while under the scrumOn the touchdown pass to Tyree, Asante Samuel went for the interception. Samuel looked in position to reach around with one arm to bat the ball away, forcing a third downBut that pales in comparison to the pass that was thrown right at Samuel during the final drive. The pass was high, but Asante was all alone and should had come down with the ballJarvis Green and Richard Seymour had Eli Manning in their grasp but failed to bring him down. Credit the Giants offensive linemen for not giving up and knocking Seymour and Green off their quarterback, but Eli will be their story of the one that got awayAs mentioned earlier, Merriweather had a chance at a game-winning pick, but like the other opportunities during the season, the rookie didn't catch the ball

Continue reading "The reveiw of XLII"

Losing CB Asante Samuel will hurt. CB Randall Gay was serviceable as the third corner. When healthy, OLB Rosevelt Colvin came up big in crucial moments and provided a good pass rush opposite of OLB Mike Vrabel.

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Your chances of making the roster just got a lot slimmer.

In former Patriots news, Philly CB Asante Samuel tweaked his hamstring the other day. Fortunately he should be alright, but I'm thinking what's up with Patriots players leaving and having bad luck? WR David Givens barely played for Tennessee after he signed with the Titans. WR Deion Branch had similar problems with Seattle, though health was a problem even when he was with the Pats. And Joe Andruzzi had it worse when he left. In 2007 he developed cancer while with the Cleveland Browns. Joe is winning his fight against cancer.

Continue reading "Another former Jet"

Analysts bemoan the departures of players like Asante Samuel and Donte Stallworth. They talk of the resigning of Randy Moss as if this was a season saving move for the Patriots. They seem to forget that it was not too long ago that Pats were beating teams like St. Louis and Philadelphia (w/Terrell Owens) using players like Randall Gay, Earthwind Moreland, and even Troy Brown (wide receiver/return man/cornerback). What people used to love about the Patriots was the way they won as a team. Every victory was a labor of toughness and grit, every defensive stand coming from sheer force of will rather than large contract stars. The Pats ground down their opponents. Offense wasn't about long bombs to Randy Moss, it was about small short range passes to everyone on the offense (David Givens, David Patten, Deion Branch, Christian Fauria) and tough short runs by Kevin Faulk and Antowain Smith.  Defense was about big plays when they counted. Ty Law getting four interceptions against Peyton Manning in a snow storm. Troy Brown picking off opposing quarterbacks 3 times despite being an offensive player his entire career. Willie McGinest stopping Edgerrin James on fourth and goal at the one yard line. That was what Patriots football was all about. It was their smash mouth, in-your-face toughness and desire that beat opponents. 

Continue reading "Is the dynasty dead? Not likely."

ach Bill Belichick and his staff of coaches and scouts reached the conclusion that they would draft Asante Samuel's replacement, did they think he should look like Samuel too?

Terrence Wheatley has about the same build as the free agent corner that signed with Philadelphia. You know, 5-9, 178 pounds, like the average Patriots corner. But what's funny is Wheatley has a mop of dreads too! Will Belichick teach Wheatley to act like Samuel too? Will he work with a speech coach to develop a southern drawl? We won't forget Samuel because Wheatley is almost a clone!

Continue reading "Asante's replacement"

Sure they lost two corners in Asante Samuel and Randall Gay, as well as safety Eugene Wilson, but I found it hard to ignore the age factor as well as the lack of depth at the linebacker position.

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Much like what can be said about me posting nothing in 2 weeks. They're both not good.

Asante Samuel, Randall Gay, Roosevelt Colvin, Eugene Wilson, Donte Stallworth, and of course, Oscar Lua are the recent casualties of the Patriots Super Bowl... attending 2007 team. When you look at the contracts taht some of these guys have gotten, (17.6$ Million for Gay, anyone?) it's easy to see how the Patriots justify letting them go.

Continue reading "Pats Keep Moss, Lose Everyone Else"

First is what to do about Asante Samuel, and that is to give him a contract that will make him the highest paid CB if he hits similar performance clauses that he was able to hit this year. Let’s face it, he is better than Nate Clements or at the least better due to the team he is on. Last year one or the arguments against giving him a huge contract was that he didn’t have a long enough track record to justify the money, well now he has had another year of excellent play. What signing Asante will do is solidify one portion of an aging defense. It generally is not the Patriots policy to make one of their players the top paid in any position ( Tom Brady isn’t paid top dollar). That being said, I feel that Asante will be gone and that he will be a New York Jet.

Continue reading "Mortgaging the future with Moss and Samuel"