Will Asante Samuel shut down Steve Smith?

[Fireball77]

I wonder how much better Roddy White did in 2008 with demigod Matt Ryan than he did with Redman/Redmond/whatever the eff his name is and Harrington in 2007?

Smitty would probably be a slot receiver with NE and Indy and wouldn't get the opportunities.

[Vagrant]

What the f**k are you talking about? So what, Smitty had all 1400+ of his yards last season on the smoke route? They really dont run that play much anymore....its not 2003, and Dan Hennings isnt the OC.

Dude.... seriously? They don't run the smoke route anymore? That is an absolute staple of this offense with Smith. Additionally, I didn't just say they threw him the smoke route.... he also had a lot of routes he had to jump ball for. Delhomme struggles to lead his passes and that negates some of Smith's speed on routes.

[Davidson Deac II]

He did last year

last year was held to 1 reception for 9 yards and we barely won that game

Not by himself. He had help. No corner in the NFL can shut down a good receiver by himself. The Raiders had decent pressure on Jake, Jake made some pretty bad throws, and when he threw the ball well, none of our receivers could hold on to the ball. Its a good thing that the raiders offense looked even more inept than ours did. Its also good that we had Deangelo Williams.

[nosuchthingasapanther]

He did last year

last year was held to 1 reception for 9 yards and we barely won that game

not taking anything away from how good he is, but that wasn't all asomugha.

as a matter of fact, delhomme threw to smith only once with asomugha covering him resulting in an interception. i remember because it was early in the game...they (delhomme/smith) had already decided before the game that they were going to test asomugha early since they had never played against him before.

the fact is, smith was covered by 4 different defenders...johnson being the one with the most frequency.

smith was ineffective that game because delhomme couldn't pass worth a crap...4 interceptions.

[God]

I wonder how much better Roddy White did in 2008 with demigod Matt Ryan than he did with Redman/Redmond/whatever the eff his name is and Harrington in 2007?

Smitty would probably be a slot receiver with NE and Indy and wouldn't get the opportunities.

Slot receiver? Doubtful. I wouldn't think he would put up anywhere near the amount of yards as he does here. Simply because, the elite QBs don't have tunnel vision like Jake does.

[Cat'sGrowl]

To even put Samuel in the same breath as Asomugha is foolish.

Asomugha is the only true shut down corner in the league.

Samuel is one if the most overrated corners in the league.

Also, let's not be so quick to say "Asomugha shut Steve down"

Oakland was Jakes other miserable performance.

Not to mention we ran most of that game anyways.

Smitty versus Nnmadi when Jake is playing sharp would epic match up-unfortunatley, Jake didn't look sharp in Oakland last year.

[Cat'sGrowl]

Dude.... seriously? They don't run the smoke route anymore? That is an absolute staple of this offense with Smith. Additionally, I didn't just say they threw him the smoke route.... he also had a lot of routes he had to jump ball for. Delhomme struggles to lead his passes and that negates some of Smith's speed on routes.

No..dude..seriously..they don't run the smoke route anymore..

I know it's hard to understand if your not watching the game..

But I believe the last smoke route to Steve was in '05.

They did do it about once or twice to Moose last year, if that's why you consider "staple of the offense"

Don't be mentally challenged..dude.

[hdevonxz]

The only person who can stop Steve Smith is Jake Delhomme.

[hdevonxz]

No..dude..seriously..they don't run the smoke route anymore..

I know it's hard to understand if your not watching the game..

But I believe the last smoke route to Steve was in '05.

They did do it about once or twice to Moose last year, if that's why you consider "staple of the offense"

Don't be mentally challenged..dude.

Ummmmmmmmmmm dude they run smoke all the time, why do you think 50% of Brian Balldingers commentary was about it?

[God]

Baldi should take Collinsworths spot on TNF and SNF, he is the most underappreciated commentator in the biz.

[LelouchBritannia]

Asante Samuel is one of the most overrated cornerbacks in the league. He shouldn't be in the same conversation as Nnamdi. He has gotten, and will get burned again by elite wide receivers. Not to mention, to my knowledge they don't move their cornerbacks around, so Steve probably won't have to face Samuel that much if the panthers do not want him to.

[Brooklyn Bully]

It doesn't matter.

They're going to double him anyway.

[ItsNotGonnaBeAlright]

Asante Samuel will not shut down Steve Smith anymore than Chris Gamble will shut down Desean Jackson. I'm not saying that Jackson is as good as Smith, but Samuel is not better than Gamble.

[beastson]

N.A didn't shut Steve down. He had safety help and they rolled coverage to him. N.A isnt Deion nor Champ in their prime

Just like ARI did cause he's our own passing game. Thats been a problem for years. NO HELP!!!

We have help now, so no more excuses for acting like Steve is our only receiving threat