An Independent Patriots Blog
After unleashing a prolific two-tight passing game, what do the Patriots do after losing offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien? Go back to the coordinator who helped orchestrate their record passing game in 2007. Along with Josh McDaniels come two of his favorite receivers, Lloyd and Gaffney. On defense, starting with rookies Jones and Hightower, Bill Belichick now has plenty of versatile cogs at his disposal.
https://www.patspropaganda.com/after-unleashing-a-prolific-two-tight-passing/
I was one of the first people to be on the Patchung bandwagon but I’m having mixed feelings about him these days and all the talk of him potentially deserving of a long term lucrative deal has left me scratching my head. There’s no question he has the leadership and work ethic that is vital to the Patriots but his injury history and average-at-best play makes me think this has to be a huge year for Chung.
What I see is a player who is a jack of all trades but a master of none. He’s had to fill in at times in the slot and that’s definitely not his strength, but even when he’s playing safety his performance has been nothing outstanding. I love his demeanor and aggressiveness but his numbers from Pro Football Focus show his performance is lacking in all areas, especially pass coverage.
In 2010, his first year as a starter, he missed two regular season games, and had positive ratings in just three games and negative ratings in four. The rest hovered around the average mark. His pass coverage for the year ended up at -4.3, while his run defense was a solid 5.2.
In 2011, he played in just eight regular season games but all three playoff games. He had two games that rated out positively, and three that rated out negatively including a dreadful -3.7 in the AFCCG. For the season he finished with a -3.6 in pass coverage and a -1.7 in run defense.
Now I don’t want to put too much weight in PFF’s metrics but still these numbers don’t jump off the page as a player who is vital to the future of the franchise. Again, I love what Chung brings to the locker room so that has to count for something, but I still think he has a ton to prove on the field this year and it just begins with staying healthy.
Even if he turns in 16 games he needs to first be put in a position to be successful. His stats point to that being in the box more than he’s in coverage, but with Chung’s size it’s hard to think he’ll ever be a dominant force close to the line of scrimmage. That has also played a role in the injuries he’s suffered the past two seasons.
Despite his numbers Chung is the kind of player you want to go to war with. He has all the intangibles you look for, but ultimately the proof is in the playing. I wouldn’t go so far as to say this is a make or break year for him, but I think that if he wants a rich long term deal he’s going to have to elevate his play this season to a level that we have not seen yet out of him.
NFL’s best tight end: Rob Gronkowski or Jimmy Graham? – NFL.com
It’s a good thing “Off-Field Domination” wasn’t a category or Gronk would’ve won walking away. I know everyone will be up in arms that Graham will be ranked above Gronk in the NFL Top 100 but I really don’t care much about arbitrary lists like that. There is not a football guy out there who wouldn’t take Gronk over Graham. Period.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohZ4W05xcLQ
Tom Brady 2011 Season – All 39 TD’s (by vcmoss81)
This is going to be a long five weeks until training camp. How many “training camp positional battles” articles can one blogger read/write?
https://www.patspropaganda.com/tom-brady-2011-season-all-39-tds-by-vcmoss81/
Interesting tweet from Greg Bedard today:
On @GreshandZo I said Dowling is the key to the defense this yr. I meant as far as them improving. Wilfork is always the MVP
— Greg A. Bedard (@GregABedard) June 19, 2012
There’s no doubt Ras-I Dowling has become one of the most talked about players on the Patriots. He was the first player selected on day two of the 2011 draft when many thought the Pats would go with the proverbial pass rusher. It looked like the Pats justified his selection when he started the first two games of the season despite missing significant time in training camp, but he was again hit with the injury bug and missed the rest of the season.
Dowling has the kind of size that the Pats lack in their secondary, and his presence on the outside would certainly open up a number of options for how they use their players. However if Dowling misses time or can’t produce it forces their hand a bit more. Kyle Arrington could not play in the slot where he seems to fit best, and they’d have even less flexibility with Devin McCourty.
Ultimately Dowling’s size, length and skill playing man-to-man make him a uniquely talented player on the Pats roster, one who would really open up a wide array of defensive possibilities in both scheme and personnel. From that perspective I agree with Bedard, he’s a big key to the defensive improvement this year. If he falters guys like Will Allen, Tavon Wilson, and Steve Gregory will really come to the forefront.
A few of you have asked why the Patriots would even want Ballard, seeing that they already have two excellent tight ends in Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez. Well, the Patriots play two tight ends on nearly every offensive snap; last year, Gronkowski and Hernandez each played more than 1,000 offensive plays. You can’t count on them to stay healthy, and New England needs a solid third tight end (and maybe a fourth) to play all the schemes in its playbook. And if New England signs Ballard for the third-year tender price of $640,000, that means it will have paid $1.17 million, total, for 2012 and 2013 to employ a good tight end in the hope he can help next season. Maybe he can’t. But the gamble seems worth it for a guy who made so many big catches for the Giants in the last two months of the season last year.
https://www.patspropaganda.com/a-few-of-you-have-asked-why-the-patriots-would/
