Barstool Sports

PFT – In an odd scene in the Falcons’ locker room on Thursday, with Samuel holding court for reporters while wearing his helmet, Samuel said, “I’ve got a lot of personality issues” and ranted about his feelings for Philadelphia. “They better cheer for me,” Samuel said. “They’re going to cheer for me or we’re going to have a problem right there in Lincoln Financial Stadium. All y’all fans, all I did for y’all, y’all better cheer for me.” Samuel, who was traded to the Falcons prior to the season, acknowledged that getting traded makes him more motivated to face the Eagles. “It’s not any game, I’m going back home,” Samuel said. “It’ll be exciting. They’ll be happy to see me. Everybody gonna cheer for me.” Eagles fans aren’t exactly known for cheering everybody, so Samuel may be surprised by his reception on Sunday.

It seems like a big part of the Philly media wants to convince you that Asante is a bad guy who DOESN’T have a rightful vendetta against the Eagles and that we should all boo him mightily when he hits the field on Sunday. This is the part of the Philly media that I consider to be filled with dorks and losers.

We have no reason to boo Asante. None. He was who we wanted him to be when we paid him big free agent money and still was that guy when we decided to move in another direction. It wasn’t Asante who decided to change his style of play or act differently — it was the Eagles. When a no-tackling zone-playing interception machine corner is what the Eagles wanted, Asante Samuel delivered it back to them in spades.

It’s not like he Trojan Horse’d the fans with some friendly Russell Wilson Carlton personality then started acting dickish halfway through his contract: hes ALWAYS been a dick. A loudmouth, me-first dick who is very effective in off-coverage zone schemes and backs up most of his talking with excellent play and the occasional double-move bite. It was Andy’s choice to change the defense to the opposite of Asante’s skill set, Andy’s choice to bring in two new big-money corners, and Andy’s mouth that insinuated that Mr. Big Play Ability had lost a step. None of us have grounds to blame the guy for making tongue-in-cheek comments about ‘personality issues’ when addressing his former organization.

Besides, how could any of us boo a man with the courage to still rock dreads with that cul-de-sac hairline? Still having the guts to talk shit while wearing deadlocks with a Level 5 hairline security breach? That’s Seal Team Six-level courage.