RI Patriots fan

......have more interceptions (7) for the Patriots than Arrington, Chung, Cole, Dowling, Ebner, Gregory, Martin, McCourty, and Talib....combined.

And before anyone brings up injuries, remember that Dennard was out for the first 4 games of the season and he still has 3 interceptions.

Chandler Jones seems to get all the Rookie press but as he seems to be fading (and I love Jones, don't get me wrong) our young secondary seems to be growing.

Through 10 games, Dennard and Wilson have combined for 51 tackles, 1 tackle for loss, 2 fumble recoveries, 7 interceptions, 1 TD, and 11 passes defended.

Imagine if some of our veterans could be half as productive.

Spergon Wynn

I really like Dennard. Him and Talib could be a mean combo.

Of course, I liked Darius Butler his rookie year too...

supafly

I think that both of those players have a nice ceiling above them in terms of potential and talent.

I also don't feel 100% comfortable with them out there either, but that is more of just the rookie learning curve.

I do like those choices much better than Arrington and Chung though, maybe even Gregory too. May as well get the rookies some live game reps and allow them to progress, especially since it will make it easier to try and determine where our biggest weaknesses are come draft time.

I would be very happy with one choice each for CB/S from either the draft, FA, or a combination of the two choices, assuming that Talib is re-upped in the offseason of course.

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nekromantique

uh...martin, ebner and cole are primarily special teams players...cole is getting more defensive duties lately because Arrington is awful. talib has played all of one game with the pats.

I like dennard and wilson (though I don't necessarily see wilson ever being the full-time starter at safety)...but its a silly list.




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supafly

Oddly enough, I don't put as much focus personally into the whole INT factor. We saw many do that last year with Arrington, while other numbers pointed to him sucking on ridiculous levels.

I think that Wilson and Dennard have some nice potential in front of them, but I wouldn't necessarily judge their season based on the INT's alone per se.

Not that I'm necessarily knocking them either...

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RI Patriots fan

Ok...just for you I'll narrow it down to "more interceptions than Arrington, Chung, Gregory, and McCourty (all veteran starters)....combined".

That would be 7 interceptions for the rookies....4 interceptions for the veterans. Still impressive in my opinion.

RI Patriots fan

Arrington wasn't a rookie last year. He was in his 3rd year. I think that for these guys to be doing what they're doing in their rookie year is very impressive.

supafly

No I'm not saying anything about Arrington being a rookie, I am saying that he led the NFL in INT's last year and sucked overall though.

I will agree that Wilson and Dennard have looked okay during their rookie years, but let's also remember that Wilson was directly in Belichick's doghouse as currently as last week and repeated the same ridiculous mistake 2 games in a row of letting someone get behind him while standing on the 2 yard line.

Also it was just last week that many here were questioning Dennard's skills too. One game doesn't exactly change many perceptions.

In the case of sounding too overly critical or negative (which isn't the intent) I will say that you have a nice point about them being rookies and taking advantage of turnovers and mistakes. As I said, they both likely have nice ceilings in front of them.

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RI Patriots fan

How would you compare them to the 4 veterans that I mentioned?

supafly

Well first let me reiterate the fact that it is nice to see rookies contributing in their first year, and that you have a good point as I mentioned.

I think that we'd only have to go back to some of the threads a few days ago to realize some of the concerns about the rookies in coverage, so I hope that they continue to progress in coverage.

I would not compare them much to McCourty, since he is currently either 2nd or 3rd in the entire NFL in completion percentage from opposing QB's at 43.2% (Cromartie is slightly ahead of him at 43.1%). Just because McCourty doesn't have as many picks does not necessarily mean that he isn't a much better option in our secondary, and I think that he is much better as a FS with our current personnel.

As I said, I think that Arrington sucks...and I have all of last year too, so that one is easy.

Chung is a great "in the box" option and brings a lot to the run stopping game, but his coverage is horrid too.

Talib is yet to be determined, but he himself admitted to having a "very sloppy game" yesterday. Hopefully his potential one on one coverage can be a nice addition to the secondary and allow the defense to apply more pressure overall.

In other words, the bar is set kind of low besides McCourty, but getting INT's is much better than NOT getting INT's. It is their coverage overall that I am worried about, as are many others. Hopefully they grow into something nice, and as I said--their ceiling is rather high in my opinion.

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Patiently waiting to defend the next "bubble" player in this summer's training camp.....