Patrick Chung? Expectations/Analysis

lillestroom · May 23, 2010

RussFrancis said:
My assertion would take into consideration the Giants' pass rush. And if our team had 3 heavy hitters like Strahan, Osi, and Tuck, we wouldnt need a serious playmaker at safety. Hell, we dont have ONE guy that can get after the QB like that, let alone 3. Sure, Sanders could have hid as a guy who doesnt really make plays on that team. He cant on this one. Not if we're trying to win a title.

Duane Starks could have played corner on that D and still won a ring.

Kontradiction · May 23, 2010

Elijah said:
To all the people who say Chung will replace Sanders/McGowan: isn't Chung supposed to be a strong safety? Sanders plays free safety. Don't they have to cover well? According to some posters here, Chung can't cover. I was thinking that maybe Meriweather could switch from strong to free safety--is that what others are implying would happen?

You're right. Meriweather is at SS and Sanders is at FS. I got my positions mixed up.

Julius · May 23, 2010

I think he wants to be called Pat Chung.

PatsFanInVa · May 23, 2010

jays52 said:
Correction: Freight Trains hit like Pat Chung.

No, they don't.

Feep50 · May 23, 2010

I want to thank all responders to this thread for their input. I feel generally that most people see Pat Chung in a similar light as me. Maybe not a perennial Pro-Bowler/ future HOFer, he should blossom into a darn good football player that should be a key Patriot for years, barring serious injury, o'course! My humble thx to all posters.............

italia44 · May 23, 2010

KontradictioN said:
You're right. Meriweather is at SS and Sanders is at FS. I got my positions mixed up.

nope.....you're both mixed-up.....Sanders is a SS,who can play FS.Meriweather is a FS,who can play CB and also blitz,inside the box,because of his speed.Chung and McGowan are both SS.....this is where they'll play for the pats,not FS.
What's different about BB,is that he would more likely rotate a CB,like Butler,to cover a Meriweather-blitz,than drop down the SS.It's all about making the opposing QB,unsure of his read of the free safety.

McCourty really interests me here...because of his speed and tackling,I can see him playing all over the place....Nickle corner,SS and FS.

captain stone · May 23, 2010

KontradictioN said:
You're right. Meriweather is at SS and Sanders is at FS. I got my positions mixed up.

And that's part of the problem: the former is an inadequate tackler, and the latter looks Lost in Space. Their roles should actually be reversed: Meriweather has the speed, fluidity & coverage ability better-suited for FS, while Sanders has the stoutness & football IQ better-suited for SS.

You were right all along, K.

Kontradiction · May 23, 2010

italia44 said:
nope.....you're both mixed-up.....Sanders is a SS,who can play FS.Meriweather is a FS,who can play CB and also blitz,inside the box,because of his speed.Chung and McGowan are both SS.....this is where they'll play for the pats,not FS.
What's different about BB,is that he would more likely rotate a CB,like Butler,to cover a Meriweather-blitz,than drop down the SS.It's all about making the opposing QB,unsure of his read of the free safety.

McCourty really interests me here...because of his speed and tackling,I can see him playing all over the place....Nickle corner,SS and FS.

No argument here. I was just more or less correcting my post over what their "official positions" were listed as.

italia44 · May 23, 2010

KontradictioN said:
No argument here. I was just more or less correcting my post over what their "official positions" were listed as.

yea,sorry kontra.......I should have known you wouldn't mix-up,FS and SS:rocker:

jah · May 23, 2010

Yeah, I always wondered why Sanders plays FS and Meriweather plays SS, because I think it should be the opposite.

Patspsycho · May 23, 2010

Elijah said:
Yeah, I always wondered why Sanders plays FS and Meriweather plays SS, because I think it should be the opposite.

Why? Meriweather is more physical and stronger.

Ring 6 · May 24, 2010

mgteich said:
Are you trying to confuse folks with facts?

For many Chung will take the step up this year to starter in place of Sanders who they dislike. The fact that Sanders is our best free safety, best coverage guy at safety, and by far our best signal caller in the secondary matters not. It also doesn't matter to them that he does not come close to Sanders in any of these aspects of the game.

You are joking right?

Ring 6 · May 24, 2010

mgteich said:
Solid stareters who call signals may be not enough for you. Belichick takes a much different view.

Starting players with no experience at covering or signal calling when a solid starter is the incumbant may be your idea of coaching,. It is not Belichick's way of operating the team.

