Ex-Eagle Asante Samuel gloats at Reid's expense

WITH A HORDE of reporters waiting for Asante Samuel to exit the shower following the Falcons' 30-17 dismantling of the Eagles, a buzz of giddy anticipation filled the visitors' locker room.

Falcons players milled around in their towels, even clearing out space for reporters. Many refused to shower until Samuel emerged. They were a group frozen by the fear of missing out on what they assumed would be an interview to remember from their most loquacious teammate.

The cocksure Samuel, as usual, didn't disappoint. Asked the biggest difference between the 7-0 Falcons and his 3-4 former team, he was direct and concise.

"The coaching," Samuel said. "We got really good coaching. We run the ball. Time of possession is real good."

Never one to pull punches, Samuel was openly disappointed when he was traded from the Eagles in April. He has taken several jabs at the team since, one after a report surfaced in the summer that coach Andy Reid considered him in "steep decline" and another a few weeks ago when the team fired defensive coordinator Juan Castillo.

"It felt awesome," Samuel said of the victory. "The best team after the bye week is us. It just felt good. That was a good, old-fashioned ass-whooping there."

Samuel added that after the game, Reid snubbed him when he approached his former coach on the field. Samuel played the previous four seasons under Reid in Philadelphia, amassing 23 interceptions.

"He wouldn't speak to me," Samuel said. "Can you believe that? We got to get to the bottom of that. I thought every coach was supposed to have a first-class mentality. I don't think that was first class."

Samuel didn't have his best game on Sunday, but it didn't matter. The Falcons' offense used a powerful ground attack and the precision passing of Matt Ryan to sprint out to a 17-point halftime lead.

"It was all right," Samuel said of his performance. "I missed a tackle when I tried to go for the ball. It's all good. We got the victory."

In the second quarter, Samuel was unable to bring down LeSean McCoy in the flat before the running back scored the Eagles' first touchdown.

On the opening drive of the second half, Samuel tried to jump a DeSean Jackson route but was too late and then missed the tackle, resulting in a 32-yard gain that led to an Eagles field goal. He officially finished the game with no tackles and two passes defended.

His performance aside, Samuel was all smiles afterward. It couldn't have hurt that Nnamdi Asomugha and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie - the two biggest reasons he was considered expendable - got torched on three first-half touchdown throws by Ryan.

"Our receivers are pretty good, ain't they?" Samuel quipped with a smile. "They were doing real good out there. [The Eagles] could have used me, couldn't they?"

Unable to force the Falcons to punt until the fourth quarter, the Eagles' defense looked terrible in its first week under Todd Bowles. The gripes that the team's mediocrity is a product of Reid's futile offense, and not the dismissed Castillo, are sure to get louder.

"Didn't he have the No. 12 defense in the league? Juan was doing pretty good," Samuel said. "If they would have had me over there, they could have counted on at least one turnover."

"You can't always blame somebody," Samuel added. "Sometimes you got to take the fall on yourself."

While Samuel was sure to say that he doesn't hope anyone with the Eagles gets fired, his words seemed to imply he thinks that something needs to happen.

"They got problems over there. Maybe if you had '22,' maybe all that talk wouldn't be going on," he said, referring to himself by his jersey number. "Make sure you all put that I don't wish nobody gets fired. But I don't know, maybe something has got to be done."

At 7-0, no one is getting fired any time soon in Atlanta. And to hear it from Samuel, he is one of the biggest reasons why. One thing is for sure: It is always easier to boast after a win, and no one is better at it than Samuel.

"Hell no, man," he said when asked if the Eagles would be struggling had they kept him instead of trading him for a seventh-round draft choice. "Everything would be good. It would be victory Monday if I was over there. But now they got to go to work on Monday. And we are off."