Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Bills expect plenty man-to-man from Nnamdi

A lot has been made of the changes in the Philadelphia Eagles’ defensive scheme under new coordinator Juan Castillo, specifically an alteration of Nnamdi Asomugha’s style.

Despite talk of Asomugha's playing more zone than man-to-man since leaving Oakland to don an Eagles’ uniform, Buffalo Bills coach Chan Gailey still expects Asomugha and opposite corner Dominique Rogers-Cromartie to play plenty of man coverage Sunday when Buffalo and Philadelphia square off.

“They’re playing some zone but their corners play a lot of man-on-man,” Gailey told the media Wednesday. “It may be zone inside but it’s man (coverage) outside. I see them using their corners in the way that I think everybody expected them to use the corners."

Bills receiver Stevie Johnson, who is excited at the prospect of going head-to-head with Asomugha for at least some of the game, said film has shown Asomugha with a handful of different assignments, including taking on a tight end.

“With Nnamdi or however their coach is playing it some weeks he’s going to be playing press and some weeks he’s going to playing off,” Johnson said. “It just depends on how they play it this week with us.”

For the size of Asomugha’s $60 million contract, his play has been a bit underwhelming. He hasn’t looked totally comfortable in his new digs.

Follow Nick @NickStDenis