Did The Cowboys Figure Out How to Beat Asante Samuel?

I know, I know, Eagles fans. You do not want to even begin to think back to the catastrophe that was the final two games of the season which happened to take place against the Dallas Cowboys.

While surfing the web, I stumbled upon an interesting stat, which lays out the best–and worst–tackling corners in the NFL. The worst got me thinking.

I’m sure the worst tackler is no surprise, but for those who still may be out of the loop, it’s Philadelphia’s Asante Samuel.

Samuel is not known as a tackler, but rather as a ball-hawk and a playmaker.

After looking at those stats and thinking back to the Week 17 and Wildcard match-ups, one particular play sticks out to me that the Cowboys ran, that allowed them to expose Asante Samuel, and they ran it over and over.

The Cowboys called numerous “smoke” screens as they’re being called around the NFL, but it’s just a simple step-back screen by the wide receiver with a crew of blockers, that sometimes includes pulling lineman and tight ends.

This is where Asante Samuel’s poor tackling comes into play. It’s no secret that Sheldon Brown is a hitter. If you’re not convinced, Reggie Bush will let you know. So why not attack Samuel?

Samuel usually is never seen up in a receiver’s face and is often shown shying away from contact, and the Cowboy’s called the perfect play to exploit that tendency. They were not picking up only three or four yards, but 10-15 yards on these plays.

If more teams can pick up on this, just like the Cowboys did, than the Philadelphia Eagles should be seeing a lot more screens in 2010.

So why even have Samuel if he’s such a liability? You will be forced to put the ball down the field eventually. Especially with the high-powered offense of the Eagles putting up points, and that is where Samuel makes his presence known, but must step up as a better tackler in 2010.

One other little tidbit (since I feel like I’m ragging on the Eagles too much). Nearly all of the screens the Cowboys ran were illegal. The blockers almost always began blocking down field before the ball was caught, which is offensive pass interference. Jason Witten was called for it once, but it was never called again.

You can’t count on the refs to win a game for you, and it’s obvious that they will not call that penalty everytime it happens, so the Eagles need to find a game plan to defend it.

You got to believe the remarkable coaching staff the Eagles have will come up with something, and that next year’s match-ups will once again be great. This is the reason why the Eagles-Cowboys rivalry is one of the best in the NFL.