James Sanders downgraded to OUT

[Xplicit]

calling Butler a great CB for years to come is WAY to premature. He made 2 great plays, doesnt mean anything for his future up to this point. Same with Chung, going to be interesting to see them develope.

 

[Brady to Brown]

Yeah, but I think he'll improve. I was psyched when we got him. I'm interested to see Butler get more plays because he is an amazing athlete who showed against the ravens he can cover 1 on 1.

Load of potential YouTube - Oregon football-Patrick Chung Highlights

I watched the vid, if Chung can ever get in the game he may have the best hands of any of the Patriots backfield.

 

[Brady to Brown]

calling Butler a great CB for years to come is WAY to premature. He made 2 great plays, doesnt mean anything for his future up to this point. Same with Chung, going to be interesting to see them develope.

Butler will be a very good CB. I said nothing about 2 plays.

 

[mayoclinic]

It'll be interesting to see if Chung gets some serious playing time. I don't put much stock in how he looked vs. the Giants as he was playing out of position, but all the signs so far suggest that he's had trouble learning the playbook and doesn't have the coaches' confidence yet. When Wilfork went out vs. Atlanta I thought Ron Brace would get some playing time, and was proven wrong. If Chung gets some significant action it will be a good sign that he's looking better in BB's mind, if nothing else. I expect to see some of Springs at safety as well.

I'm not anti-Sanders, but I would be quite content to see him end up the #4 safety on this team. He's a passable starter (not a great one, but passable) so that would mean we have unreal depthy at safety.

 

[Xplicit]

Butler will be a very good CB. I said nothing about 2 plays.

Butler could be a very good CB but you base this off nothing. Just like people thought Maroney would be a very good RB when we drafted him. I like Butler a lot but still way to early for a proper assesment.

 

[Schmo]

Chung is not ready, not saying he never will be but 5 weeks ago he looked lost. Butler on the other hand is ready now and will be a great CB for many years to come.

I'm far from an expert on football defenses, but it seems as though CB's have a much easier time learning the defense (esp. the Pats') than Safeties. There was a time when Meriweather was lost too.

Not taking anything away from Butler and definitely not hyping Chung... just saying Chung will make mistakes whether he is a future starter or not.

 

[muzz]

I hate to see a starter out for the team, cuz it causes others to play too many downs.......
With that being said, I look at Sanders as basically a liability, he misses more tackles/plays than anyone else I see.

I see Sanders as a Mediocre player, and definitely NOT a real difference make at this point.

I'm probably wrong.............

 

[spacecrime]

If Chung is on the field for more than 5 plays the Patriots are in trouble in the backfield. Unless they are up by 3 TD's and Bill wants him in a real game. He was made a fool of in the Giants game.

So the way a rookie performs in his first pre-season defines his entire career?

 

[BradyFTW!]

All the more reason to hope for snow. I'd anticipate that we might be seeing some more of Springs at safety, which means Butler will hopefully be seeing more snaps. I would like that.

 

[BradyFTW!]

I'm far from an expert on football defenses, but it seems as though CB's have a much easier time learning the defense (esp. the Pats') than Safeties. There was a time when Meriweather was lost too.

Not taking anything away from Butler and definitely not hyping Chung... just saying Chung will make mistakes whether he is a future starter or not.

Not to mention that in the Giants preseason game, Chung was being asked to single cover Sinorice Moss (a wide receiver). I doubt there are more than 7 or 8 safeties in the entire NFL that could pull that off, and of course Chung isn't one of them. Sanders and McGowan would likely have been equally humiliated.

His coverage skills have been a known weakness since well before he was drafted. I'm sure Belichick had a reason for putting Chung in that position, though I certainly don't know what it was. All that I can say is that I'm pretty sure we won't see him being asked to do that in a real game.

 

[condon84]

We'll miss him on special teams.

 

[Patspsycho]

islands as in man coverage?

yes, with no help over the top.

