Paddy Chung unhappy (possibly fit?)

[Shed83]

The following question and answer is from Mike Reiss' Patriots Mailbag.

I thought it was quite interesting. Sorry if it has been discussed already.

Q. Hey Mike. Any thoughts on Patrick Chung? Is he really banged up or do you think there might be something else going on? Any chance Chung being inactive plays into his contract situation? Saw an interesting tweet from him. -- Tyler (Boston)

A. Tyler, I also saw the tweet, which was quickly deleted. It showed up before Sunday's game -- right around the time Chung was declared inactive -- and read, "Gotta love business." It leaves a lot open to interpretation, and I'd be interested to hear Chung's take. It has been a disappointing year for Chung -- first performance-wise, then injury-wise. It speaks for itself at this point -- no need for me to pile on. He's a hard worker; it just hasn't come together for him and leaves his future in doubt. Every game he doesn't play potentially affects his future earnings. That has to be frustrating for him.

 

[Sciz]

Last year, he started talking about how he was healthy even though he wasn't playing. This seems similar. Considering the less than ideal start to his contract year, he's probably eager to get on the field and try to salvage his value. Ideally, that will come Thursday evening. Shonn Greene is a pretty crappy running back, but I still don't want Gregory trying to tackle him.

 

[ForThoseAboutToRock]

Guy's had a real rough season. Why shouldn't he be unhappy? If he wants to blame Belichick or any other coach for his problems, that's on him.

In all likelihood he felt his injuries weren't severe enough to warrant being inactive, so he disagreed with the decision that wasn't his to make. Football player wants to play football - it's the only way he can start to put this bad season behind him and make some headway towards proving he belongs in the NFL.

I'm glad he didn't tweet "super relieved to not have to lace them up today, good luck to my homeboys, try not to let up any 50 yard TD's, lol"

 

[RobertWeathers]

Hmmm. Doesn't look good for Chung and his future as a Patriot.

People dismiss tweets as innocuous but they can sometime be very telling to a player's state of mind.

Chung is clearly frustrated but it goes without saying that between injuries in inconsistency hes been a non-factor this year.

 

[ausbacker]

With the greatest respect to Patrick Chung, he's had enough time in the league to correct the same mistakes he makes year in year out. As he doesn't appear smart enough or capable (either interpretation is fine) of correcting them on the field, I am fine with seeing less of him in uniform.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

What former starter worth his salt wouldn't be frustrated as a healthy scratch? Hope Chung gets the opportunity to redeem his season on the field and executes on that opportunity.

What I love about Patsfans is stuff like learning "Paddy" Chung is really a Mick. Never knew that.

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

Chung is dung...who cares what he thinks.

He will hopefully be some other teams problem next season.

He obviously isn't good enough to start over a rookie so that pretty much tells you he sucks.

 

[Bhelmet]

If he was the best guy to put on the field - he would be on the field. Since he is not - we and he know where he stands.

 

[BennyBledsoe]

Not like he stays on the field long when he does see it. Not that worried. I wouldn't resign him at this point unless he was willing to play for vet minimum and some healthy playing time bonuses.

 

[Deus Irae]

I got 99 problems but Pat Chung being butthurt ain't one.

 

[Salva135]

We used to have high hopes that he'd be a competent (read: league-average) safety. He's not. And the fact that he can't stay on the field only exacerbates the issue. Both Chung and Dowling are not long for this team.

 

[MP-Logick]

He doesn't seem to fit with this defense. I'd like to see us draft a safety who can play in man coverage and use the savings from not re-signing him to keep Vollmer around for a long time.

 

[FosterTheSkins]

Man reading stories like this makes me think twice about getting my Paddy Chung jersey.

 

[Ring 6]

Hmmm. Doesn't look good for Chung and his future as a Patriot.

People dismiss tweets as innocuous but they can sometime be very telling to a player's state of mind.

Chung is clearly frustrated but it goes without saying that between injuries in inconsistency hes been a non-factor this year.

Ironic structure of thought process here.

 

[Ring 6]

You would think after 12 year of Belichick 'it's rarely what it seems' football, I find it shocking that people take zero information plus a cryptic and deleted tweet to draw the conclusion that Chung has been benched, was a healthy scratch, is angry and BB has now decided after playing him more when healthy than any other safety on the roster the last 2 years that he sucks.
I gotta get into the Twitter thing, can someone teach me how to interpret the 12 word tweets into a treatise?

 

[supafly]

You would think after 12 year of Belichick 'it's rarely what it seems' football, I find it shocking that people take zero information plus a cryptic and deleted tweet to draw the conclusion that Chung has been benched, was a healthy scratch, is angry and BB has now decided after playing him more when healthy than any other safety on the roster the last 2 years that he sucks.
I gotta get into the Twitter thing, can someone teach me how to interpret the 12 word tweets into a treatise?

The fact that he quickly deleted it only makes it more suspicious.

Some of these twitter messages do not mean as much as people think, while others are more obvious.

Having Chung in Thursday night would make a lot of sense, but having him play vs high passing offenses probably wouldn't---just my take on it. We may see his snap count change with the gameplan, as he may be more of a rotational player now, as opposed to the full-time starter that we've grown accustomed to, and that's probably for the best.

 

[Gwedd]

Man reading stories like this makes me think twice about getting my Paddy Chung jersey.

Was that the green throwback with Paddy Patriot on the helmet?

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

I would go after Deshon Goldson,Will Moore or Jairus Byrd to fill Chung's role next year.

 

[Ring 6]

The fact that he quickly deleted it only makes it more suspicious.

Why? You are just guessing at that with no basis.

Some of these twitter messages do not mean as much as people think, while others are more obvious.

Are you saying you can tell the difference?

Having Chung in Thursday night would make a lot of sense, but having him play vs high passing offenses probably wouldn't---just my take on it. We may see his snap count change with the gameplan, as he may be more of a rotational player now, as opposed to the full-time starter that we've grown accustomed to, and that's probably for the best.

What are you basing this on? None of this was true when he was last healthy, so what leads you to believe his role has changed while he was injured?
When he is healthy then the questions will be answered. Creating a conspiracy theory over a deleted tweet is the kind of stuff that belongs in the National Enquirer.

 

[supafly]

Why? You are just guessing at that with no basis.


Are you saying you can tell the difference?



What are you basing this on? None of this was true when he was last healthy, so what leads you to believe his role has changed while he was injured?
When he is healthy then the questions will be answered. Creating a conspiracy theory over a deleted tweet is the kind of stuff that belongs in the National Enquirer.

Sometimes the writing on the wall can lead to actual truth, Andy.

As you say, sometimes it is just pure speculation.

The secondary has improved in Chung's absence. He is much better as an "in the box" safety, and he has proven that he pretty much sucks in coverage. That is not a thought that is news to anyone, as the high majority of media members and posters here all feel the same way. Chung is a liability in coverage.

If he didn't have anything to necessarily hide as you are inferring (you are also making an assumption too, just like me) then why would he quickly remove it? Why would anyone do that? Why wouldn't you just leave it alone?

While I agree with you that there is speculation involved, the fact remains that he added some curiosity to the equation by quickly going out of his way to remove it.

Sometimes 1 + 1 really does equal 2. Sometimes the smoke proves to lead to the fire.

As you have pointed out, sometimes not. Only time will tell if Chung immediately jumps back to a full-time role or he sees his reps lessened a bit due to specific gameplanning, as that is what I am inferring.

One way or another, I would expect to see him Thursday night vs the Jets, but we'll have to see.