Devin McCourty

[PatsSoxKnicks]

I actually wouldn't mind seeing Mccourty play some safety in passing situations again this year. When he can see the ball and the play in front of him he has terrific ball skills. With the emergence of Dennard, your outside corners could be he and Moore with Arrington in the slot. Put Wilson and Mccoury at Safety with Chung on the bench in a heavy pass defense set.

Why take our best corner- and a top 10 one at that, at least for this year- and move him to S? That weakens our CBs significantly and asking Arrington and the rook Dennard to cover would leave both our corners exposed. I just do not see the reason in moving McCourty to S when he's been playing very good at corner.

[PatsSoxKnicks]

Just to update this a bit, with the stats from the Denver game, McCourty had 5 targets and allowed 4 receptions for 54 yards (average of 10.8). He also allowed a TD. On the plus side, he was there to make the tackle when he was beat, allowing only 1 YAC.

With that said, all but 2 of his yards (52) came when Demaryius Thomas was lined up against him. Thomas went 3 for 3 with 52 yards against McCourty. So I suppose a little discouraging he wasn't able to hold up vs. Thomas but then no one is claiming McCourty to be a shutdown corner and with a physical specimen like Thomas, McCourty is going to have his tough times. Not the greatest game for him yesterday but it's only 1 game and on the season, his numbers remain strong overall. He'll bounce back I'm sure. Should have a good week against Seattle.

If anyone is curious, the remaining 131 yards that Thomas got were against Moore. 40 of those came on YAC and his average per reception was 32.8. So yeah, Moore got abused by Thomas (I think we all saw that) and that is exactly why he should not be a starting corner.

As for Arrington, his week wasn't too bad. As usual, the QB completed everything in his direction (3 for 3) but unlike prior games, the receivers didn't accumulate a ton of yards against Arrington (only 18). He did give up a TD though.

Finally, Dennard was targeted 5 times and didn't allow a single reception with 2 passes defensed. Very strong opening to his career. I hope that earns him some more playing time (though like anyone else, he'll have to prove it in practice). I'd like to see him and Dowling hopefully eventually take over that #2 and 3 corner spot. I don't think Arrington will ever be anymore then what he is now, which is a guy who can make the tackle but will always allow the pass to be completed to his side with a decent amount of yards coming on it. Speaking of Dowling, had a very quite week- allowing 1 reception on 1 target for 7 yards. He was only out there for 10 snaps however. Dennard was out there for 22 snaps (all in pass coverage).

[bagwell368]

Bags are you sure your not BB himself? lol. You think a lot like he does.

I was always analytical - a good journeyman perhaps. But BB is a grand master, and yeah I supposed he's influenced the way I think/write about football.

There are worse things!

[Patriot Pride]

Chung is a FA, McCourty is not. He meant Chung.

Some have said that Chung and Vollmer were both going to get big contracts. But that's only true if they healthy AND playing well.

As of today:

Chung will get a lowball offer to stay or none. Chung except for a small string of games has never been the great player that was hoped. I also believe BB is switching to a back field of FS, cover corners, and nickel and dime corners that are mixes of FS/CB. Not much room for SS in that mix. Chung is very good in run support, but he's the Merriweather of safties in coverage.

Vollmer due to health issues will not get a top flight offer, but a decent one. Sadly in Vollmer's 2nd year he played like an all pro, and I think everyone had him penciled in as the RT of the next 10 years.

BB isn't afraid of walking away from prior high picks as we all know, and he isn't blowing his hard earned cap space on guys he can't trust to be worth the money.

I can agree Chung isn't worth a big contact, run support safeties are easy to find in the draft or FA.

He's a good player just not worth the $$$/risk.

Hopefully we can work something out with Vollmer.

[holywack17]

Why take our best corner- and a top 10 one at that, at least for this year- and move him to S? That weakens our CBs significantly and asking Arrington and the rook Dennard to cover would leave both our corners exposed. I just do not see the reason in moving McCourty to S when he's been playing very good at corner.

