Les Bowen: Confident Eagles plot strategy if Samuel can't play

EAGLES DEFENSIVE coordinator Sean McDermott and his players have talked a lot lately about the emerging personality of the unit, the aggressive takeaways and the swagger that the whole country got to sample in prime time Sunday night against the New York Giants.

But so far this week, corner Asante Samuel hasn't practiced, after suffering a left MCL strain late in the Giants game. There have been hints that teammates and coaches don't expect Samuel to be available Sunday at Chicago, though Samuel said yesterday his knee is feeling better and he still hopes to play. Samuel has seven of the Eagles' league-high 19 interceptions, and he personifies "swagger."

What happens if Samuel isn't on the field Sunday? Does the defense's personality change?

"No, because you still hear him on the sideline," rookie defensive end Brandon Graham joked. "I don't think so . . . When [corner Ellis] Hobbs went down, everybody didn't think [Dimitri] Patterson was gonna come in and do a good job, but he came in and did exactly what nobody thought he could do. I think we'll be good. I think coach knows what he's doing."

Apparently, the plan is to play veteran Joselio Hanson in Samuel's spot in the base defense. In nickel, Hanson would move inside, where he normally plays, and fourth-round rookie Trevard Lindley would play outside. As Lindley noted this week, he has played almost exclusively on special teams, getting on the field in the defense for only a handful of snaps in two games (including an end-of-the-game pick at San Francisco.)

A starting-cornerback tandem of Patterson and Hanson is not going to strike fear into the heart of Bears quarterback Jay Cutler. The good news might be that this is not a particularly high-powered Bears offense; Chicago is 7-3 because it has allowed a league-low 146 points, not because it has scored 191, which was the NFL's 25th-ranked figure heading into yesterday. (The Eagles ranked second, with 284 points.)

"It shouldn't [change the personality], and I hope it doesn't, because that's what we do," McDermott said. "We're a defense that plays physical football, emotional football, and we attack the offense. No matter who's in there, that's not gonna change. We expect whoever steps in, if [Samuel being out] is the case, for them to play at a high level."

If not the personality, it sure would seem to change the level of talent and experience in the secondary.

"You're talking about a lot of production there," McDermott noted. "When they're throwing the ball around, he's nice to have on the field, obviously. He's a great player, one of the best corners in the league, if not the best . . . That said, we have a lot of confidence in Hanson and what he can do, as well."

Samuel said he is "feeling real good, man, working it out, feeling better every day. Just gotta play it by ear . . . Working every day to get better . . . We'll see where I'm at tomorrow."

He said if he can't play, his absence shouldn't doom the defense.

"Nah, man, we got a lot of guys with a lot of energy and a lot of swagger," Samuel said. "I definitely don't think that'll be a problem."

Samuel missed the Oct. 10 game at San Francisco with a concussion suffered the previous week against Washington. Eagles coach Andy Reid highlighted that injury this week when discussing the $40,000 fine Samuel was assessed for his hit this past Sunday on Giants receiver Derek Hagan; Reid's point was that if Samuel had gone low, as the league seems to want, he could have ended up with his head striking Hagan's knee. That was what happened in the Washington game. A concussed corner whose helmet might blow out an opponent's knee doesn't seem any better an outcome than Hagan and Samuel banging heads, when it comes to head-injury prevention, the point of the penalties and fines.

Samuel said taking out knees is what he figures he now must do, if leading with your shoulder and then having your head ricochet into a receiver's head is going to cost $40,000.

"I'll definitely be going low, so look out," he advised.

In San Francisco, Hanson started for Samuel as the Birds held on for a 27-24 victory. The defense generated five turnovers against the then-winless 49ers, who weren't much like the Bears. The Eagles gave up two late touchdown drives, on which they seemed to sorely miss Samuel.

But as McDermott noted, Samuel isn't the only Eagle playing good defense right now. A light seems to have come on for Graham, likely to start this week for sore-hipped Juqua Parker.

"Last game [in which he forced an Ahmad Bradshaw fumble], I felt like, 'Ah, man, this is it,' like I'm starting to feel the game a little better," Graham said. "The game is coming to me a little bit more each week."

Against the Giants, middle linebacker Stewart Bradley was the force he was expected to be before last year's ACL surgery. McDermott lauded Bradley, who was effective in coverage and against the run in the Giants game.

"We're entering a period of time now where Stewart's getting himself totally back," McDermott said. "You saw that Sunday night, and really, you've seen it the last 3 or 4 weeks with his production and consistency. I think with each week that passes he continues to get more and more comfortable, and with that comes more and more confidence, and then the sky's the limit."

McDermott talked again yesterday about the young energy of his group, the way it is developing as the season progresses. He recalled being an assistant on a deep veteran defense early in his coaching tenure; this feels different, McDermott said.

"This depth, when I look out on the field during practice . . . almost every player on that second to third team or 'look' squad is either a player that wasn't here last year or is in their first year," he said. "It's a 'Who are they?' type of defense, but that's OK because we're building for the future, and there's a lot of energy and a lot of youth and speed that goes along with that. So, the depth right now is quality depth, and really more important than that, it's depth that's built from character, and with that, a great attitude to play good football." *

Send e-mail to bowenl@phillynews.com.