Some may ignore the dropoff when Sanders didn't call signals in 2009, and the improvement when he was back in a starting role. Belichick does not ignore these things.

It is indeed quite POSSIBLE that Chung will starte opposite Meriweather. HOWEVER, there is absolutely no reason to believe that this will happen aother than blind hope for Chung and dislike of solid veterans. Chung will be given every opportunity in practices, TC and in the preseason to earn his game reps. We shall see what will happen.

Belichick does NOT experiment. For each game, he plays the very best he has at the moment, the players who give us the best chance of winning that game. I would not expect Chung to be that player for Game One ahead of Sanders.

If Chung is the better player by Game One, then the team will be upgraded and Chung will start. What Belichick will NOT do is to start Chung to give him experience in the hope that he will better than Sanders later in the year. That's just not how Belichick runs the team.

Keeping the best player at the position on the bench is not Belichicks way of operating.
Perhaps Chung will not be the best player at the position in September (I believe he will be) but the only thing that would hold him back is confort and knowledge with the system not ablity.

Ring 6 · May 24, 2010

KontradictioN said:
You're right. Meriweather is at SS and Sanders is at FS. I got my positions mixed up.

Actually we play our safeties as right safety and left safety not strong safety and free safety/ By the way, those distinctions also really only matter in man coverage, because no safety is 'free' in zone.

Kontradiction · May 24, 2010

AndyJohnson said:
Actually we play our safeties as right safety and left safety not strong safety and free safety/ By the way, those distinctions also really only matter in man coverage, because no safety is 'free' in zone.

Yes. I was talking about how they're "officially" listed. On the Pats' website's depth chart, they're listed as free and strong.

SunnyDenmark · May 24, 2010

I like Sanders work ethic . Rodney praised him several times on record as someone 'who gets it' and his new contract in '09 also demonstrates Bills acknowlegement as well. After 5 years in the league, he is what he is and most likely has plateaued due to his physical / athletic limitations. But the fact that McGowan - who was totally new to Bills system- started roughly the first half season over Sanders, is not a positive indicator of Sanders overall knowledge, skills and abilities as a NFL starting calibre safety.

With a full year to digest the system close the knowledge gap, Chung getting more reps on game day could only be seen as him making positive strides in his development. Hopefully he will make the sophmore jump (he has the work ethic and attitude) so it seems like only the mental aspect will be holding him back from reaching his potential. Watching him and a few of the rookies in pre-season games is one of the only reasons to be watching those games.

italia44 · May 24, 2010

AndyJohnson said:
Actually we play our safeties as right safety and left safety not strong safety and free safety/ By the way, those distinctions also really only matter in man coverage, because no safety is 'free' in zone.

Ridiculous assertion

........since when do the Pats play a Tampa 2 defense?....Does Meriweather play only on one side?........maybe in Indy.....not in any 3-4 defense,that I know of.

Also,you might want to change the nomenclature of the "free" safety to "enslaved"......However,I'm sticking with the terminology of "strong" or "tight"
Safety.........Why?........think......answer....The TE side of the formation.

Sicilian · May 24, 2010

AndyJohnson said:
Actually we play our safeties as right safety and left safety not strong safety and free safety/ By the way, those distinctions also really only matter in man coverage, because no safety is 'free' in zone.

This is what I was thinking too. How we distinguish the two starting safeties is irrelevant, what matters is their assignment on a particular play. We have four safeties, each with their own skillset, and BB will use them as best he can within the scope of those skillsets. I don't think he's worried about assigning titles to anyone, as we've seen with the OC/DC situation.

mgteich · May 24, 2010

I agree that Belichick will mix up the coverages and does not play only two safeties throught the game in the nice clean positions of FS and SS.

However, one of the safeties on the field has the responsibility for calling the plays in the secondary. That has been Sanders.

Also, the safety playing with Meriweather (who plays almost always; 94% last year) need to have coverage skills.

Someone in the backfield need to be able to play centerfield when the other safety blitzes. Perhaps you want Meriweather to perform that function?

AndyJohnson said:
Actually we play our safeties as right safety and left safety not strong safety and free safety/ By the way, those distinctions also really only matter in man coverage, because no safety is 'free' in zone.

Deus Irae · May 24, 2010

mgteich said:
....Someone in the backfield need to be able to play centerfield when the other safety blitzes. Perhaps you want Meriweather to perform that function?

Given that the team was working him at corner when he first arrived so we know coverage as a safety shouldn't be a problem, if he can't handle the centerfield responsibilities, that's a damning indictment of his football intelligence.

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