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Does Patrick Chung deserve a long term deal?

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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.

Catching up with Patrick Chung – New England Patriots Blog – ESPN Boston

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Catching up with Patrick Chung – New England Patriots Blog – ESPN Boston

Congrats to Frenz on his first story for ESPN Boston. Good stuff from Patrick Chung at Tufts.

In terms of offseason approach, how have things changed entering season No. 4? 
“I’ve matured. It takes a while to mature, but you have to know that the offseason is just a way to get football off your mind, but at the same time to get football back on your mind and just refresh everything. The more years you have, the more you understand that and the more stuff you can get done in the offseason." 

Yahoo: Mega Patrick Chung Article

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Yahoo: Mega Patrick Chung Article

Great stuff. Hope that Patchung! gets back out there this week. We need him for a lot of reasons.

This was a strange time for Oregon. The Ducks, who had been dominant for years, were stumbling. In 2006, they went 7-5 and found themselves in the unappealing Las Vegas Bowl. The coaches held a meeting that season and devised a new team philosophy they called “Win the Day,” during which players were encouraged to push as hard as they could whether it was a game, practice or weight lifting session.

Nobody seized this mentality quite like Patrick. Neal remembers him dropping to the ground and doing 20 pushups during quiet moments of practice. Soon other players were doing pushups, too. It became a tradition. And as Neal looks back, he says the foundation for the Ducks’ current run of conference titles and appearances in BCS bowls was laid the week Chung fell to the grass and began doing pushups.

“Nobody asked him to do it,” Neal said. “He did it on his own.”

NESN/Howe: Patrick Chung’s Progression as a Leader Draws Immense Praise From Patriots Teammates

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NESN/Howe: Patrick Chung’s Progression as a Leader Draws Immense Praise From Patriots Teammates

Oh boy, this is making my Patchung! love grow even more….

Chung is a guy that takes control,“ second-year cornerback Devin McCourty said. "No matter what the situation is, if things are going good or going bad, you’re always going to hear Chung. He’s always going to be that guy motivating you, making the calls out on the field. Even if you’re in the locker room and something happens, Chung is always that guy in the middle trying to get guys doing the right thing. I think that’s big for our team.”

“When I came here, I felt like Mayo had been here for years, and it was only his third year,” McCourty said. “I think guys that are coming in now, they look at Chung, and that’s the way they see it. A guy only going into his third year, but it seems like he’s been here forever at that safety position.”

Patriots’ Patrick Chung still explaining botched punt fake

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You know, I haven’t seen a single second of the Jets playoff loss since the game ended, it slowly awaits a viewing sometime in March if it’s lucky. However it seems like the failed fake punt is still very much on the minds of the media and fans alike.

On Thursday, Pat Chung showed up to read to some kids at an elementary school, and so did, in the words of Mike Reiss:

Reporters from Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Comcast SportsNet, WBZ-TV, Kraft Sports Productions, Fall River & ESPNBoston here at Chung event

Bruce Allen of Boston Sports Media Watch pointed out via twitter it was curious that the entire army showed up to an offseason charity appearance. As Bruce said:

would the media crowd be as big if it were James Sanders out there today? I’m cynical.

Just last week even the Sports Guy was still bemoaning the play via his mailbag.

Q: I’ve been playing the Pats-Jets game over and over again in Madden for the past two weeks, and never once have I panicked and accidentally let a special teams player audible to a fake punt.– Brendan, Boston

SG: (Nodding grimly.)

Okay, so clearly every one is hung up on this particular play, which by the way wasn’t accidentally allowed or made by a just a “special teams player”. But I haven’t even seen it since it happened. So I was finally goaded into re-watching it so I could form my own opinion about the call.

The first question: Could he have made the first down if he handled it cleanly? 

Even Trent Dilfer, master of all things football knowledge, and Mr. Factorback Merrill Hoge couldn’t even agree on that, Dilfer told Bill Simmons on a recent podcast. They even called in all their interns and even they were divided. How controversial!

