Eagles backed into a corner

It seemed like a good idea at the time. I mean, when you're coming off a season in which you gave up a franchise-record 31 touchdown passes, can you ever really have too many good cornerbacks?

It was like asking the Phillies whether you could ever really have too many good pitchers. The difference is, the Phils didn't have to figure out a way for Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee and Cole Hamels to play together. The Eagles do.

In Nnamdi Asomugha, Asante Samuel and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, the Eagles have arguably the best cornerback trio in the NFL.

Yet their pass defense never has been worse. They already have given up 11 touchdown passes in five games. Opposing quarterbacks have a 104.3 passer rating against them. They have only three interceptions.

A lot of the pass-defense problems, as with the run-defense problems, have to do with their linebackers and safeties. But Asomugha, Samuel and Rodgers-Cromartie are far from blameless.

As new defensive coordinator Juan Castillo racks his brain trying to figure out how best to use these three talented cover men, they have looked like square pegs futilely trying to fit into round holes.

The solution? It's time for one of them to go.

The NFL trading deadline is Tuesday, and if I'm the Eagles and can get a decent linebacker and/or a high draft pick for Samuel or Rodgers-Cromartie, I'd do it in a minute. If not, then they need to bench DRC and give the slot-corner job back to the best slot corner on the team - Joselio Hanson.

Castillo has tried using both Asomugha and Rodgers-Cromartie inside, but it has become apparent that neither of them is suited for the job. Neither of them is physical enough. Neither of them tackles well enough, which has hurt the defense not only against the pass, but also the run.

"Guys that are comfortable inside - good in run support, great tacklers - they want to tackle," an NFC pro personnel director told me. "None of these guys are that. People talk about Nnamdi and Rodgers-Cromartie being long [tall]. But being long isn't necessarily an advantage inside. You need quickness more than height. You need physical tackling ability. That's not what those guys do.

"Hanson really understands the position and really knows how to defend those [inside] routes. Most of those routes are option routes. It's not like you can really read those routes. Because the receiver doesn't even know what he's going to do until he takes off. Joselio just reacts really, really well. He's sticky. That's what you need. A fiery, sticky competitor."

Rodgers-Cromartie never has played in the slot before and acknowledged this week he still is struggling to learn the position.

"There's a lot more responsibility inside," he said. "You've got to read the run and pass. Different cover schemes. It's a lot harder. But I'm putting the time in and getting used to it."

Said Castillo: "You've got to try to get those three guys on the field. DRC, you know, he likes that [slot] position. A lot of times, he's man-to-man in there, and he likes to be in man-to-man. He'll get better every week with it."

DRC doesn't sound like a guy who likes it and doesn't look like a guy who's going to get better every week with it.

SQUARE PEG, ROUND HOLE

The Eagles found Hanson in NFL Europe in 2005 after the 49ers cut him. He's quicker than he is fast. The late Jim Johnson, an absolute genius at maximizing a player's talents and minimizing his deficiencies, recognized Hanson's potential as a slot corner.

"You've got to be well-rounded when it comes to the game of football," Hanson said when I asked him what it takes to be a good slot corner. "You've got to be able to tackle. You've got to be able to cover.

"Sometimes, corners that can't tackle, they can kind of stay out there [on the outside] on an island and still be good players, even great players. But inside, if you can't tackle, you're going to get exposed."

And if your slot corner can't tackle, it makes your nickel package even more susceptible to the run, which was the case in Buffalo. The Bills spread the Eagles out with three-wide-receiver sets most of the game, then ran the ball 35 times.

Can you ever really have too many good corners? When none of them can play the slot, yes.

THIS AND THAT

* The 0-5 Colts fully expect Peyton Manning to return next season from neck surgery. But the 35-year-old future Hall of Famer isn't getting any younger. Owner Jim Irsay said this week that if his team should be in position to draft Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck next April, it would be hard to pass on him, even if they think Manning has 3 to 4 more Pro Bowl years left. "Guys like that come along so rarely," Irsay said. "Even if that means the guy sits for 3 or 4 years, you'd certainly think about taking him. You see what Green Bay did with [Brett] Favre and [Aaron] Rodgers, and you'd like to be able to do the same thing."

* The Eagles not only are turning the ball over a lot (15 giveaways), they're also not forcing many turnovers (only five takeaways in five games). They have a league-worst minus-10 turnover total. Of the 36 teams that have qualified for the playoffs the last three seasons, only six - the '10 Colts, Saints and Seahawks, the '09 Cardinals and the '08 Vikings and Falcons - had a negative turnover figure. Just two of those teams - the '10 Seahawks (minus-9) and the '09 Cardinals (minus-7) - had a turnover number of minus-7 or worse. The combined figure of those 36 playoff teams: plus-236.

FIGURING THE EAGLES

* In the Eagles' first three games, Andy Reid did a pretty good job of maintaining some offensive balance. The Eagles ran 206 plays in those three games. If you factor in Michael Vick's runs as pass plays, which most of them started out as, 128 of those 206 plays, or a reasonable 62.1 percent, were pass plays. In the last two games, they ran 128 plays. Again factoring in Vick's runs as pass plays, a staggering 102 of their 128 offensive plays against the 49ers and Bills, or 79.6 percent, were pass plays. That's sick. I know it's a passing league, and I know they trailed by as much as 21 points against the Bills in the second half, and I know both the 49ers and Bills employ 3-4 defensive fronts. But that's sick.

* In their first three games, the Eagles lined up in two-tight-end sets on 71 of 206 plays (34.4 percent). In their last two games, they've used two-tight-end sets on only 19 of 128 plays (14.8). In the first three games, they lined up in three- and four-wide-receiver formations on 97 of 206 plays (47.1). In the last two games: 93 of 128 plays (72.7).

