Posted by jellis at 12/22/2011 9:59 AM CST on dallascowboys.com
Among the Eagles' greatest personnel luxuries being depth at the cornerback position, the team found a new way to defend the Cowboys in the Week 8 matchup between the teams.
Philadelphia used star cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha in nickel packages against Jason Witten, essentially neutralizing the Cowboys' most consistent weapon in the passing game.
"He's got a lot of different kinds of attention throughout his career," Jason Garrett said. "Sometimes they'll put a linebacker on him and try to re-route him, sometimes they'll just flat out double him, and the other way teams have tried to attack him is to put a true DB on him.
Witten had only four catches for 28 yards in this season's first matchup against the Eagles, seeing part-time coverage from Asomugha. Covered in part by cornerback Ronde Barber in Tampa last week, he had a much better day, four catches and 77 yards.
"There are some issues that defenses have to have when they take one of those marquee players away from one of your receivers and cover your tight end with him. So, it kind of works both ways. There are some things that work to his advantage physically because he's a bigger guy, and at the same time, from a scheme standpoint, it also can present some problems for them. Typically what teams do is they try to do a few different things, and that's what Philadelphia has done in the past.
"We just have to be ready and be responsive during the game."
Among the Eagles' greatest personnel luxuries being depth at the cornerback position, the team found a new way to defend the Cowboys in the Week 8 matchup between the teams.
Philadelphia used star cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha in nickel packages against Jason Witten, essentially neutralizing the Cowboys' most consistent weapon in the passing game.
"He's got a lot of different kinds of attention throughout his career," Jason Garrett said. "Sometimes they'll put a linebacker on him and try to re-route him, sometimes they'll just flat out double him, and the other way teams have tried to attack him is to put a true DB on him.
Witten had only four catches for 28 yards in this season's first matchup against the Eagles, seeing part-time coverage from Asomugha. Covered in part by cornerback Ronde Barber in Tampa last week, he had a much better day, four catches and 77 yards.
"There are some issues that defenses have to have when they take one of those marquee players away from one of your receivers and cover your tight end with him. So, it kind of works both ways. There are some things that work to his advantage physically because he's a bigger guy, and at the same time, from a scheme standpoint, it also can present some problems for them. Typically what teams do is they try to do a few different things, and that's what Philadelphia has done in the past.
"We just have to be ready and be responsive during the game."
I agree...