Well let’s have a look:

Pause it at :23 and tell me he isn’t walking to a first down. It’s Chung’s delay on mishandling the snap that allows Eric Smith to beat Sammy Morris’ block. If Chung catches it cleanly, Morris kicks Smith inside and Chung cuts around them with at least ten yards before the double team on the gunner can stop, cut back and tackle him.

So it really should’ve worked. The Patriots had four blockers for three Jets. The call is aggressive, there’s no doubt. Especially in a playoff game. But if successful it would’ve left the Pats just outside field goal range and they had the numbers. You can understand why they called it and why it should’ve worked.

So I guess the question is do you want an aggressive team, or do you want a team that plays it safe?

If Brady had been picked six on his halftime lob to Branch vs the Bears would you have been bullshit at him for throwing it?

Frankly I’m often surprised when teams aren’t more aggressive like the Patriots. The Ravens in particular played conservatively versus the Pats and it ended up costing them.

So while the call was an aggressive one, it’s what we’ve come to expect of Bill Belichick. Especially in a situation like that where the Jets might’ve been sleeping. Tactically I can understand why the call was made. However it went completely wrong, and the mistake was compounded when the Jets scored a touchdown (I think, right? Again, still haven’t re-watched this travesty yet).

As for Chung it was a confident call, and one that I hope he continues to be willing to make. He boofed it. He admitted he boofed it. So let’s move on.

Can you remember a time when the Patriots had greater depth at safety? McCourty, Chung, Harmon, Richards, Wilson, Ebner. Maybe not as strong as the Seahawks at the top two, but it’s a deep group.

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Yeah I think it speaks a bit to how the game has evolved and the need for physical presences inside the box who can cover. Moreso than old Will linebackers who might not have quite enough speed on strong safety types.

Someone like Patrick Chung has become much more useful as a player than he might’ve been when he first entered the league and was being asked to play more as a traditional back end safety. Now they can use him as a linebacker, only make him cover tight ends as opposed to slot receivers who lit him up early in his career.

It’s a very specific plan with the safeties. McCourty is back end FS in regular with Chung in the box. On third downs they’ll bring in Harmon to cover the back end and then use McCourty however they see fit whether it’s also on the back end in Cover 2 or in the box as a coverage guy.

I’m most curious to see how Richards evolves because the perfect player for this role would be a physical strong safety who also has the range to cover the back end. That’s a rare player but certainly one Belichick seems intent on trying to find.

It seems like most good coordinators have certain positions and themes that they value above all else. Most often it’s between LBs, DL, or cover corners. I’m starting to get the impression that BB loves his Rodney Harrison-esque strong safeties. Looking back at some older games, it’s clear how much BB loves using Rodney and Lawyer Milloy as his chess piece. I think that’s why BB just can’t help himself with reaching for all these safeties in the draft. E.g. Chung, Tavon, Richardson. Thoughts?

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Interesting breakdown and I think we might be able to throw Matthew Wells into this mix as well. This position is important in robber coverages, as we saw last year with Patrick Chung doing some great damage against the run. Then there’s the “Money” sub linebacker position but as long as Mayo/Collins are healthy I don’t really see that being the necessary role that it once was when linebackers weren’t as athletic as they have to be today.

So to be honest, I don’t really get it. The trend is clear though, reaching on these guys in the early rounds when every pundit out there had them ranked significantly lower.

The easiest answer I think might just be that it’s an unending search for a strong safety who is just as good in the box as he is on the back end. That’s ideally what you want in today’s NFL and if you have two of them that never have to come off the field it would be the goal.

This is why the safety competition and reps will be so interesting to watch unfold. Richards is really the wild card. Most agree he should bump Tavon off the roster, but what how will he impact Chung/Harmon and how will the evolving secondary have a trickle-down effect on who’s playing the safety spots in certain situations?