Chung in a word...WOW!

[convertedpatsfan]

I turned to my wife at the game yesterday and said basically the same thing. I know it's way way way too soon to compare him to one of my favorite all-time Patriots. But I did it anyway.

You just can't help it. And that's a huge compliment to Chung.

 

[N.Eman]

All through Camp they were saying how Safety is the strongest and secure position we have. Good example show yesterday. Can't wait for the Rats to get a taste of it!

 

[bigstanley]

I know it's early but Chung looks like he could be a star in this league. He has the tools he just needs the experience

 

[pencilneckgeek]

Oh, I thought the thread title was Chung is a word, and I thought, "No, it's a sound - the sound of someone's bell getting rung."

 

[JackBauer]

That's the big thing about the whole Samuel controversy. He's a great playmaker, but he's not a complete football player. You don't pay $10m for an incomplete football player.

It's interesting that Philadelphia now has our starting corners. Watching Hobbs get torched by Jennings for a TD brought back memories.

 

[hambone1818]

Alright, so we're all singing Chung's praise today, he was phenomenal.

My question is: who was more impressive yesterday, Chung or McCourty? On the one hand you have a second-year safety who looked like he's making the leap to stardom...it's early but that kind of performance is VERY encouraging. On the other hand you have a rookie CB who was tasked with shutting down a big, physical receiver and absolutely blanketed him the entire game, with a few deflections as well. It says alot that Palmer just stopped looking TO's way in the second half, McCourty was all over him.

So who gets the virtual 'most impressive youngster on defense' award?

 

[West Philly Patriot]

Chung is just so fast and strong. He looked great against the run and on short passes. I can easily see him being a pro bowl player this year.

Lets not get ahead of ourselves he needs to improve in coverage before he even sniffs a pro bowl.

 

[Batman]

he can be the true leader of this defense. I dont care about meriweather soft tackes anymore . Chung McCourty duo seems great . Next draft we should take a rusher in 1st round and our D ll have Wilfork, Mayo, Dhung and a rusher, all the needs covered

"Headed to lift weights to get the soreness out, can't even look to the left thanks to Merriweather, great hit though, i need a neck brace"

Ask Ochocinco about soft tackles of Merriweather he can hit hard he won the hard hitter at the U 2 yeas in a row. I just wish he missed less tackles.

Chung was all over laying the down the pain I hope to see more.

I feel sorry for Butler being out on his own vs chad he didn't make any big mistakes and stuck with him all day but he is a flat out baller and was going to get something eventually.

 

[Sicilian]

Alright, so we're all singing Chung's praise today, he was phenomenal.

My question is: who was more impressive yesterday, Chung or McCourty? On the one hand you have a second-year safety who looked like he's making the leap to stardom...it's early but that kind of performance is VERY encouraging. On the other hand you have a rookie CB who was tasked with shutting down a big, physical receiver and absolutely blanketed him the entire game, with a few deflections as well. It says alot that Palmer just stopped looking TO's way in the second half, McCourty was all over him.

So who gets the virtual 'most impressive youngster on defense' award?

I always lean towards safeties as being more important than corners in general, so I give the nod to Chung because having a presence there can change an entire defense (See Ed Reed, Troy Polamalu, Bob Sanders, etc)

 

[Uncle Rico]

Alright, so we're all singing Chung's praise today, he was phenomenal.

My question is: who was more impressive yesterday, Chung or McCourty? On the one hand you have a second-year safety who looked like he's making the leap to stardom...it's early but that kind of performance is VERY encouraging. On the other hand you have a rookie CB who was tasked with shutting down a big, physical receiver and absolutely blanketed him the entire game, with a few deflections as well. It says alot that Palmer just stopped looking TO's way in the second half, McCourty was all over him.

So who gets the virtual 'most impressive youngster on defense' award?

Let's make McCourty DROG and Chung DPOG.

Yeah, McCourty might deserve his own thread. When that first pass was tossed up I sat up and held my breath; when it went into TO's hands my whole body tensed; and when DMc stripped it out, I was in total "Yes!!" land. Completely set the tone. (Was quite a nice pass and catch up to the strip by the way; DMc was on him tight).

 

[Patriot Missile]

Great performance with lots of promise. LOL to all the pundits that called him a bust after just 1 season. Let's just hope he doesn't have anymore of these 16 tackle games. That's just a brutal amount of punishment to the other team as well as the guy giving the hit.

Chung looks upper echelon right now, I'd have to see a few more games for him to show some consistency before I denote someone Polamalu esque. That head and shoulders guy has been doing it at his level for a few years now.

 

[The Brandon Five]

Great performance with lots of promise. LOL to all the pundits that called him a bust after just 1 season. Let's just hope he doesn't have anymore of these 16 tackle games. That's just a brutal amount of punishment to the other team as well as the guy giving the hit.

Chung looks upper echelon right now, I'd have to see a few more games for him to show some consistency before I denote someone Polamalu esque. That head and shoulders guy has been doing it at his level for a few years now.

Reminds me of the game against the Jets in 2008 when Mayo had 20 tackles...unfortunately he missed the one that mattered (Baker on the third and long), but still an impressive performance.

 

[Kontradiction]

He's way faster than Rodney was here

Exactly. Chung was covering yards on the field with lightning speed yesterday. That's why he had so many tackles. That's what you want in a safety.

