Nnamdi Carted Off; Hughes Ready to Step In?
A low-key Thanksgiving Day Eagles practice changed abruptly when corner Nnamdi Asomugha left the field on a cart after suffering a left knee injury, while running and cutting. After practice, the Eagles said only that Asomugha had "tweaked" the knee, pending further evaluation.
Nnamdi Carted Off; Hughes Ready to Step In?
Les Bowen
A low-key Thanksgiving Day Eagles practice changed abruptly when corner Nnamdi Asomugha left the field on a cart after suffering a left knee injury, while running and cutting. After practice, the Eagles said only that Asomugha had "tweaked" the knee, pending further evaluation.
Observers said Asomugha, the Birds' $60 million free agent corner, could not put weight on his left leg as he was helped into and out of the cart.
But corner Joselio Hanson said later that he had heard the injury "wasn't as bad as it looked" and that Asomugha could be back at practice tomorrow. That would be really unusual, given the circumstances of Asomugha's exit.
Hanson said if Asomugha is sidelined, he figures he would start opposite Asante Samuel in the base defense, but the Eagles aren't likely to play much base against the Patriots this weekend, who employ various unconventional packages, often with two playmaking tight ends. In nickel, Hanson said, he figures to stay inside, with little-used Brandon Hughes outside, and third-round rookie Curtis Marsh playing a dime role.
Hughes, 25, joined the Eagles a year ago yesterday after spending time on the Giants' practice squad. He was a fifth-round Chargers draft pick in 2009.
Hanson pointed out that corner is the Birds' deepest position, with the possible exception of defensive line. The team carries six corners on the 53-man roster, but Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie is sidelined with a high ankle sprain.
"It's an opportunity," Hughes said after practice. "Hopefully, he's all right, but if he's down, obviously I have to go in there and do what I do."
Hughes said he feels "very prepared. I've been here since preseason, been working in, just waiting for an opportunity. That's kind of the nature of the business. If he is injured, another guy has to step up, whether it's me or somebody else.
"I feel good about the gameplan, feel good about what I can do" against the NFL's second-ranked passing attack.
IF its an ACL then Nnamdi risks not being ready for next season because it happened to late in the year. Hoping intial reports are accurate about injury just being a "tweak" but being carted off and not able to put weight on knee are not encouraging signs. Usually when NFL players are carted off its a season ender. Lets hope Hanson is right but I wonder where he gets his info?— Over_Exposed- man i feel really bad for Nnamdi and with DRC out as well and we got the Patroits to play yea nless Brandon Hughes or Curtis Marsh are like outstanding corners then we might have a chance but this is really bad luck 4 the eagles cuz we got Tom Brady on Sunday i hope Nnamdi cums back!— VickaDelphia24
- nnamdi is turning out to be worth every dime we paid for him....er wait, i meant wasn't worth more than a dime...— Zero
- Brady will carve this team up without him! Unless our front four utterly dominate the game we will be in a track meet from the start. Even if we can bring significant pressure, the Pats' O-line has shown they are able to consistently give Brady time to work.— otown philly fan
- I am so glad I get to read all the intelligent Eagle fans posts I agree why go after Nnamdi when we could have saved money and brought in Sheppard and Hobbs these fans a re so intelligent they should run the team.....— Smittyaecs
- What's wrong, you don't like Jonathan Joseph or Carlos Rogers?...for a club that loves to get rid of guys a year before they feel their value slides, the Bird's put alot of coin out for a corner on the wrong side of 30...Classy guy,but has not totally fit this team to date, especially if they're going to require him to play as much zone in space as they have. — bearsfriend
- Zero is well named and expresses himself in clear stupidity.— jjthree
- who cares.....— rofratu
- No big deal........The season is over anyway.— Geno D
- Who replaces Nnamdi? What does it matter, the season is over.
Any wins the Eagles manage to stumble into for the rest of the season will just lull Reid (and the lemmings on this board) into thinking they are actually a good team. Then, they will change nothing, and next year will be more of the same.
Reid: watch the movie Groundhog Day. The moral of the story is you have to change YOURSELF before you can get out of the rut you created.
— jman - ..smart guy
- ..smart guy
- yea I dont really see it making much of a difference. He looked really great in the 4th qurater against Victor Cruz last week. Its not like they have been shutting down teams in the 4th quarter and winning games with him in there. I see him make more pass interference calls then anything else. If thats shutdown coverage you can pay Casey Mathews 50 bucks extra and he will do it almost for free. You should really look into that Joe, make something out of another one of Andy and Howie's miracle drafts.— CharlieGarner25
It's all Andy's idea to fake an injury to lull the Pats to sleep thinking they'll win. The fat man is getting that desperate. Just a theory. Times yours .. .— Justicek- Nnamdi deserves every dime. It's not his fault that the Eagles have used him poorly. Some fans (i.e. cgarner and zero) should watch more than just Eagles games and understand what's going on around the league before making ill-informed comments. Nnamdi is a top-flight corner whether some of the "football fans" on this list have never seen him play before this year or not. Corners sometimes get beat, corners sometimes draw p.i. penalties - it's part of the game.— mx55
- He was in Press coverage on Cruz when he scored. I'm beginning to believe Nnamdi was so good simply because the other corner was sooooo bad. — Cr0we
- Did any of you critics/haters happen to see the article that showed the Eagles were tops in the league defending WR's??? Its tight ends and running backs that are hurting us. NA has only been beaten a handful of times in 19 games. QBs aren't even throwing his way. I wish you all would actually try and understand the game a little better before posting your hate.— Mugwumps88
- Tom Brady...that's who's going to fill the gaping hole in Eagles defense with Asomugha out. Eagles are just snake bitten this year. They pay millions making exactly the right moves (see Cold Hard Football Facts pre-season analysis of Eagles player moves), ends up with three Pro-Bowl corner backs and is not down to one and rookies on the other side. Rookies covering Welker add up to Patriots win. It's a bad break for Eagles who had a good chance with Young, Cooper, Avant, Smith, Celek and McCoy to beat the Patriots. But it was going to take Asomugha and Samuel to be shutdown corners on defense. Now it's more like open season.— Eagles1980
- He sucks anyway. Think Izell "toast" Jenkins!— SouthPhillyToney
- I feel bad for the guy. As for the Eagles in general, does it really matter? The hope for a post season was lost when they couldn't take down the Cardinals. The way I see it, this gives someone a chance for some good playing time. They might surprise us.— PhillyFanSouth
- Nnamdi stinks. this might actually help the birds. i'll take the guy that plays for peanuts, everyday of the week, over the guy that makes a 100 million and doesnt care if they win or lose...— Apollo Creed
