Malcolm Butler

convertedpatsfan said:

Bill mentioned it in "Do Your Job," talking about Arrington and how he would change if someone caught a few balls on him.

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OT: That was another thing that I was surprised BB said in DYJ. Ssaid that Arrington was "streaky' and tended to not use good technique when rattled. Did say he was on vs Hilton.

Hes 100% right.

mihap said:

4plays that i remember and shows how good Brown is
-same play as SB INT, where Brown caught the pass and Butler couldnt tackle him, other dude did eventually
-double move by brown, he cleary smoked him there...great moved by Antonio.
-i think it was in the last drive or one before where Big Ben throws to Brown and he was i think in the middle of two players and he just turned and caught it. Amazing. Butler was real close.
-TD, Butler was inches away from deflecting
I think he is the best route runner in NFL and wonder why he was 6rd pick.

Butler was phenomenal. One year ago he was nobody, just a guy who has a good preseason, hal year ago he becomes world famous guy who has the best SB INT, and now he is becoming really god player. HE has skills and he is MENTAL strong and plays with SWAG. He will be a beast in two years.

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Agreed. Butler played great. Tough crowd earlier in this thread. For me, double move only mistake. But jeez where the heck was the Safety? And how about some DL/LB pressure? Was pretty much lack of the same on many of PIT's completions.

Also at least half of the big plays after NE D went into a classic BB "Bend" mode.

Butler played better than I thought he would. He made a few nice plays in man including good coverage on Brown's amazing catch. He was beaten once when Brown made a nice in and out move on a dig.

Put me in the 'happy with Butler' camp. Seems odd to say after the numbers Antonio put up, but Butler's coverage was often spot-on... just great execution by Ben and Antonio.

One thing you have to say about Butler: he competes HARD the ENTIRE GAME.

borg said:

1) The vaunted "upgraded" pass rush never got going ....extending routes
2) Brown is the best WR in the NFL...IMO
3) Big Ben threaded some needles
4) DB finger tips were there to tip/deflect/intercept......but even slightly tipped balls ended up in WR hands
5) Butler's straightline speed may be an issue vs the sprinter type WRs
6) Where were the safeties to clamp down on the best WR in the NFL? I will answer my own question......Because Pitt was ramming the ball at will through the defensive sieve, aka D line...NE was forced to think run first which left Butler on the lonely island. Defenses are only as strong as their weakest link....and the D line had issues.
7) Game #1

I love the kids competitiveness and I expect much positive growth

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Not so sure about the S creep. Seems to me they were on the other side of the field or deep and out of place, not toward the LOS. Most of those long runs were outside early. But some gaps and missed tackles up middle too. But I think once NE cleaned up it's LB play, the big holes closed.

Twitter seems torn. People look at the stat line and said he did poor, but some people rewatched the game and said he should've had 2-3 PBUs.

Fact: Butler will not encounter a combo of that caliber the rest of the season with Nelson out for the year (barring the playoffs). A top 5 future HOF QB to the best WR in football. BB let Butler follow Antonio all around the field. He only let Talib and Revis do that in the past.

People have short memories. How about Revis vs. Manning/Sanders last year in the first half? Or Revis giving up a 40 yard TD to Jordy? Some QB/WR combos are nearly unstoppable to contain.

Getting torched would have been a 180 yard game 2 TDs, or a Fletcher on Bryant type day.

Call it homer excuse making. Check Brown's stats/last 3 seasons at the end of the year and compare it to any WR in nfl history. He's destined for Canton and just because he doesn't have 1 handed catches in garbage time or isn't 6'4 people actually argue that he isn't the clear best WR in the game.

pdangle said:

Not so sure about the S creep. Seems to me they were on the other side of the field or deep and out of place, not toward the LOS. Most of those long runs were outside early. But some gaps and missed tackles up middle too. But I think once NE cleaned up it's LB play, the big holes closed.

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I couldn't believe Collins didn't have the wheels to hang with DeAngelo. Never scene a NE defense lose the edge battle like last night. Pitt did a nice job of grabbing fists full of jersey ( I sound like a disgruntled excuse maker)

Malcolm is on his way to big things. His heart and compete-level are off the charts. He wants it, he knows where he came from and nothing is going to stop him from being a great, #1 corner. He wants it that bad, which is what I love most about Malcolm. His ball issues on a couple of those great throws by Ben were simply small technique things that he'll correct going forward. I am very high on Malcolm, very high...

@SigmundBloom: Malcolm Butler did an admirable job vs Brown and he should be a formidable match for #1 receivers. Pats signed him a week after the draft...

ArchAngel007 said:

Ben had a lot of time in the pocket I was more disappointed with the front 7 than the secondary this game.

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Totally agree, the front 7 was not generating nearly enough pressure for my liking.

And boy was I slinging some F Bombs when Easley went out of the game.. its becoming so frustrating seeing top draft picks like Dobson, Vereen, Easley, Stork etc go down with injuries...

We spend a 1st round pick on Easley and red shirt him his rookie year.. I get all excited a year later, ready to see how our investment would pay off and get some interior pass rush going... only to see him get what looks like a serious hip injury 4 minutes into the first game of the year.

