For Eagles, an SOS on DRC

NOW, DOMINIQUE Rodgers-Cromartie gets the chance to show the Cardinals what they're missing. But after eight games since his trade to the Eagles, the Cards cannot be regretting the deal that netted them quarterback Kevin Kolb.

Often, DRC has been AWOL, invisible on a defense that is a perpetual SNAFU.

The Eagles use him, or rather misuse him, as a third cornerback in their nickel package. He spent the first three seasons of his career developing into a premier outside cover corner, going to the Pro Bowl after the 2009 campaign.

The defense has coughed up fourth-quarter leads in four of their five losses. It is the main reason the Eagles have just three wins and are in last place in the NFC East.

Still, DRC hopes to shine Sunday.

"I do have a little chip on my shoulder. This is a team that traded me," he said, but acknowledged that, as a nickel corner, he is not in the best position. "Am I mad? Yeah, I would like to be outside."

The Eagles moved DRC inside because he plays alongside fellow newcomer Nnamdi Asomugha, who has a headier pedigree, and Asante Samuel, an irretrievable ballhawk.

DRC plays in front of second-year safeties Kurt Coleman and Nate Allen, who have 26 starts between them; and with linebackers Jamar Chaney and Brian Rolle, who have 15 starts between them.

Finally, DRC plays for Juan Castillo, who has been a defensive coordinator for eight games.

After continuous WTF incidents, it shows, DRC said:

"There's a lot of communication errors, I can tell you that," he said. "Certain combinations coming out, and then you don't get the [defensive] call out in time. And then when the plays come, it's too late to get [the call] out."

Several times Monday night the Eagles scrambled to get the right defensive personnel on the field against the Bears.

Repeatedly, as DRC noted, players betrayed their coverage schemes before the snap. Sometimes, they simply did not mesh fluidly.

DRC, who blew coverages and missed tackles, erupted at Castillo and his teammates on the sideline late in the game, which was his worst as an Eagle.

It was more than 3 months since he was asked to acclimate himself to the slot. He has not.

"At the nickel, it's a lot of thinking. Any time as a player, you go into the game and you're always thinking, you tend to play slower," he said. "In some calls, I'm a little confused."

Despite his experience and his honors, this should not come as a surprise. Asomugha also has struggled in zone coverage. Both played almost exclusively on the outside, and both excelled at press coverage.

Moving a young Pro Bowl corner inside is virtually unheard of. Usually, a nickel corner is smaller, shiftier and less valuable - more in the mold of Joselio Hanson, a standout at the position since 2007. It took him a while to learn, too.

An injury to Lito Sheppard in 2006 got Hanson on the field for the second half of that season. A second-year player, Hanson flailed at times.

But Hanson was undrafted in 2004, appeared in 13 games that season before being released by the 49ers and did not play in the NFL in 2005. He was then signed out of NFL Europe in 2006. A 5-9, 185-pound afterthought on a team that started out 5-6, no one cared that he struggled.

The toughest challenge, he said, was anticipating receivers' routes and knowing where he was on the field.

"Knowing what guys want to do in there," Hanson said. "When you're in zone coverage, knowing where to drop in your zone. And how to play smart. If it's third-and-10, you've got to drop back to the first-down marker; don't get caught 5 yards downfield."

And don't get your hips headed the wrong way:

"In man-to-man," he said, "it's all about leverage. If you've got help inside, you've got to play outside. Don't get beat outside."

Hanson allowed that he has seen DRC, and Asomugha, for that matter, occasionally fail in each of these tasks. He is understanding:

"They haven't played slot before," he said.

Hanson is less understanding about why they keep getting chances to fail when he comes in only against four-receiver sets.

"I'm not the boss here. I'm just a worker. When they tell me to go in, I go in," Hanson said.

He hears the grumbles from outside of the organization: "I check out Twitter a little bit . . . People tell me, who are not on the team . . . who have watched me for years . . . a couple of nickel situations, 'I know you would have been on that.' "

That might be true. It appears likely that Hanson's supporters will remain frustrated.

Even DRC knows why. He continually seeks advice from Hanson, his BFF in the meeting room.

"I call him 'The True Nickel' every time I see him," DRC said of Hanson. "So, any time I can pick his brain, I try."

After 9 NFL weeks, Hanson's brain is picked clean.

And the season is nearly DOA.