In Response to Re: the real question: IS PATRICK CHUNGE READY TO BE "THE MAN"?:


     He showed some big play potential, until he was hampered by injuries. The questions on Chung are, 1.) can he stay healthy?...and; 2.) can he improve his not so good coverage skills?

 I had forgotten all about that ridiculous fake pump that Chung apparently called for and then fumbled. I can't say that I have seen enough big plays from him to convince me he is anything but a hard hitter who can't stay healthy or understand game situations. He's been in the doghouse before but the backups may not be good enough now to allow the coaching staff that luxury now.

One thing to remember in all of this is Matt Patricia is the new safeties coach this year. There is a reason BB put him there. They knew this was a weakness last year and contributed to their poor pass defense. So I am guessing, they had a plan to push the people in these roles and see who wanted to step up and play it the way they were being coached. Not sure who will start next to Chunge but PC must have shown the leadership the coaches thought they needed back there. With BB concentrating on the front 7 with Pepper Johnson and Matt handling the DB we should see a much more coordinated effort between the two and in the end better results.

I think that the Detroit game was them testing the personnel more than testing a scheme and they wanted to see the differences between the skills and instincts without covering it up with schemes. It also may have been a test of their zone schemes to see if they thought those could be used during the year with the personnel they have. I think we won't see much of this during the year and if we do, it will be with a bigger push up front.

We improved the OL, the DL and are using our LB's better. With return of Bodden  we should see an improved DB too. I think a top 10 defense if not top 5 is not out of the question. Let's play a few and see where we stand....

heres a question why hasent bill brought harrsion in as a db coach?

I don't know about Chunge but Chung might be.

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Precisely. Not worried so much about Chung's coverage skills. I am looking for him to lead and be that playermaker inside the box, close to the line, assist in coverage where needed..I thiink Chung is ready to lead and best of all, he will lead by example. Something Meri was not able to do..he set a bad example.

Barrett is the wild card here. If he can play half as good as his athletic ability suggests, we will have a dynamic safety tandem. Not all world or anything, but big, physical safeties with good if not great speed...and they listen.

Dowling is another wild card. He's big and fast enough to play like a FS, and understands man/zone coverage well enough. I'd like to see him worked into that role a bit and see what happens.

We have the makings for a good leader in Chung and very dynamic secondary with some of our additions. Add the Dline improvement, freeing Mayo up to be more of a playmaker, and this could be the D the Pats have been missing for some time.

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