Basically, because chung, in passing situations , is useless in cover 2. cover 2 is designed so that with both safeties over the top, the corners dont have to worry about getting beat deep, can press the receivers and ''sit'' on the shorter routes. However, because Chung is unable to adequately cover his half of the field (not fast enough/instinctive) this leaves our corners out to dry. IMO Wilson can get it done at one safety spot on passing downs, Chung cannot. So, you put McCourty at the other safety, essentially having 2 FS on the field, doing what the cover 2 man under is supposed to do: Take pressure off the corners because of good, over the top, safety play.

[BostonSports96]

I like what I've seen from Tavon Wilson. He can take over for Chung next year alongside Gregory (who is mediocre). Wilson has a nose for the ball.

[holywack17]

^ to add to Bags reply, I agree it is a bit of a weighing your options type of thing with Mccourty at S. Yes , S is our biggest weakness , so it's kind of like: Does him playing safety improve safetyplay more than what gets detracted from the cb play. Or does the scheme that we are able to run with him at safety allow us to take enough pressure off the corners to make up for the loss of talent there. This can all change with the type of sceme the opposing offense is running, and the talent of their various receivers and tight ends. Also the other teams running game plays a factor as well. Can we stop the run with 7 ? Or do we need a SS type player to help out? These are all questions what will obviously fluctuate in there answers from week to week. All I was saying is that I wouldn't mind, if BB thinks it helps, to see McCourty at Safety for certain plays. Obviously he has felt that way in the past.

[TragicallyHip]

Anyone wanna tell me how good McCourty is today?

[poppa12645]

The best corner we have

The safety play is unbearable. Deep ball completions usually mean terrible safety play!

The Seahawks did a good job changing their qbs launch point, moving pockets away.from Jones. We did a terrible job adjusting

[TragicallyHip]

The best corner we have

The safety play is unbearable. Deep ball completions usually mean terrible safety play!

The Seahawks did a good job changing their qbs launch point, moving pockets away.from Jones. We did a terrible job adjusting

Which doesn't say much.

I agree, the safetys are garbage too.

BB needs to swallow his pride and find a quality DB coach. While he's at it, someone that can truely judge DB talent would be nice. That's gotta be priority #1 in next year's draft.

[BradyIsTheMan12]

Anyone wanna tell me how good McCourty is today?

McCourty played fine, I don't know what you are talking about. Arrington on the other hand was an abomination...

[B'sCeltsPatsSox]

McCourty played fine, I don't know what you are talking about. Arrington on the other hand was an abomination...

Yup. McCourty only allowed one catch the whole day from what I saw. One of the very few bright spots on D.

[Austeezy]

McCourty isn't the problem. He's our one bright spot for Pete's sake!

[bagwell368]

Anyone wanna tell me how good McCourty is today?

Wha? If we had another McCourty instead of one of the weak sisters, we'd be 6-0. We'd be 6-0 with a +20 average margin of victory if we had prime Ed Reed back at S.

I have two things I didn't like in that game.

Brady was incredibly inaccurate - if he had been on it would have been 45-55 for 550 yards - that Seattle D against the pass blows.

The Pats obviously game planned to let the kid beat them deep- if he could. Well after the 3rd time, they should have changed it up, or shoved an extra CB back there - a 4-2-5 with 4 CB's. Chung should have not been on the field the last 10 minutes of the game. Yeah, he's a great hitter on RB's coming through the line that have already been hit and slowed down. It's a whole other thing with a WR flashing past him. It looks like he's using a walker for goodness sakes. I'd as soon give the keys at S to Ras-I and take my chances in passing situations.

This team is better than last years 13-3, they have a chance to prove it by going 6-0 or worst case 5-1 the next 6 games. 6-0 gives them 9-3, with a valid shot at a 3-1 wrap up.

Bill doesn't have many draft chips to use, and his form of arrogance says he can turn almost anyone into a S. He's got until 10/30 to make a deal. His Safties are crap. There is nobody that is FA that can walk and chew gum at the same time. Other teams will attack away. It's either Ras-I (or another DB) to S or he makes a deal. The clock is ticking on the franchise player. If they can get a good (not great) S for a 4th and a 5th the following year, he ought to think about it.

[Agar81]

^ I agree with trying to deal for a safety. The games have been so close that a few plays could have equated to Patriots wins. If we had a better coverage safety, some of the late TD's and long passes that have beat us could have been avoided.