Aso getting snubbed

[s.dot88]

im sure this could have been posted somewhere else, but i felt the guy at least deserved his thread, if not a probowl appearence

Asomugha belongs in Pro Bowl

Oakland Raiders cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha might miss out on the Pro Bowl this year and the biggest reason is because he is on a team that is currently 2-12. Never mind that he is the No. 1 shutdown corner on the top-rated pass defense in the NFL.


Asomugha is a former first-round pick form the 2003 draft, so the light admittedly should have come on by now. It didn't until this season, but now that it has a case could be made for Asomugha being the second-best man-to-man cover corner in the league.

That's a pretty bold statement, but consider this: the Raiders play about 95 percent man coverage, meaning Asomugha is on an island by himself on nearly every play. He has rarely been beaten this season, rarely gets safety help over the top and already has a career-high seven interceptions.

Asomugha has been so dominant in recent weeks that teams are starting to give him the "Champ Bailey treatment". By that, I mean that teams are avoiding his side of the field entirely, as they do with Bailey, who I consider the best man-to-man cover corner in the NFL. Cincinnati WR Chad Johnson does not hand out compliments very often, but he called Asomugha one of the best corners he faced this season.

I don't know if he will get he nod, but I will say this: if Nnamdi Asomugha does not get a Pro Bowl invite he will have been flat-out robbed.

sucks that he didnt make it, but he definately deserved it.

 

[hawaiianboy]

Nnamdi stepped up and made alot of skeptical Raider fans eat their gripes... I don't think it's an accident that his game improved by leaps and bounds once Wood left town and Nnamdi was assured reps and could step out from Wood's shadow... Kudos to Scrabble for putting the offseason work in and seeking out the guidance of Rod Woodson..



Let's hope next season we're seeing the same kind of self assurance and onfield improvement from Routt... You can do alot with blitz packages when you can throw three solid corners out there in man coverage...

 

[TheNextStep]

Weren't the announcers saying that Nnamdi was consulting with Ronnie Lott a bunch during the off-season, regarding route recognition and such, or am I confusing Ronnie and Rod?

 

[hawaiianboy]

from a Jerry Mac article:

I'll admit it if you will.

A lot of us thought Nnamdi Asomugha would never amount to much.

He looked the part of a Raiders cornerback, but played way off of receivers, reliniquishing everything underneath, and still managed to get beat deep once in awhile.

When Asomugha managed to get anywhere near a football, it was as if someone had stitched his thumb to his pinky on both hands. Banging two trash can lids together made less of a racket than Asomugha going for an interception.

For three years, the assembled media at Raiders training camp has turned away in horror at some of Asomugha's drops. Some of them were right out of the Rickey Dudley Hall of Fame _ hands to facemask to hands and then falling harmlessly to the ground.

Flash forward to 2006, and Bengals wide receiver Chad Johnson is talking up Asomugha and fellow corner Fabian Washington as if they were Hayes and Haynes all over again.

Asomugha has five interceptions, has been a sure tackler and has stuck to his man like glue on countless passes that have fallen incomplete. Five interceptions, by the way, was Oakland's team total in 2005 and five more than Asomugha had in his first three seasons.

So I was wrong.

What happened?

One, Asomugha is worker. Art Shell was talking the other day about how Asomugha stayed after practice to work on catching the ball. Usually the thrower is strength coach Jeff Fish, who must have been a quarterback at some point because he throws a pretty nice pass.

I don't recall for sure, but Asomugha was probably out there working as Shell spoke, because he's out there almost every day. Jerry Rice used to do that, even though he'd already been Jerry Rice for some time.

Haven't seen Randy Moss working late even one time, but I digress. Asomugha has worked on catching the ball.

Asomugha has also worked on the mental game. He was a frequent visitor to Rod Woodson's Pleasanton home even after Woodson retired, watching film and learning his craft.

A few times this season, Asomugha has been in the secondary and had thrown the ball directly to him, and it's not all luck. It's because he had a pretty good idea where the ball was going, because of his own study and all those Woodson sessions.

Another thing in Asomugha's favor has been stability. He's remained in one position and learned how to play on the island. No more experiments at safety, where a lot of people, including yours truly, figured he'd be all along.

Last off-season, I'd have told you Asomugha was a typically bad Raiders pick. A guy who fit the profile of what they wanted in a cornerback but who lacked the football instinct and actual skill to achieve it. One of those guys who the Raiders say "looks good coming off the bus.''

Like most in the media (in football we've got six days of stories to write in between games), I hit a sour note more often than I'd like to admit. This is one of those times, but Asomugha seems like such a solid guy and is such a diligent worker, I don't mind admitting it.

 

[Jack's sore libido]

This year in the AFC you have a lot of deserving CBs.

Rashean Mathis, Champ Bailey and Nnamdi Asomugha would be my choices, but Asante Samuel and PacMan Jones deserve mention as well.

Unfortunately, Chris McAllister is taking one of their spots.

 

[s.dot88]

i mean, i understand Sapp not making it beacause, simply, "who do you take off"

but IMO, homering aside, Aso should have made it ahead of CM

not to take anything away from what McCalister has doen this year, but he is in a much better position than Aso, yet didnt put up the same numbers(close, but not the same)

 

[Banter]

Ok, where did Aso wind up in the fan voting? Without looking I'm guessing thats what killed him. I'm hearing he might be the 1st alternate at CB. If so then he made up a lot of ground with the coaches/players votes.