* The Eagles are tied for 23rd in the league in red-zone offense. They've converted only 10 of 24 trips inside the 20 into touchdowns. Vick is 15-for-24, with six touchdown passes and one interception in the red zone. Wide receiver Jeremy Maclin has been Vick's go-to guy in the red zone. He has five receptions for 39 yards and three TDs. The rest: LeSean McCoy, 4-7-1; Jason Avant, 2-22-0; Brent Celek, 2-11-0; Clay Harbor, 1-16-1; and DeSean Jackson, 1-6-1. Think about those last two for a moment. The team's No. 2 tight end has been as productive in the red zone as the guy who considers himself one of the best receivers in the league.

* The Eagles are sixth in the league in third-down efficiency, converting 44.3 percent of their third-down situations, even though they've been abysmal on third-and-short. The Eagles have converted only six of 10 third-and-1s, and 11 of 21 third downs of 3 yards or less (52.4 percent). Last year, the Eagles converted 58.8 percent of their third downs of 3 yards or less.

2-MINUTE DRILL

From the Lip:

* "It was quite entertaining. My job is to focus in on what we're doing, get things corrected the way they need to be. But when you look up at the scoreboard and we're winning, you don't expect to hear that. Things happen, and you just stay the course." - Vikings QB Donovan McNabb on the booing he got during 34-10 win over the Cardinals

* "I believe he's got a chance to be like Ray [Lewis], one of the all-time greats. Another thing I admire and respect about Patrick is he goes about it in a very non-self-perpetuating way. Very, about the time, not just about himself. Everybody in the building respects him even one more rung of the ladder because of that." - 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh on linebacker Patrick Willis

* "How much blame am I willing to take? I'm the coach. We've won one game. The blame obviously falls on me."

- Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt on his team's 1-4 start

By the Numbers:

* Eighteen teams have a .500 or better record through 5 weeks. Half of them won six games or fewer last year. Their combined record this season: 29-13. Their combined record last year: 49-95.

* Seven times this season already, a team that trailed by at least 17 points has come back to win. That's the most through the first 5 weeks in league history.

* The Lions and 49ers enter Week 6 with a combined 9-1 record. Through 5 weeks last year, they were 1-9. That doesn't happen in the NBA, which is why nobody seems to care whether it plays this season.

* With a win over Dallas tomorrow, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and coach Bill Belichick will tie Dan Marino and Don Shula for the most wins by a quarterback-coach duo in the Super Bowl era (since 1966). Marino and Shula won 116 games together with the Dolphins from 1983 to '95. Donovan McNabb and Andy Reid are fifth on the list with 92 wins, behind Marino-Shula, Brady-Belichick, Terry Bradshaw-Chuck Noll (107) and Jim Kelly-Marv Levy (99).

THAT'S SAYING THUMBTHING

Thumbs Up: To wide receiver Jason Avant and defensive end Juqua Parker, who didn't hide from the media after making critical mistakes in the Eagles' 31-24 loss to the Bills on Sunday. Avant caught a career-high nine passes, but had the ball stripped twice in the final 20 minutes, including late in the fourth quarter when the Birds were driving for a potential game-tying touchdown. Parker, the Eagles' most experienced player, jumped offsides on a fourth-down play with a minute-and-a-half to go, preventing the Eagles from getting the ball back. But Avant and Parker are standup guys and willingly answered reporters' questions in the locker room.

Thumbs Down: To DeMaurice Smith and the players union, which continues to drag its feet on human growth hormone testing. The NFLPA agreed to HGH testing when it signed the new collective bargaining agreement in August. But it keeps coming up with excuses to delay it. NFLPA spokesman George Atallah suggested this week that the union is concerned about the ratio of naturally occurring HGH in the body that the World Anti-Doping Agency, whose test the league will use, deems acceptable. He said the union is concerned that football players might have a greater amount of naturally occurring HGH than athletes who participate in other sports that test for HGH. C'mon, De. Players who were using HGH have had plenty of time to get the stuff out of their system by now. Roll up your sleeve and make a fist already.

DOMO'S RANKINGS

1 Packers 5-0 (1 last week)

2 Saint 4-1 (2)

3 Patriots 4-1 (3)

4 Ravens 3-1 (4)

5 Lions 5-0 (6)

6 Steelers 3-2 (7)

7 Chargers 4-1 (9}

8 Bills 4-1 (10)

9 49ers 4-1 (13)

10 Texans 3-2 (5)

11 Redskins 3-1 (15)

12 Bucs 3-2 (8)

13 Raiders 3-2 (18)

14 Jets 2-3 (11)

15 Bears 2-3 (12)

16 Falcons 2-3 (14)

17 Giants 3-2 (16)

18 Titans 3-2 (17)

19 Cowboys 2-2 (19)

20 Browns 2-2 (22)

21 Bengals 3-2 (23)

22 Eagles 1-4 (20)

23 Panthers 1-4 (24)

24 Seahawks 2-3 (27)

25 Rams 2-4 (25)

26 Cardinals 1-4 (21)

27 Chiefs 2-3 (30)

28 Jaguars 1-4 (26)

29 Broncos 1-4 (28)

30 Vikings 1-4 (32)

31 Colts 0-5 (29)

32 Dolphins 0-4 (31)

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Send email to pdomo@aol.comFor more Eagles coverage and opinion, read the Daily News' Eagles blog, Eagletarian, at www.eagletarian.com. Follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/PDomo.