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

Can he appeal the sentence down to 1 week? BB would hear the appeal no doubt.

Deus Irae said:

Ehh.... IF this is just about being late because of the weather closing down an airport, BB deserves the flack. This notion that weather doesn't matter, and you always have to have 500 backup plans in effect, is moronic. If this were any other team doing this, the same people defending this would be skewering that coach and team, and rightfully so.

Short of every player/coach/etc... actually living in, and never leaving, the stadium, the simple reality is that sometimes ****'s gonna happen.

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What did the other players do so they would not be late? Arriving on time for an appointment can be controlled.

Lots of these guys come from the South East and Mid West where flights are delayed and sometimes cancelled every day from Spring until Fall yet they seem to get to their destinations on time. Wilfork spent off seasons in Florida. Never heard of him late, but then he was a Leader.

Failing to plan is planning to fail.

This is frustrating and over the top. I am a big BB fan but I just don't get it. I thought the punishment of Jonas Gray also lingered much too long last season. Is there an inherent need to knock these UDFAs down a peg when they get a little taste of fame?

hopefully Butler learns from this.

1.)Never take the last flight out

2.)Always be on time.

I hope butler understands how important those three weeks worth of work is, and how hard it is to earn a spot on the patriot roster, if the kid has what it takes he'll push through this set back, AND be stronger for it.

Kdo5 said:

This is frustrating and over the top. I am a big BB fan but I just don't get it. I thought the punishment of Jonas Gray also lingered much too long last season. Is there an inherent need to knock these UDFAs down a peg when they get a little taste of fame?

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Gray also had an ankle injury.

I'm actually hoping for big things from him this year.

I'm pretty sure the NFLPA would need Butlers cooperation to go after the Patriots and I seriously doubt that will happen. I also see it as an uphill battle for the union to claim that Butler doesn't have to attend if he doesn't want to but Belichick has to include him when he wasn't there for the start of it. I still see it as draconian but just don't see the supposed violation by Belichick.

Knowing we only have Scrub CB's after Butler on our roster...I would make my best CB sit too.

This really sucks. If this was the mandatory camp, I can understand. Anybody defending this punishment is unreal and out of touch with reality. It is wrong.

It will be great if BB gets slapped down by the NFLPA in his quest to build the worst possible secondary

what a jackass

Ivan said:

I'm pretty sure the NFLPA would need Butlers cooperation to go after the Patriots and I seriously doubt that will happen. I also see it as an uphill battle for the union to claim that Butler doesn't have to attend if he doesn't want to but Belichick has to include him when he wasn't there for the start of it. I still see it as draconian but just don't see the supposed violation by Belichick.

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Maybe read the rule language again, you don't see "adverse consequences" as including being barred from participating in team activities?

chasa said:

hopefully Butler learns from this.

1.)Never take the last flight out

2.)Always be on time.

I hope butler understands how important those three weeks worth of work is, and how hard it is to earn a spot on the patriot roster, if the kid has what it takes he'll push through this set back, AND be stronger for it.

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So you hope a player learns that voluntary doesn't really mean voluntary because BB can willfully violate the CBA and that after winning the superbowl for us it's gonna be really hard for him to earn a roster spot in the worst secondary in the AFC.

GJGE

Wildo7 said:

So you hope a player learns that voluntary doesn't really mean voluntary because BB can willfully violate the CBA and that after winning the superbowl for us it's gonna be really hard for him to earn a roster spot in the worst secondary in the AFC.

GJGE

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Are you new? It seems strange that you are just now figuring out that BB runs a tight ship.

The camp is voluntary but it seems that the team rule is you either attend the whole thing or don't attend at all. I honestly have no idea whether or not the NFLPA has a case here or not. It seems to me they don't have much of a case since really all the Patriots are doing is excluding him from practice. They haven't fined or suspended him so there are no real damages.

It makes sense that you don't want players coming and going as they please, but I do feel this punishment was a bit heavy.

chasa said:

Are you new? It seems strange that you are just now figuring out that BB runs a tight ship.

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yep, that's what I posted, astonishment that BB is a hardass

XLIX said:

The camp is voluntary but it seems that the team rule is you either attend the whole thing or don't attend at all. I honestly have no idea whether or not the NFLPA has a case here or not. It seems to me they don't have much of a case since really all the Patriots are doing is excluding him from practice. They haven't fined or suspended him so there are no real damages.

It makes sense that you don't want players coming and going as they please, but I do feel this punishment was a bit heavy.

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you mean aside from the entire history of Pats players participating in only part of it? (see Garoppolo, Asa Watson and Cameron Fleming last year)

Deus Irae said:

That must be why the NFL played in Buffalo during all that snow last year.



Oh, wait....

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Thank you for helping me prove my final point.

Maybe Butler has so much God-given natural talent that he doesn't need all that practice

patriot1136 said:

Maybe Butler has so much God-given natural talent that he doesn't need all that practice

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.....or maybe he got hit by a deer. I'll wait for the Police Report.

Wildo7 said:

So you hope a player learns that voluntary doesn't really mean voluntary because BB can willfully violate the CBA and that after winning the superbowl for us it's gonna be really hard for him to earn a roster spot in the worst secondary in the AFC.

GJGE

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Show where he violated the CBA?

Deus Irae said:

May 25 and May 26 are two different days.

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To make it to a morning practice on the 26th, you'd almost certainly have to fly out on the 25th at the LATEST.

A quick check at orbitz for flights tomorrow, for example, shows that the earliest you'd get to Logan tomorrow would be at 10:03 AM on a 5:50 AM departure from ATL, so traveling on the day of the practice would not be feasible.

Therefore, planning to fly out on the 25th was in no way aiming to arrive "early". It was in fact as late as was possible, or very nearly so, given that there may have been a later departing/arriving flight on that day as well.

Planning to arrive a day earlier than required would have meant flying out on the 24th.