When Asomugha was on Fitzgerald
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When Asomugha was on Fitzgerald
Sheil Kapadia, Philly.com
I went back and looked at how exactly the Eagles covered (or tried to cover) Larry Fitzgerald in Sunday's loss.
The big question today, a day after, has been: Why didn't Nnamdi Asomugha just shadow Fitzgerald the entire game?
And it's a valid one.
By my count, Asomugha matched up with Fitzgerald 20 times out of 46 pass plays. That doesn't mean he was always in man coverage, but, from what I could tell, on many of them, he was. On those plays, John Skelton targeted Fitzgerald just twice, and both were incompletions.
In other words, it sure looked like Asomugha locked down Fitzgerald when he was covering him.
On the final, game-winning drive, Asomugha was actually on Fitzgerald quite a bit. One of the key plays in the game was the 37-yard completion where Fitzgerald got past Jaiquawn Jarrett. What makes the Eagles' coverage on that play so puzzling is that Asomugha covered Fitzgerald on the previous six plays of the series, and Skelton threw at him once.
It wasn't as if Fitzgerald just happened to be lining up on Asomugha's side of the field, either. On three plays during that drive, Asomugha moved to the slot to cover Fitzgerald. On one play, he followed him all the way to the other side of the field. It certainly seemed like the plan on that drive was to keep Asomugha on Fitzgerald.
As I wrote earlier today, no one in the Eagles locker room had a clear explanation about what happened on the 37-yard completion. I've watched it multiple times on the TV tape, and I am really not sure. It's clear that Asomugha was not going to be on Fitzgerald on the play. He was lined up at right cornerback. Fitzgerald was initially the only receiver on the other side of the field. The Cardinals had three receivers in a bunch formation to Skelton's left. When Early Doucet motioned to the right, Hanson began to follow him, but you can see some gesturing between Hanson and Samuel.
There was obvious confusion as Samuel passed Fitzgerald off to Jarrett, who had little chance of keeping up with him.
Here's a quick breakdown of Fitzgerald's other six catches:
1. Fitzgerald lined up in the slot to Skelton's right against Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. Rodgers-Cromartie actually had pretty good coverage, but Skelton floated one just over his head, and Fitzgerald reeled it in. What made matters worse was that Rodgers-Cromartie didn't immediately focus on tackling him, and an 18-yard gain turned into a 42-yard gain.
2. Initially, it looked like Rodgers-Cromartie (playing left cornerback) was going to play up on Fitzgerald, but when the Cardinals motioned Andre Roberts to his side, Rodgers-Cromartie backed off and the Eagles were in zone. It looked like Brian Rolle intended to hit Fitzgerald within 5 yards and disrupt his pattern, but he missed. Jamar Chaney, meanwhile, bit on Skelton's pump fake, and the middle of the field was wide open for the 10-yard score.
3. Fitzgerald lined up opposite Samuel, but the Eagles double-teamed him with Jarrett. Skelton threw it up anyway. Jarrett had excellent coverage and was looking back, but couldn't come down with the ball, instead just deflecting it. Fitzgerald showed excellent concentration and made the catch for 29 yards.
4. On 3rd-and-5, Jarrett, for some reason, got matched up with Fitzgerald as Samuel floated back. Jarrett initially stuck with him as he ran his route to the middle of the field, but the Eagles pressured Skelton, who rolled to his right. Fitzgerald followed him to that side and made the 10-yard grab, even though the throw was behind him.
5. Samuel was lined up on Fitzgerald one-on-one in off coverage down near the end zone. Hanson was in the slot to that side on Roberts. The Cardinals called a screen to Fitzgerald, but Hanson did an outstanding job of reading it. He got his right hand on the ball, tried to bat it down, but instead tipped it right to Fitzgerald. I know some of you hate when I mention luck is involved, but luck was clearly involved on the 7-yard touchdown.
6. The Cardinals lined up with three receivers to Skelton's right in a bunch formation. Fitzgerald found room between Samuel and Hanson for an 11-yard gain.
As you can see, there were a number of factors involved in Fitzgerald piling up seven catches for 146 yards, including five for 94 in the fourth quarter. Tipped passes, blown coverages, bad calls and great plays by him
But given the numbers I mentioned above, it's hard to figure out why Asomugha wasn't on him for more than 20 of the 46 pass plays, considering he was having so much success.
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it's not a tough question to answer.. two words: juan castillo— jodya2- i know why he wasn't...the eagle's coaching staff is inept.
- "...it's hard to figure out why Asomugha wasn't on him for more than 20 of the 46 pass plays..."
It's simple. Andy is a fat dope who put know-nothing Castillo in charge of the D. Simple.
— techdiver - I could not agree more about the coaching staff. I'm a casual observer at home and I could see the Fitzgerald catches, except the first TD on linebackers, were all on Jarrett, although a review showed that three of them came with Samuel just playing too far off and Jarrett having to pick it up. What roles do Zordich and Caldwell play on game day? Maybe they need to step up to cover Castillo's weaknesses.— calm weather
- Yep, makes no sense to me. You sign a shutdown corner to a long-term deal as a free-agent and then you don't give him the chance to shutdown WRs, makes no sense.— JimG
- Yep, makes no sense to me. You sign a shutdown corner to a long-term deal as a free-agent and then you don't give him the chance to shutdown WRs, makes no sense.— JimG
- Amen!!— chucke9
- Castillo was Andy's fatal mistake!— JBP
they got outcoached by Ken Whisenhunt and the 3-6 cardinals. The cardinals coaches put thier best player all over the field, lined him up all over the place, trying to find every matchup possible. Its called adapting to the game, and beating your oppenent where they are weak. Reid likes to try to over-complicate football with complex schemes with small "fast" players when ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS LET ASSOUMGHA STAY ON FITZGERALD THE WHOLE GAME. He did it with the raiders an shut fitzgerald down. Instead they have assante who refuses to play the other side of the field, refuses to play man, only wants to play off-coverage and try to pick off the quarterback, then youve got a bunch of inexperienced linebackers and safties being forced to do complex zone schemes that change play to play. If youve got young players, LET THEM PLAY, KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID. Nice job. par for the course for Reid, he will continue to be outcoached over and over until he is fired. PATHETIC.- sheil the new defensive coordinator!— pking222
- The Eagles really missed Evan Mathis; within two offensive plays the Cards broke two of Vick's ribs. Kelce is already a liability there as it is. And there's the whole part time coverage dialed up by Juan Castillo. Castillo is an excellent high school defensive coordinator. He might catch an offense off-guard with a poor coverage design.— HeelYes
- Great review and analyses. Of course the cardinals will pick-on the rookie safety making his first start--and why not send the best receiver after him. 4th quarter collapse to a rookie QB no less deserves some investigation,too.— Smashmouth
- Juan Castillo called the Phillies to suggest they use Papelbon as the opening day starter.— JSaq
- Maybe we give new jobs to the coaches...Andy in charge of concessions at the park....of course if he stays 13 years he will have a scheme that loses money, but he will eat well. Morningweg will take on traffic flow outside the stadium...and streets north will go south and east will go west, only when the wind blows a direction he likes, Juan will take care of being offensive in the police and security program in the stadium...the small policemen will bethe bouncers and the strong and imposing ones will guard the recycling containers. Then he will turn defensive...and all his force will hide in the rest rooms. The outcome of this...a better football team and a hell of a mess inside and outside the stadium.— envirojoe55
- It seems too simple to me. The guy is used to covering the best receiver. He has a history of success. At the beginning of the year, you say, "Asomugha, your assignement is to cover everybody's top guy."— 4thand10
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