How much longer will Patrick Chung last?

[ThatllMoveTheChains!!!]

The question each year is, what do we have, and are there better alternatives?

In order to stick with a team a player usually has to be good, a decent value, and be a good locker room guy; this is the main reason cohesive units are so good. The goal is to find the guys that are worth keeping around, not hoping that if you keep guys around they'll turn into those guys.

IMO Chung will come down what he'll sign for. Right now everything else points to him sticking with the team, but he's def not a good enough player to convince the Pats to pay anymore than they feel is good value for him.

 

[aluminum seats]

IMO Chung will come down what he'll sign for. Right now everything else points to him sticking with the team, but he's def not a good enough player to convince the Pats to pay anymore than they feel is good value for him.

Right. And what we've seen consistently with Patriots players with any kind of decent reputation is that there's ALWAYS at least one team willing to pay more.

It's an easy shorthand for the GMs of lesser teams than the Pats, which means most teams in the league: he was on the Patriots! Sign him!

 

[BradyManny]

Despite what the guys at WEEI and The Sports Hub say the Pats are really close to having a really good D....all the 2nd youngest D is terms of age needs is a little more time to gel and grow. That includes the Safeties. Personally I think McCourty and Arrington are playing really well.

The Pats defense is also 7th in FootballOutsider's "Drive Success Rate," something they ended up at 30th in the league last year. I'm guessing this is a similar formula to the DPS that you cite.

We can talk about bend don't break, but the Patriots are yielding way less yards per drive than last year, and they are still causing turnovers at the similarly high rate. The result is a defense that, so far, is good in its own right. Certainly good enough to win a Super Bowl with this offense.

I agree the corners are playing well. But the safety play hasn't been great. I rewatched the Buffalo game, and neither Gregory or Chung played particularly well. Wilson struggled a little bit, and one of the few plays Ebner was in on, either he or Wilson blew for that Smith TD.

The Patriots seem to be experimenting at that position, too with rotating personnel. We saw a Gregory-Wilson combination on one drive. I think we also saw Chung-Wilson; though the most common unit remained Chung-Gregory. Wilson would come in and play a cover-3 where he'd be in at that box as the play setup and then sprint back to the deep middle when the ball was snapped. That's what they were in when Smith caught the TD, and I don't know if Wilson didn't get back fast enough (what Bedard says) or if Ebner is to blame for letting Smith go right by him.

Either way, safety play is probably the weakest link on an otherwise strong defense at the moment.

 

[Kontradiction]

The Pats defense is also 7th in FootballOutsider's "Drive Success Rate," something they ended up at 30th in the league last year. I'm guessing this is a similar formula to the DPS that you cite.

We can talk about bend don't break, but the Patriots are yielding way less yards per drive than last year, and they are still causing turnovers at the similarly high rate. The result is a defense that, so far, is good in its own right. Certainly good enough to win a Super Bowl with this offense.

I agree the corners are playing well. But the safety play hasn't been great. I rewatched the Buffalo game, and neither Gregory or Chung played particularly well. Wilson struggled a little bit, and one of the few plays Ebner was in on, either he or Wilson blew for that Smith TD.

The Patriots seem to be experimenting at that position, too with rotating personnel. We saw a Gregory-Wilson combination on one drive. I think we also saw Chung-Wilson; though the most common unit remained Chung-Gregory. Wilson would come in and play a cover-3 where he'd be in at that box as the play setup and then sprint back to the deep middle when the ball was snapped. That's what they were in when Smith caught the TD, and I don't know if Wilson didn't get back fast enough (what Bedard says) or if Ebner is to blame for letting Smith go right by him.

Either way, safety play is probably the weakest link on an otherwise strong defense at the moment.

The corners are playing better. They've definitely improved. But, at this point, I don't think we can say that they are playing "well". There's undoubtedly a lot more room for improvement there.

 

[BradyManny]

The corners are playing better. They've definitely improved. But, at this point, I don't think we can say that they are playing "well". There's undoubtedly a lot more room for improvement there.

The worst play was obviously in the Baltimore came, when the defense was asked on several occasions to play 5 downs. On top of that, the most glaring mistake (McCourty's PI that decided the game) probably wasn't helped by that ridiculous holding call on him earlier in the quarter.

The replacement officials never understood or properly implemented the PI and defensive holding & contact calls, and I think it made it harder for offenses and defenses alike. Which helped explain the absurd amount of parity and randomness we had in the first three weeks of the season.

But, as a result of that factor, I have to give McCourty a pass for some of the crap that went down in the Baltimore game.

 

[AzPatsFan]

Is there anyone on this team who doesn't suck?

Not according to the know-it-alls, but really know-nothings.

This year's secondary play is night and day versus last year. The Safeties actually know their assignments; and are coming over to help out the CBs approximately when and where they are supposed to do. Last year that was non existent. Can the Safeties be split? Certainly, but CBs can be beaten as well. This year I don't see completions to receivers with nobody within five yards of them anymore. Every pass and/or completion is at least contested.

The reffing abortion of the Ravens game at the Ravens was an aberration. Calling 24 penalties in a game is unheard of; and the Ravens home-field fans certainly intimidated these fill-in refs, into many phantom calls.

I'll bet that that number of penalties is the most in the 38 year coaching reign of Bill Belichick. The TV replay of a holding/pass interference call against McCourty revealed that ther was no contact at all; and neither player came wihtin a foot of the other. All Collinsworth would say is "Oh My !?! That phantom call saved a Ravens drive, and eventually produced a TD drive.

 

[ayatollah]

merriweather, chung,
could it be coaching?

 

[supafly]

Calling 24 penalties in a game is unheard of; and the Ravens home-field fans certainly intimidated these fill-in refs, into many phantom calls.

I'll bet that that number of penalties is the most in the 38 year coaching reign of Bill Belichick.

What's even worse is the replacement refs went out and called 24 more penalties in the MNF game not even 24 hrs later.

 

[supafly]

merriweather, chung,
could it be coaching?

I think we'd all like a great coach as far as the positional coaching of the secondary goes, but I don't think that's necessarily the problem.

Meriweather and Chung were 2 totally different players with 2 totally different "problems" or issues that they need to improve upon. Meriweather would not even allow himself to be coached on many levels, and didn't listen anyway.

Chung, by all accounts seems to be a great team player. His problem is that he never really had great coverage skills to begin with.

I actually think Chung will be a part of our team moving forward in the future, but I also think that the position will be addressed in the offseason too.

 

[Ivan]

What's even worse is the replacement refs went out and called 24 more penalties in the MNF game not even 24 hrs later.

And were then replaced by the real ones for gross incompetence.

 

[goheels22002]

Patrick Chung is the best Jamaican on the team, Mon.

 

[brdmaverick]

He is my new "Gary Guyton" on the defense .. Doesn't bring a lick to the defense .. What does he do good?

I was thinking "Brandon Merriweather".