"Everybody saw my tape before they signed me," the Eagles cornerback said several weeks ago when first asked how a guy who is so good at picking off passes can be so bad at wrapping up ballcarriers. "They knew what I was capable of."

The fact that Samuel can't tackle hardly is a revelation. The Eagles knew it last year and still handed the two-time Pro Bowler a 6-year, $57 million contract.

"It's one of those things where, when they acquired him, they knew what he was," said NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock, who played cornerback for the Giants a hundred years ago. "What you're saying is, 'We need a corner and we value his playmaking instincts more so than we are frustrated by his lack of tackling. And if we play him the way we hope to, he won't be involved in tackling as much."

At least once or twice a game, Samuel manages to make you shake your head with some of the lamest tackling attempts this side of your 7-year-old's midget Football team. Like the one late in the first quarter Sunday when he tried to use nothing but his shoulder to bring down Redskins wide receiver Devin Thomas on a screen pass and caromed off him like a bird running into a storm window.

But at least once or twice a game, he also manages to make your jaw drop with plays like his two impressive interceptions Sunday off of Jason Campbell.

"The term 'cover corner' is basically a euphemism for 'won't tackle,' " said Brian Billick, the former Baltimore Ravens coach and current game analyst for Fox Sports, who knows of what he speaks. He once coached Deion Sanders. "But that's OK. Now, there are good cover corners that also are good tacklers. But you'd better get your checkbook out. They're few and far between and they're going to get paid commensurate with those abilities. I just did the Jets game last week and saw Darrelle Revis. Now there's a shutdown corner who is also physical. But his next contract is going to blow the lid off of what corners are getting paid.

"Rather than be mad all the time, you've just got to make sure that if you have a guy that has a particular skill and he's a good cover guy, then be careful what you're asking him [to do] in terms of physicality of the game."

Sometimes that's easier said than done. Offensive coordinators aren't dumb. They're going to attack a defense's weaknesses, including a bad-tackling corner.

"They're going to try and force him to make plays," Mayock said. "They're going to make him be the guy who has to make the tackle on bubble screens. They're going to try to force him to be part of the run defense when they run the ball. But they're smart enough to protect him a little bit also. It's a cat-and-mouse game. The Eagles know exactly what he is and try to play to his strengths."

No one can question Samuel's prowess as a ballhawk. He's tied for second in the league in interceptions with seven. Has picked off 32 passes in his last 63 games, including the playoffs. No player in the league has a better interceptions-to-games ratio over the last four seasons than Samuel.

His two interceptions Sunday underscored why the Eagles were willing to make him the richest corner in the game.

"They were great interceptions," Billick said. "He came down out of coverage out of sheer preparation and ability and saw what was happening. He knew before the quarterback did where that ball was going. You can tell the [tape] preparation he puts in, because there was nothing in the drop or the release of Campbell that indicated where the ball was going. Would you like it if he could tackle better? Sure. But you know what, those interceptions were pretty good."

Samuel is a gambler. On one of the interceptions, he left his own coverage assignment and jumped a short route in front of him.

"It was a scary play," Mayock said. "He abandoned his responsibility because of what he saw. You've got to give him credit because he made the play. But if a veteran quarterback sees him make that move, all he would've had to do is throw the ball up in the air [to the deeper receiver Samuel came off of] because the safety was in the middle of the field. He had no protection over the top.

"But he just saw something, trusted his instincts and went. You have to give him credit because, maybe against a veteran quarterback that he respected a little more than Campbell, he wouldn't have made that move."

Around the league

** Charlie Weis is going to have a lot of options if he wants to return to the NFL as an offensive coordinator. Many league people think Weis eventually will end up in Kansas City with the Chiefs. He has a relationship with Chiefs general manager Scott Pioli from their time together in New England, and also has worked with Chiefs head coach Todd Haley. The two were assistants together with the Jets in the late '90s. Shared an 8 x 8 office there.

"I know Charlie about as up close and personal as you can know him," said Haley, who currently doesn't have an offensive coordinator. He fired Chan Gailey before the start of the season and has been doing the offensive game planning and playcalling himself.

** There are going to be a lot of head-coaching vacancies after the season. As many as nine teams could be looking for new coaches. One team that probably won't is the Houston Texans. The Texans have lost three games in a row, have dropped to 5-6, and have been mentioned as a possible landing spot for former Broncos coach Mike Shanahan. But if they win at least two of their remaining five games, coach Gary Kubiak is expected to be back.

"My true feeling is we have our best chance of developing a winning team with Gary as opposed to someone else at this point in time," Texans owner Bob McNair told the Houston Chronicle. "Making a change is very disruptive. This is a critical time. I want to see how Gary manages it. In the past, he's managed it very well when his back's been against the wall. I hope he will now because I think he's very sound."

