Nnamdi Asomugha Says Difference Between This Year And Last Is "Like Night And Day"
By Spike Eskin
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – In a much shortened preseason, the 2011 Eagles tried to fit their new players into new systems far more quickly than they normally would. As the results showed, the sped up assimilation didn't quite take, and the Eagles performed way below expectations. One of the most notable player with a disappointing 2011 season was Nnamdi Asomugha.
With the learning experience of 2011 behind him, and the 2012 season just days away, Asomugha says he's ready to perform the way he's capable of performing.
"A lot of the is out of the way now because we have had a year to do that. So I definitely feel a lot better with that, and it's night and day between this point and this point last year," Asomugha told 94WIP's Angelo Cataldi and The WIP Morning Show. "This point a year ago, it's not even close. We had been together for a few weeks, maybe three or four weeks, we had played in the preseason but there was still a lot of learning that had to be done. Still a lot of growth that had to be done."
One of Asomugha's greatest skills is lining up man to man, and using the sideline to defend a receiver. Because the Eagles had three Pro Bowl corners, Asomugha was often taken out of that position. "No, it wasn't uncomfortable for me. The person with the tough job is the coach who has got to find out how it works. For me as a player, I can't speak for the other two, I wasn't uncomfortable," Asomugha said. "I figured there was a way it could work and that we could dominate. It came together so fast, I don't think it was able to develop the way we wanted it to develop."
The biggest story of the 2012 Eagles preseason has been rookie QB Nick Foles, and that didn't go unnoticed to Asomugha. "I was standing on the sidelines with Avant and a couple of times during the preseason, and we would sit back and we would watch him, and we would look at each other every time he would make a play because it's so unusual to see a guy come in, that no one has really talked, and he's playing the quarterback position as a rookie," he said. "To come in and have some much poise and so much confidence out there, he's making audibles and checks you see five year veterans afraid to make. So it was a beautiful thing."
