Eagles

A good breakdown from Grantland of why the Eagles didn't meet expectations this year. Interesting section:

Problem 3: What Happened to Nnamdi Asomugha?

There is nothing that Nnamdi Asomugha could not do as a cornerback for the Oakland Raiders. He tackled well. He read plays well. He played effectively in both man and zone coverage. He basically played like he was on a higher level. Notably, though, the Raiders only occasionally moved Asomugha around to follow the opposing team's top receiver, and they almost never put him in the slot. Most of the time, they just kept him on one side of the field and let him do his thing with great success.

Once Asomugha got to the Eagles, things changed. With such a versatile skill set, it seemed logical to turn Asomugha into a defensive Swiss Army knife, but the move failed. What we forgot is that Asomugha's rise from good cornerback to transcendent defensive operative came when he learned to use the sideline like an extra teammate. When the Eagles turned him into Charles Woodson lite and moved him into the center of the field, he lost his extra teammate and, with it, his effectiveness as a cover corner. After years of avoiding him like the plague, teams were comfortable going after Asomugha throughout the year with lesser entities like Victor Cruz. Before suffering a knee injury in practice last week and a concussion last night, even Asomugha couldn't help from expressing his frustrations with the new role.

This makes a lot of sense to me. When I was in college, I played marking back on my soccer team. My first two seasons, me and the other marking back, were one of our teams strengths and we were one of the better defensive teams in the league. My junior year, the other marking back graduated and so we were going to inevitably have a drop off at the position. Our coach tried a new plan, moving me to sweeper and bringing in two new marking backs, thinking that as sweeper, I might be able to compensate for the drop off at the other positions. It didn't work. I was a worse sweeper than marking back and the other guys were worse than what we had the other year. We ended up fiddling around with the line up a lot of the year, but for the most part, I returned to marking back, and got first team all league and 2nd team all far west, (although, I'm not convinced I was substantially better than in my first two seasons, but those awards tend to favor guys who have been around and teams with winning records). Basically, I was a very good D3 marking back and only a so-so sweeper. Why?

I've bounced around theories in my head. On the one hand, I only played sweeper for a few games and didn't have any experience at the position, so perhaps, given time, I could have learned. But that theory doesn't make complete sense, because before playing marking back in college, I had never played that position either and I jumped right in. Another theory is that my particular skill set as a player was suited to marking back and not to sweeper. Another theory is that I could have been a very good sweeper with other strong marking backs.

I tend to think it is the 2nd theory. I had played a lot of left wing throughout my soccer career before being a center midfielder in high school. But I was very familiar with playing along the sideline and the spacing on the side of the field (similar to a CB in football). Playing sweeper, the spacing is totally different and if you aren't familiar with it, easy to get out of position. Trying to adjust to new spacing in real-time (ie a game) is impossible. You cannot just jump right in and expect to know it.

I imagine Asomugha's skills as a corner were the result of years and years of practicing, trial and error, understanding his own strengths, and perfecting a very specific craft. Asking him to do an entirely different thing, although seemingly similar, is a tall order -- especially if you expect the same high level of excellence.