What happened to Chung?

In 2011, he was a main reason why that was our worst D of the BB era.

In Philly, he was considered by some to be the worst starting safety in the league.

Is it just me, or is he playing decent or even well?

His role is being carefully controlled. He's playing closer to the line of scrimmage and is being asked to play mostly run support or very short distance coverages (not much if anything over the top). They can do this with him now because they have McCourty covering the deeper zones and talented corners that don't need constant two-deep safety help.

I think Chung is very much the same player he's always been. He just doesn't have to be anything more than that at the moment, which is a good thing.

He is playing well. But he is also playing among a host of other studs in the secondary.

When the other players in the secondary are "doing their jobs" then the QBs job becomes that much tougher, and the QB finds himself throwing long to fullbacks out of the backfield.

When that happens, mediocre players like Chung find themselves in a position to succeed.

Revis, Dennard, Browner, Ryan, Arrington, Butler.
McCourty, Chung, Harmon, Ebner, Wilson.

The Patriots have devoted a lot of resources to their DBackfield.

Remember back when Revis was with the Jets and safeties like Eric Smith and Jim Leonhard looked passable and even good at times? It sure helps to have Revis and McCourty as half of your secondary. Dennard is very good too, and Ryan has his moments.

Chung's always going to be a limited player but you can scheme it so he's not exposed.

I agree that Chung is a good fit and is playing well.

Yes, Belichick has devoted lots of resources to the defensive backfield.

At safety, he used 3 draft choices (including a 2nd a 3rd). Having done so poorly in his choices, Belichick needed to bring in Gregory and Chung as starters.

But, yes, bringing in Revis, Browner and Chung represents a recognition of the need for resources to be spent.

upstater1 said:

McCourty, Chung, Harmon, Ebner, Wilson.

The Patriots have devoted a lot of resources to their DBackfield.

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Sicilian said:

His role is being carefully controlled. He's playing closer to the line of scrimmage and is being asked to play mostly run support or very short distance coverages (not much if anything over the top). They can do this with him now because they have McCourty covering the deeper zones and talented corners that don't need constant two-deep safety help.

I think Chung is very much the same player he's always been. He just doesn't have to be anything more than that at the moment, which is a good thing.

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Agreed, so far he is a main beneficiary of McCourty's range and Revis playing more or less on an island. He isn't being asked to cover a lot of the field which eliminates his biggest weakness and allows him to play within what strengths he has.

I agree with all of the above. He was asked to do too much before. Given the situation as it is now, it'll be interesting to see how he progresses.

On a personal note, he was my 2009 Draft (and also last) binky. It puts a smile on my face to see him contributing positively.

He had a great play in coverage against their TE (I think?) that if he didn't deflect it would have been a touchdown.

Chung is actually in the same frame when a pass is thrown to his guy so yeah much better than in past years.
Used to be yelling at the screen "whos guys is that!" and then 1 to 2 seconds later seeing chung getting toasted.

Not only decent...he played great IMO yesterday. From my seats..he was all over the field...great pass coverage ect. In the right spot.

Something happened to him becasue he has gotten better

Getting cut can do that to you.
I agree completely he has been a bright spot.

patsinthesnow said:

In 2011, he was a main reason why that was our worst D of the BB era.

In Philly, he was considered by some to be the worst starting safety in the league.

Is it just me, or is he playing decent or even well?

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So you're all saying he wasn't a failed draft pick in 09 after all?

He still sucks.

patsinthesnow said:

In 2011, he was a main reason why that was our worst D of the BB era.

In Philly, he was considered by some to be the worst starting safety in the league.

Is it just me, or is he playing decent or even well?

Click to expand...

In 2011, Chung was surrounded by a bunch of bad DB's in a bend-but-dont-break defense.

Chung wasn't put in a situation to succeed. This is what the rest of our secondary looked like in 2011:


James Ihedigbo
Sergio Brown
Antwuan Molden
Sterling Moore
Josh Barrett
Nate Jones
Devin McCourty
Leigh Bodden
Ras-I Dowling
Ross Ventrone
Phillip Adams


How many of those guys are still in the NFL??? McCourty is the only decent player on that list, and that was before he moved to Safety.

Do you really think Chung was the main reason for our defense being bad that year???

He's okay in a limited role, but I still worry even on first downs and teams may catch on to him more later on. Yesterday on a first down the Raiders got him one on one with a fullback who actually got behind him but luckily Carr underthrew it. I'd have to watch it again before saying for sure but probably should've been a TD with a good throw.

Brady6 said:

Chung was always very good in the Rodney Harrison type in the box safety role; it was when they started trying to use him in coverage regularly as a free safety that things fell apart for him.

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Considering how good Rodney was in coverage, that's not the most useful comparison.

Besides the "What kinds of pass coverage, against whom" issues everybody is referring to, I'm guessing that a combination of experience and lessened responsibilities have turned him into a good-enough on-field decision-maker.

Chung is like Brandon Spikes. Elite at one thing, terrible at the other. He lacks the speed and range to play deep, but he can really hit people and is excellent at run support and short range support.

The Nfl used to make stars of players like that, but the modern ruleset and pass happy League have made them liabilities.

At this point they are situationally useful, which is nice to have

Dagg said:

Chung is actually in the same frame when a pass is thrown to his guy so yeah much better than in past years.
Used to be yelling at the screen "whos guys is that!" and then 1 to 2 seconds later seeing chung getting toasted.

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I don't know why but this made me laugh. Probably because it's so true.