Eagles will need a focused Asante Samual in order to knock off the Dallas Cowboys (Sunday 8:20 p.m. NBC)

Last week Asante Samuel went on a local commercial and vented his displeasure with the Eagles efforts to trade him right up until the trade deadline.

Unhappy he was trade bait earlier in the season, Samuel ripped into unnamed Eagles executives after practice Wednesday afternoon.

“Couple people upstairs might not want me, but who cares. They’ve probably never played football,” Samuel said Wednesday. “It’s a business and they run it like a business and they’re going to do what they need to do. They’re playing with a lot of money, playing fantasy football, doing their thing.”

Samuel eventually backtracked on his comments last night in a quote he gave to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

“Everything’s good and I’m happy to be here,” Samuel said in a statement to Philadelphia’s largest newspaper. “I had a talk with coach [Andy] Reid this afternoon and I now have a better understanding of how business works in the NFL. Let’s get a win Sunday.”

Samuel was asked if he was referring to general manager Howie Roseman and president Joe Banner, Samuel replied: “Howie and Joe? I don’t know, do they fit the comment I made? “There ya go. You think they’re upstairs playing fantasy football with the owner’s money?”

Samuel, a four-time Pro Bowl pick, said he doesn’t have any problem with coach Andy Reid.

Samuel said he and Reid were buddies.

“Me and Andy talked, cleared it up, everything is good,” Samuel said. “Everything has been good with me and Andy. That’s my guy, that’s who I play for, that’s who I continue to play for. I go to war for Andy. It is what it is, all the other stuff upstairs.”

Samuel’s name has been mentioned in trade rumors since Philadelphia acquired prized free agents Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and Nnamdi Asomugha.

Reid said that when you have good players, teams are going to ring you up.”

“You have to understand, everybody calls everybody,” Reid said at his weekly press conference. ” We’re sitting here with a few good corners, so people call. That wasn’t the case.”

Reid issued a statement through their media relations department that Reis had a conversation with his cornerback…a cornerback who has recorded more interceptions than anyone in the league since 2006.
“I am aware of how Asante felt and we have since talked,” Redid said. “We both left with a positive feeling going forward. As I have said previously, when we acquired Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and Nnamdi Asomugha, we had received numerous calls on the availability of our cornerbacks. After discussing significant trade offers with other teams, we decided to keep all three cornerbacks on our team. Asante is a valuable member of our team and we appreciate all that he brings to this organization. As far as my relationship with Howie and Joe, I have a great deal of respect for both of them and I know we are all on the same page.”