Dugger has been showcasing his potential for weeks now and Uche has started to do the very same thing the last couple of games. From my point of view Uche's most impressive snap was last week when he patiently condensed the pocket on Kyler without getting out leveraged, maintained contain while closing the distance and made Murray slide to the other side. In most previous years with other DEs this usually results in the QB breaking contain with his quick feet and going on a 15-20 yard run. That a rookie had that much awareness and patience is a sign of something good
I remember that play I was equally impressed how he matched the uber-quick Murray move for move as he tried to out maneuver the Pats young LB. It showed a level of athleticism we haven't seen here in a while.
Now as you are saying nobody saw Onwenu (or Herron) coming. How quickly especially Onwenu absorbed the coaching without making too many rookie mistakes is kinda impressive. Obviously it won't happen but given where he was drafted and the level at which he is performing he should at least be mentioned as one of the rookies of the year.
You are right. I don't remember who the new Pats OL coach is, but I DO remember the Job he's done with this OL, especially given the amount of moving parts AND rookies he's had to deal with. I haven't seen much of Herron to really make any intelligent remarks on his play except to say he's playing (which is surprising just to start). But I HAVE seen Onwenu's work and can't help but think he's the real deal, and can only get better over time..
not sure that is a fair comparison. While Phillips has had a good season and at times even took on tackles at the LOS I think there is a reason why nhe rarely is used on TEs whereas Chung often got that matchup in the past. To me Chung plays with more size than Phillips. I think it is Dugger who is profiting from Chung opting out and not Phillips.
I hope I haven't led people to think that I'm diminishing one bit of Pat Chung's career as a Patriot. He was a guy was and AWESOME second half of his Patriots career. IIRC, It was BB himself who said, It wasn't Chung's fault it didn't work out early in his career, but his for not using him correctly. And Chung then had a great second run with the Pats. But the fact is BECAUSE he played bigger than he was, he was just beaten up in 2019, and by the end of the season a shell of himself. The body can only take so much.
I can see where Dugger might be a better comparative for Chung, but that doesn't mean that the Pats haven't upgraded the position from 2019 to 2020
Taking ST seriously is what it all boils down to me. And this game will be a reminder to everyone next summer during the annual tradition which is making space for camp binkies by cutting ST-only contributors. Even after 20+ years people don't trust that BB knows what he is doing by investing into dedicated ST players.
In the first 12-15 years of Bill run here that would be definitely true. Since that the time, the league in its "infinite wisdom"
has effectively done its best to marginalize the kicking game until instead of being truly a third of the game, it's now more like about 15% of it.
There is a reason FG success rates have risen to the point where an 80% conversion rate has become the new "Mendoza Line" for mediocrity among the kicking community. IIRC Adam, while he was here didn't have a single 80% year and he's the greatest of all time. The Miami kicker is somewhere north of 95% And there is a reason for it. The league has legislated any rush up the middle in the name of "safety". The only real shot at a FG block is finding an structural error in a team's protection, exploit it, AND get lucky. bad snaps on punts have been virtually eliminated since snappers have been declared persona non grata and can't be touched, (same with FG's) Because of it, Punters have more time to kick deeper and higher punts so there are much fewer returns. Plus the league has altered rules to make effective blocking on a punt return more difficult. So the fact we've saw BOTH 145 yard gained on punt returns AND a FG blocked makes us a very lucky fan base.
I like special teams play a lot more than the average fan, but we should acknowledge that a lot of the reason we fared so well yesterday was the extraordinarily bad coaching AND play by the Chargers as it was the great play of the Pats.
It made all the sense in the world because the playcall was a screen. Cam literally can't look at other receivers because there are linemen already running down the field. His pass was high -- which didn't help -- but the Chargers had that one sniffed out and it would have gone nowhere close to the 11 yards needed to convert for a first down.
Well that COULD be true. I have to admit that at the time was was also trying to figure out why someone was raising my aces up, when it looked like the only thing he could have hit on the river was a gut shot straight, Sadly after my call, that was exactly the case.