From the Lip

** "It's sad to see him walk away from something he built." - Lions LB Ernie Sims on the forced retirement of his former college coach Bobby Bowden

** "We've won some games here. I don't know if people realize that, but we've won quite a few games here and hopefully we can win some more. That's where we are. All I do is try to do the best I can as a coach. I work hard at that. And I don't think I get a lot of respect for that, but that's the way it goes." - Cowboys coach Wade Phillips, who has a 30-14 record in three seasons in Dallas

** "We don't like them and they don't like us. People have been saying that this is their season. Well, this is our season too, because if we go in and beat those guys, we don't have to worry about them coming back to haunt us." - Cowboys linebacker Bradie James on Sunday's opponent, the Giants

** "He was definitely an icon. I don't know if he was definitely an icon everywhere, but in Philadelphia he was an icon. The guy went out on the basketball court and gave that city everything that he had, game in and game out. I definitely respected him for that. For them to open their arms wide again to him, to invite him into that atmosphere to bring some energy and juice to that team, I think it's going to be a good thing."

- Broncos safety Brian Dawkins on Allen Iverson signing with the 76ers

Numbers crunching

** In the Chargers' 43-14 win over the Chiefs last week, they gained 15 or more yards on 10 of their 63 offensive plays.

** The Lions have lost 17 games in a row on the road, but that's not even their worst road slide of this decade. From 2001-03, they lost 24 in a row on the road.

** Brett Favre will officially become the NFL's all-time ironman Sunday when he plays in his 283rd straight regular-season game, passing former Vikings defensive lineman Jim Marshall, who had played in 282 consecutive games, which was the longest such streak for a non-kicker/punter.

** If the 5-6 Titans can defeat the 11-0 Colts on Sunday, they will become only the fifth team in league history to post a six-game winning streak and a six-game losing streak in the same season. Last team to do it was the '94 Giants, who finished 9-7.

** The Colts have allowed just 17 points in the third quarter this season. They've given up 167 in the other three periods.

** The Bucs are 1-10, yet are second in the league in red-zone offense, converting 14 of 20 trips inside the 20 into touchdowns (70 percent). The only team with a better red-zone TD rate is the Cardinals (27-for-38, 71.1 percent).

** Titans running back Chris Johnson rushed for 800 yards in November. That's the most rushing yards by a player in a calendar month since 1970.

** Dolphins running back Ricky Williams has racked up three straight 100-yard rushing performances. If he makes it four Sunday against the Patriots, he'll join Jerome Bettis as the only players to rush for 100 yards in four straight games at the age of 32 or older. Williams is 32.

** The Bengals are 6-0 in the NFC North, and for the first time in franchise history they've swept all of their division games.

Thumbs up

To the NFL and its vice president of officiating, Mike Pereira, for owning up to mistakes made by its officiating crews. Pereira has a weekly Wednesday segment on the NFL Network's "Total Access" show called "Official Review" during which he gives candid assessments of controversial calls from the previous week's games. If one of his crews blew a call, he'll say so. Try picturing Major League Baseball doing that with its umpires. Fat chance.

Thumbs down

To Browns coach Eric Mangini for not being forthcoming about running back Jamal Lewis' season-ending head injury.

The club announced Wednesday evening that Lewis had been placed on injured reserve with "post-concussion symptoms." He carried the ball 11 times Sunday in the Browns' loss to the Bengals. Mangini made no mention of Lewis being injured after the game or at his Monday or Wednesday press conferences.

When the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported Wednesday afternoon that Lewis had suffered a concussion, the team declined to comment. Two hours later, they listed him as out for this week's game. Three hours after that, they announced that he was being put on IR. According to the Plain Dealer, Lewis had been experiencing headaches for some time and recently also had vision problems that prompted him to see a head trauma specialist earlier this week. An MRI turned up what the newspaper described as brain abnormalities. Mangini said the first he was made aware of a problem with Lewis was Monday.

Domo's ranking

1. Colts 11-0

2. Saints 11-0

3. Vikings 10-1

4. Chargers 8-3

5. Packers 7-4

6. Patriots 7-4

7. Bengals 8-3

8. Ravens 6-5

9. Steelers 6-5

10. Cowboys 8-3

11. Eagles 7-4

12. Titans 5-6

13. Cardinals 7-4

14. Broncos 7-4

15. Giants 6-5

16. Falcons 6-5

17. Texans 5-6

18. Bills 4-7

19. Niners 5-6

20. Jets 5-6

21. Dolphins 5-6

22. Jaguars 6-4

23. Panthers 4-7

24. Bears 4-7

25. Chiefs 3-8

26. Redskins 3-8

27. Raiders 3-8

28. Seahawks 4-7

29. Rams 1-10

30. Lions 1-10

31. Bucs 1-10

32. Browns 1-10

Note: Rankings do not include last night's Jets-Bills game.