Howe: Butler missed flight, held out first three weeks of practice

BB doesn't do this stuff just for the fun of it.

Butler seems like a good kid but it would be more than understandable if he added a few hat sizes in the offseason after making the single greatest play is Super Bowl history. Also remember that this is a very young team, so my guess is that there could be several players whose focus might be lacking. Isn't it possible that BB was looking for someone to make an example of and that the Super Bowl hero conveniently presented himself as an inviting target?

I suspect that BB has everyone's full attention by now. We're on to 2015 ...

fgssand said:

Seems to me everyone else was able to plan to be there on time........next time, leave a day early Malcolm.

To all of those questioning BB, really????

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He did plan to leave a day early. For a non-mandatory event.



Care to try again?

we have an ignorant, submoronic wild hog running beserk, unfettered all over our team since he left the Jets in 2006 to waddle his disgusting snout into NFL offices and the story is all about a team discipline decision of a 6 time super bowl winning coach?

Do any of you think Kensil cares one shyt about THIS? HE is focused on the continuing jihad aimed at disabling and eventually destroying OUR team, the team WE say we are so passionate about. What should be going opn is the e-mail servers and twitter accounts of these blabbermouth "sports" reporters should be blowing up with "forget this nonsense!!!!!! Keep bashing Goodell and Kensil! THAT is the only TRUE STORY!".

I wouldn't be surprised if it came out this sanction for three weeks came right from the stadium office of RJK.

Seems harsh. More often than not Belichick nails this stuff, but not always...the Welker and Seymour cases were misses to me.

1 week wasn't enough?...why 3

@AlbertBreer: Per source, the NFLPA is indeed looking into potential violation of CBA Article 21, Section 5(a) by the Patriots -- re: Malcolm Butler.

Great...so it's "BAD!!!! Three weeks of non mandatory on field practice missed!~!!! REAL BAD!!!!"

"uh...our starting QB and Super Bowl MVP is slated to miss FOUR ACTUAL REAL GAMES THAT COUNT..."

of course

Albert Breer ‏@AlbertBreer 17m17 minutes ago
Per source, the NFLPA is indeed looking into potential violation of CBA Article 21, Section 5(a) by the Patriots -- re: Malcolm Butler.

If this was any other coach I would call him an idiot. But at this point Bill has proven me wrong so many times that who am I to think it should be handled differently

Just glad it's not injury related, hopefully they can move past this and he can get on the field and help our secondary. This also gives some of our younger players more reps that I'm sure they could use,

SVN said:

of course

Albert Breer ‏@AlbertBreer 17m17 minutes ago
Per source, the NFLPA is indeed looking into potential violation of CBA Article 21, Section 5(a) by the Patriots -- re: Malcolm Butler.

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They should look into everything like this, no matter what. Doesn't matter if you agree with the punishment or not. The Union is there to protect the players.

Bill may have told players be here at this time on this date if you want to be a part of otas. If you can't do that, don't bother coming at all. We all know how strict he is about that stuff. Does he violate any rule by keeping Butler out of those practices because he didn't show up then? I doubt it.

Ross12 said:

Well, now we know. It's my assumption then that Bill wasn't counting on Butler as a starter. Maybe he is, but then holding him out of 3 weeks of practice would be pretty detrimental...

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I get sitting him out a practice, hes done that with Revis and a bunch of other guys... but I don't understand or agree with holding him out of 3 weeks of practice, that is insanely harsh and only hinders his development... a player that we may really, really need this year with all of the losses in the secondary.

Bill does not like people being late, that's for damn sure!

TBR said:

Seems insanely unfair to ban a guy from practice due to an uncontrollable weather delay.

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Hold him out 1 practice just to make your point.. he's trying to send the message that its each players responsibility to be in attendance and on time.

3 weeks of practice over that? That's Roger Badell level

JDot said:

3 weeks for a missed flight? What's he suppose to do? it's not the jetsons, he can't jump up and fly.

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Hes accountable to be there.. that is a consistent message that Belichick has preached and held every single player on the team to that standard, even elite players like Revis.

3 weeks is INSANELY harsh though, holding him out a single practice would have been an effective way to send the message, especially during OTAs...

Oh well, at least he has the right attitude about it. Who knows, maybe this was just a mental test Belichick was subjecting him to? If he's expected to be a large contributor and leader in the secondary, maybe he wants to see how he handles something like this and from the sounds of it he was mad because hes competitive but ultimately took his punishment and learned from it.

Still seems overly harsh to me unless there was some mental f*** that Belichick was purposely executing, but that's kind of a stretch.

that seems dumb if true, but OTOH I'm not going to start questioning Belichick on managing a locker room. Maybe just a pre-emptive step to make sure Butler realizes he still hasn't arrived yet.

Deus Irae said:

I sure the hell hope that there's more to the story. A 3 week practice ban because a guy's flight, scheduled to have the guy in town a day early, was cancelled due to weather, is ridiculous.

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Agreed. The single event penalties for lateness make sense at some level. Excluding someone from an important training continuum for a missed flight seems to be more than a discipline exercise. There has to be more to this than tardiness.

SVN said:

Bruce Allen ‏@bruceallen 22m22 minutes ago
Lots of people angry at Belichick over keeping a guy out of offseason field drills. Guess the Super Bowl honeymoon is over. #DidItEverBegin

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"Lots of people angry"

Wow lol, these reporters are a f***ing joke... anything to get clicks and attention!

TBR said:

Seems insanely unfair to ban a guy from practice due to an uncontrollable weather delay.

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Nah. Anytime you can destroy the confidence of a promising young DB in a shallow secondary you go for it.

SVN said:

of course

Albert Breer ‏@AlbertBreer 17m17 minutes ago
Per source, the NFLPA is indeed looking into potential violation of CBA Article 21, Section 5(a) by the Patriots -- re: Malcolm Butler.

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If it's Belichick, Albert the Douche wants the death penalty. Dink...