With regard to the Meriweather comment, I think BB has found two safeties whose skills just totally complement each other. Chung is clearly the enforcer, and can clean up missed tackles. That will hopefully leave Meriweather free to ball hawk and play center field, which is where I thought he excelled last season

Don't forget that Meriweather isn't afraid to hit people either. This safety tandem we have in centerfield is a tandem that can get their hands on the ball and make receivers pay dearly for coming over the middle. I'm liking our future in this regard.

I always lean towards safeties as being more important than corners in general, so I give the nod to Chung because having a presence there can change an entire defense (See Ed Reed, Troy Polamalu, Bob Sanders, etc)

What McCourty did against T.O. cannot be understated. T.O. made his living over the middle yesterday. Vertically, McCourty shut him down. You couldn't ask for much more from a first year CB thrown into the starters role against an all time great at WR.

 

[oldrover]

Everybody get CHUNG tonight!!!

 

[Sicilian]

What McCourty did against T.O. cannot be understated. T.O. made his living over the middle yesterday. Vertically, McCourty shut him down. You couldn't ask for much more from a first year CB thrown into the starters role against an all time great at WR.

Oh, I agree 100%. I was stoked about McCourty's performance yesterday. I just always look at importance of defensive performance (very VERY overly simplified of course, used only as a baseline for reference), as follows:

Most important to "least" important:

#1 NT
#2 DE/ILB
#3 OLB/S
#4 CB

Obviously certain situations change these priorities a bit, and EVERY position on defense is important. But in general, when I see a great safety play, I'm more encouraged than when I see a great CB play.

Probably just a personal preference of mine. Build from the line out, and from the middle out.

 

[Kontradiction]

Oh, I agree 100%. I was stoked about McCourty's performance yesterday. I just always look at importance of defensive performance (very VERY overly simplified of course, used only as a baseline for reference), as follows:

Most important to "least" important:

#1 NT
#2 DE/ILB
#3 OLB/S
#4 CB

Obviously certain situations change these priorities a bit, and EVERY position on defense is important. But in general, when I see a great safety play, I'm more encouraged than when I see a great CB play.

Probably just a personal preference of mine. Build from the line out, and from the middle out.

FWIW, I agree about your original statement regarding safety play. I was just pointing out that what McCourty did couldn't be understated either.

 

[AzPatsFan]

I always lean towards safeties as being more important than corners in general, so I give the nod to Chung because having a presence there can change an entire defense (See Ed Reed, Troy Polamalu, Bob Sanders, etc)

There will be a changing of the Guard at Safety. I just note that Ed Reed and Bob Sanders are now both injured and doubtful for the rest of the year. But as alway Sanders will get up off the hospital bed to play the Pats, before returning to his bed and traction.

Even before the game Lombardi said, "... the Pats have a pair of pro bowl Safeties and pro bowl Linebackers, to go with pro-bowler Vince Wilfork."

 

[NEGoldenAge]

This is from a BB presser from 11/8/09 where BB has some good things to say about Chung.

Bill Belichick Postgame Press Conference

"Patrick's coming along well. Patrick's playing time has increased here the last two or three weeks. He's done a real good job for us in the kicking game and he continues to show up and make plays. It's not always perfect and he doesn't always do everything exactly the way you want it done, but at the end of the play he makes a bunch of tackles and he's got his guy covered and he basically ends up being a productive player. Patrick works extremely hard. He's in here early, he stays late — kind of like [Jerod] Mayo and [Gary] Guyton were last year. He really puts a lot into it. Football's real important to him and he's continued to get better on the practice field, both in the kicking game and defensively, And he's taken advantage of the opportunities he's gotten. Anybody that works that hard and has that kind of ability he has, I think he's going to continue to improve. It means a lot to him."

There is another press conference from later that season, or soon after the season, where BB had some great things to say about Chung. He mentioned that Chung almost always made the wrong initial read, but how he "somehow" adjusted and recovered in time to make a play. He later went on to say that anyway who works as hard as Chung, and has his abitlity, will become a "special player". BB doesn't call many players special, espcially a rook, so ever since I saw that I had very high hopes for Chung. I spent almost an hour looking, and I couldn't find that particular presser. Anyone remember it, or have a link to it? I'd love to see it again.

 

[Patspsycho]

Exactly. Chung was covering yards on the field with lightning speed yesterday. That's why he had so many tackles. That's what you want in a safety.

A high number of tackles is not what you want from your defensive backfield, because tackle = completion. Harrison had a low number of tackles over the tail end of his career because so many passes were broken up or batted down.

McCourty did an outstanding job and that is reflected in the number of tackles he had (4) as opposed to 8 for Butler who did ok.

 

[Sicilian]

A high number of tackles is not what you want from your defensive backfield, because tackle = completion. Harrison had a low number of tackles over the tail end of his career because so many passes were broken up or batted down.

McCourty did an outstanding job and that is reflected in the number of tackles he had (4) as opposed to 8 for Butler who did ok.

Harrison led the Patriots in tackles in 2003 and 2004 didn't he? The two years where our defense was among the best in the league.

A lot of tackles made by safeties are in the running game (where they're still valid because they're the last line of defense) or on completions where the CB's are allowing the catches (safeties aren't charged with the primary coverage as often as corners are), so they're still doing their job.

EDIT: Harrison led the team in 2004 with 138 (Bruschi 2nd at 122), but was 2nd in 2003 at 126 (behind Bruschi at 131). Still right up there both years, which was my point.