So incredibly frustrating. .. does anyone know any details on the injury?

No rest for the weary Sammy Watkins is on the menu boys lets hope the Bills new QB cannot get the football to him. Sammy Watkins could potentially be better than Antonio Brown.

JarOfMayo51 said:

Totally agree, the front 7 was not generating nearly enough pressure for my liking.

And boy was I slinging some F Bombs when Easley went out of the game.. its becoming so frustrating seeing top draft picks like Dobson, Vereen, Easley, Stork etc go down with injuries...

We spend a 1st round pick on Easley and red shirt him his rookie year.. I get all excited a year later, ready to see how our investment would pay off and get some interior pass rush going... only to see him get what looks like a serious hip injury 4 minutes into the first game of the year.

So incredibly frustrating. .. does anyone know any details on the injury?

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No CB was going to do much better than Butler did last night, with the lack of pressure and that QB-WR talent combo. I'm really impressed with how quick & tight his turns are on square-outs, the receiver gets very little separation. Also he's physically very strong for a corner.

I don't think there's been any report on Easley. I don't see how he could have seriously hurt his hip on that play, there was no contact. Just a gut guess but I think he'll be out till after the bye week, a month from now.

BB played a lot of man on Brown who is ridiculously quick.

Like the comments here, i thought for the most part Butler was pretty much with Brown the whole game. He had a couple of good breakups and Brown made some great catches (sideline, endzone).

On TV it was hard to tell if the long bomb just a play where Brown beat Butler or was McCourty late on help?

I see some positives and he will get better. I kind of miss Browner because I think he was a good leader in the secondary who could have calmed Butler down.

PatsFan2 said:

No rest for the weary Sammy Watkins is on the menu boys lets hope the Bills new QB cannot get the football to him. Sammy Watkins could potentially be better than Antonio Brown.

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I want to see what BB does with Butler here. Last year, Revis played very tight coverage with little or no help as the safeties were playing a bit tighter to help the run.

sarge said:

I know the stat line looks bad, but I though Butler played well tonight.

It seemed most catches Butler was in perfect position, Brown just made the play.

I am thinking he is going to have a great year.

I was encouraged by most of what I saw tonight.

The gaping wholes the steelers ran through on the other hand, those disturbed me.

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Also, he wasn't helped by lack of QB pressure.

pdangle said:

Agreed. Butler played great. Tough crowd earlier in this thread. For me, double move only mistake. But jeez where the heck was the Safety? And how about some DL/LB pressure? Was pretty much lack of the same on many of PIT's completions.

Also at least half of the big plays after NE D went into a classic BB "Bend" mode.

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Double moves could be his problem. Would have given up a TD in the pre-season game against Carolina after getting beaten badly on a double move (the WR dropped the ball in the EZ).

I'm more interested in the rest of the secondary. How did Fletcher and Ryan do?
I'm also anxious to see Justin Coleman play in the future too.

patriot1136 said:

I'm more interested in the rest of the secondary. How did Fletcher and Ryan do?
I'm also anxious to see Justin Coleman play in the future too.

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PASS COVERAGE
Malcolm Butler: 9-10, 142 yards, TD
Bradley Fletcher: 4-7, 65 yards
Tarell Brown: 1-5, 26 yards
Dont’a Hightower: 2-2, 23 yards
Devin McCourty: 1-1, 17 yardsJerod Mayo: 1-1, 14 yards
Patrick Chung: 2-4, 13 yards, pass interference
Rob Ninkovich: 1-1, 9 yards
Jamie Collins: 1-2, 3 yards
Duron Harmon: INT

http://nesn.com/2015/09/patriots-advanced-passing-stats-malcolm-butler-struggles-in-tough-matchup/

Logan Ryan only had a handful of snaps.

Butler is perhaps the most physically gifted UDFA I have ever seen.

carmelo15 said:

He didn't get toasted 8 catches for 110yds is getting toasted.

Haden is brought up cause he's an elite CB who got beat both times last year vs Butler making his 1st start. It's like some of you expected Brown to be under 50yds.

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The discussion was about Butler last night. Comparing it to a different team's player last year, given the specific context, was stupid.

TheBostonStraggler said:

The guy was frequently one on one against a WR who has historically repeatedly produced noted amounts of receptions, from one of the top passing QBs in the league who had I think 40 attempts, who frequently had much too much time to pick and choose his throws, along with a rushing game balance that was certainly doing its part, from a team was playing from behind most of the game (emphasizing always keeping it in front of him for a noted section of the game)

Butler has some work to do no doubt but "Smoked" is either an overreaction or just plain exaggeration.

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He got smoked. It happens. As I noted, it was only his second start, it was against one of the very best in the game and he kept fighting. I called it a good sign that he remained competitive, yet y'all still get all stiff-necked over nothing.

Some of you people really need to relax. We're talking about a guy who had his 2nd NFL start and got beaten by the guy who led the NFL in catches last year. It's not a shameful thing that he got lit up. The inability to stop the run, and the inability to cover DHB were much more disconcerting than Butler's getting beat.