 

[Patspsycho]

It'll be interesting to see if Chung gets some serious playing time. I don't put much stock in how he looked vs. the Giants as he was playing out of position, but all the signs so far suggest that he's had trouble learning the playbook and doesn't have the coaches' confidence yet. When Wilfork went out vs. Atlanta I thought Ron Brace would get some playing time, and was proven wrong. If Chung gets some significant action it will be a good sign that he's looking better in BB's mind, if nothing else. I expect to see some of Springs at safety as well.

I'm not anti-Sanders, but I would be quite content to see him end up the #4 safety on this team. He's a passable starter (not a great one, but passable) so that would mean we have unreal depthy at safety.

I think with the outstanding emergence of McGowan, BB now has the luxury of bringing Chung along slowly, in the same way he did with Meriweather and you can see that bearing fruit right now.

I think we struck gold with McGowan.. his being on IR last year looks like it may have hidden his true value.

 

[mayoclinic]

I think with the outstanding emergence of McGowan, BB now has the luxury of bringing Chung along slowly, in the same way he did with Meriweather and you can see that bearing fruit right now.

I think we struck gold with McGowan.. his being on IR last year looks like it may have hidden his true value.

I agree with that. Meriweather and McGowan are the starters. Sanders is #3 for now. But we would normally use more than 2 safeties in the game, as we use a lot of sub packages, and with Sanders out that leaves Chung or Springs. So I would expect one of them to see a fair amount of time.

 

[KevinFaulk-33]

More Butler with Springs at safety!

 

[PatsfanGlo]

I hope this means Chungs gets some playing time. It might not be as bad for him considering Denver probably run very similar offense with almost same terminologies. Some familiarity should help Chung, or any other defensive players. I really hope Chung gets good experience from the game.

ps....on side note, I have a friend named Patrick Chung, not Jamaican Chinese but Korean American...

 

[patriotscpfc]

More Butler with Springs at safety!

Not sure about that.

I think you have Bodden and Wilhite and then Springs and Butler will be rotating in on varying drives. Wilhite and Butler would match up well with the 2008 Eddie Royal though I don't think he's done much this year.

Bodden should be on Marshall, I think he'll be up to that task.

Going back to Springs at safety, I wonder if Wheatley will be active. If he is, then I think Springs will play some safety, but only if one of the 2 Brandon's or Chung get hurt.

 

[The_Riddler]

No offense but I'm not too terribly worried about this news. In fact, I started the "James Sanders is the Weak Link" thread right after the Baltimore game. Rewatching the game confirmed Sanders was slow, out of position, and a poor tackler. A good character guy? Absolutely! But when he's in there, our defense is weaker.

QB12

This is more an indication of the lack of production out of Sanders more than an injury, I think it's pretty obvious that BB kind off sees the writing on the wall with Sanders and realizes that he has peaked with no upside and this is the best you are going to get out of him (Which is mediocrity at it's best). We have a young, talented safety that need his reps to begin the development process. Welcome to the rotation Mr. Chung, I've been waiting for you to get Sander's reps for 4 games now. Beautiful !

 

[pencilneckgeek]

We've been playing a lot of dime coverage, where Bodden, Wilhite, and Springs were the corners and Merriweather, McGowan, and Sanders at safety (or hybrid LB/S). Wonder if we'll see more nickel with AD and Guyton at LB (instead of AD putting a hand down on the line) or whether Butler will be getting more reps this week. His performance on the most critical plays of the game last week probably went a long way toward earning BB's trust.

 

[FilPats]

This is more an indication of the lack of production out of Sanders more than an injury, I think it's pretty obvious that BB kind off sees the writing on the wall with Sanders and realizes that he has peaked with no upside and this is the best you are going to get out of him (Which is mediocrity at it's best). We have a young, talented safety that need his reps to begin the development process. Welcome to the rotation Mr. Chung, I've been waiting for you to get Sander's reps for 4 games now. Beautiful !

Agree. Also, BB probably realizes that Josh knows fully well the weaknesses of Sanders and could exploit him. Go Pats. :singing: