NFL Divisional Round Recap: Asante Samuel helps lead Eagles to NFC Championship game

January 11, 8:27 PMNew England Patriots ExaminerSean Crowe

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Samuel's touchdown from last week's game...

Asante Samuel continued his spectacular post-season career on Sunday with yet another huge interceptions. Samuel was given big money last off-season by the Eagles, and he’s paid off big time the last couple of weeks.

No player was missed more by the Patriots this season. Not Tom Brady. Not Rodney Harrison. Not Adalius Thomas.

The one guy the Patriots knew wouldn’t be there going into the season was the one guy they never figured out how to replace.

Belichick preaches team first, and rightfully so. Everyone has a value. The Patriots never overspend, not for anyone. But in Samuel, the Patriots knew what they had. They had an elite cornerback with a knack for making plays.

Maybe not a pure lockdown corner, but a pretty damn good corner. A legit number-one corner.

The Patriots decided Samuel wasn’t worth the money the Eagles offered him. They may be right. But you have to wonder, if Samuel was here this season, would the Patriots have been in the playoffs?

The guess here is yes.

The Patriots’ organization has made a ton of great decisions, both in who they’ve signed and who they haven’t. Allowing Samuel to get to free agency was a poor decision. It likely cost the Patriots at least one season of playoff football.

We’ll see if it continues to cost them into next season.

The man who was supposed to replace Asante Samuel in New England, Fernando Bryant, enjoyed watching his team punch it’s ticket into the AFC Championship game. Bryant is a reserve for the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was signed after the Patriots released him in the pre-season.

Dan Klecko and Kyle Eckel were both popular in their short stays in New England. Congratulations to both and the rest of their Eagles teammates on advancing to the NFC Championship.

Monty Beisel was a disaster in New England as a starting linebacker, but he’s always been a good special teams player. In Arizona, they keep him on special teams where he belongs. Congratulations to him, Stephen Spach, and Sean Morey on their victory this weekend.

The early prediction: Ravens-Eagles meet in the Super Bowl. Both six seeds. Who would have thought?

Sean Crowe is the New England Patriots Examiner and a Senior Writer / NFL Community Leader at Bleacher Report. You can email him at scrowe@gmail.com.You can check out his Bleacher Report archives here.