Dear Bill - Thanks for Giving Away the Super Bowl.

[pats4life12]

I 100% agree, Butler plays you have AT LEAST one stop and you win the game. So many third and longs for first downs. You could tell the Eagles had no respect for the Patriots Defence I wouldn't have either. Fourth down with the lead, I'm going to go for it again that defense. I love Belichick and I love the Patriots but this one is on you Bill.

 

[Kdo5]

Oh, so you think BB did the right thing?! Why don't you ask Gronk & Brady if they think BB handled this correctly, right before the Super Bowl? Don't tell me who to root for. I live & die for the Pats and wanted to cry for Tom Brady after that game.

Deb, I fully agree with your OP. I'm furious at a Belichick and feel absolutely horrible for Brady (and basically all of the teammates).

 

[RobertWeathers]

I think that's the bottom line here. Belichick is paid to put players on the field that give his team the best chance to win and Butler wasn't one of them.

It's entirely possible that Butler had a terrible week in practice because he was sick, or because he wasnt paying attention, getting the game plan or whatever, so Bill felt like he wasn't performing as well as the other CB's going into the game. We've seen Bill do this this sort of thing before just not in the Superbowl and not with a player as accomplished as Butler.

Very reasonable scenario.

I have no idea what Malcolm did/did not do to warrant such a drastic decision by BB. Lost of rumors are flying around.

All I know is at no point in the game BB felt Malcolm could help the team at a level needed to win the game.

 

[patsfan13]

There is no need for ammunition because you aren’t msking an argument. You are crying.

You are trying to frame it as play butler and win and I’m pointing out in the closest example to this game that didn’t happen.

I’m sorry that you don’t like that there is evidence so you can’t consjdsr your made up theory fact.

Saying we win if butler played is not a fact, and that is the, and the only significance of the kc example. But of course you will try to make it out as something else because you have nothing.

You and a few others insinuate That Butler wouldn't have mad ANY difference.

Yet no explanation of how the D could possible be worse than what we saw.

The WORST performance by a Pats D EVER in a big game. Worse than the 44 given up to the 85 Bears.

No reason not to at least try to give Butler a shot.

 

[mosslost]

Brady is the Ring Bearer.....

BB is sort of like Gollum now

 

[DropKickFlutie]

Andy Johnson is a paid PR staffer on the Patriots paid to defend them at all costs. I heard this via unsubstantiated rumors so it must be true and I'll repeat this over and over without proof like the unfair Butler character assassinations

 

[PatriotsNumero1Fan]

The guy was gonna be gone after the year! He won us a damn super bowl! He could have put him in on any of those iggles drives. It boggles my mind that he didn't put him in. BB deserves all the criticism that he's getting!

 

[Todd Bradley]

You and a few others insinuate That Butler wouldn't have mad ANY difference.

Yet no explanation of how the D could possible be worse than what we saw.

The WORST performance by a Pats D EVER in a big game. Worse than the 44 given up to the 85 Bears.

No reason not to at least try to give Butler a shot.

It’s so hilarious watching the Belichick deciples doing mental gymnastics to try and defend him at all cost.

He’s the GOAT coach. He’s the reason for our success with Brady. But he cost the team a Super Bowl. It’s okay to admit it.

 

[Ring 6]

We most certainly win if we have Butler, especially in the second half. Butler makes the third down tackle that Bademosi whiffs on. That’s the one stop Brady needed to win the game.

Yiubdint know that at all. You don’t know he is even covering that player much less be 100% certain he makes the tackle. You don’t know hewoildnt have been burned on other plays either. You don’t know. You are guessing.

 

[IllegalContact]

You don't buy the fact that BB didn't think Malcolm could help the team on Sunday? I'm ok with that argument but thats an argument between you and BB.

The narrative I'm challenging is BB should have caved in and have played Malcolm.

nothing to do with caving and everything to do with not properly understanding your alternatives....he simply didn't have anyone else who could cover a WR

'principle' beat out logic

 

[captain insano]

if what they are saying about butler is true. then he and he alone is at fault. it's been reported he missed the team flight. missed curfew and something about weed and being sick and had a bad practice week. that's all on him. not the coach.

 

[Ring 6]

It’s so hilarious watching the Belichick deciples doing mental gymnastics to try and defend him at all cost.

He’s the GOAT coach. He’s the reason for our success with Brady. But he cost the team a Super Bowl. It’s okay to admit it.

No one is defending him.
Some of us just are choosing not to cry and accept that there are reasons for what happened.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Floyd was on a professional sports team, got drunk, drove, then passed out at an intersection. Belichick welcomed him aboard 1 day later. Do you genuinely think that signing didn't involve selectively applying standards or rules when assessing whether to sign a player? Obviously it's not a 1:1 comparison. The point is that rules or standards were bent to fit with the needs of the team (depleted at WR).

I think you hold BB to a higher moral standard than I do.

BB played Chandler Jones when he was high on synthetic weed and staggering around 1/2 naked throughout Foxboro.

There is a story Lawrence Taylor was in jail overnight on drunk driving and BB had a Giants lawyer bail him out. Parcells approved it.

The common thread was both players - in BBs estimation, practiced well, knew the gameplan and he trusted them to do their job on Sunday.

 

[ForThoseAboutToRock]

Well its a shrodingers cat scenerio i guess.

On one hand we have butler. He can either help hes team, or not but bill wont know until he tries.

Bill had much more information available to him when he made the decision to bench Butler than your example states.

Paraphrasing @Simpelton from earlier in this thread, we fans know who we think would've been out there in the 21 jersey on Sunday - we think we'd have seen the guy who played 98% of D snaps all season. I.e., plug Butler in and he'll play to his Madden rating, or however you want to describe it.

Bill Belichick, with many orders of magnitude more information and far deeper decision-making skills than we have, thought differently as evidenced by Butler's benching.

 

[#56300ex]

It's gonna be funny as **** when the real reason comes out and everyone jumping to conclusions is like,

"oh"

 

[VOODOOZF]

Couldn’t agree more with the OP. Fact of the matter is Bill Belichick was being vindictive and bit his nose to spite his (and everyone else associated with the Pats from owners, players, coaches + fans) face.

The idea that this was a pure "football decision" and that this was a scheme thing was absolute ******** that insults any clear thinking/non Belichick ass kissing persons intelligence...Butler played in something like 97% of defensive plays all year and all of a sudden they can’t find a way to get him on the field? Again, an insult to the fans intelligence to say this is a pure football decision.

I don’t care what Malcom Butler did short of killing someone, the idea that an XFL level talent like Jordan Richards should have been in the SUPER BOWL playing over him is absurd.

At some point one would think that the “defensive genius” would have seen that guys like Rowe, Jordan Richards and Bademosi weren’t getting the job done and inserted his all pro cb. Could he have been any worse than those guys? but that would have involved Belichick admitting he was wrong.

Yes, Butler may have been wrong and committed an offense against the team, BUT Bill Belichick is the same guy who turned the other cheek to guys like Lawrence Taylor...Remember when Chandler Jones got to play after showing up naked at a police station after smoking synthetic weed?

All the Patriots needed was one big defensive play that Butler was far more likely to provide that the stiffs Belichick put in the game to prove a point.

In my opinion Bill Belichick cost the New England Patriots a Super Bowl victory.

 

[Ring 6]

It’s so hilarious watching the Belichick deciples doing mental gymnastics to try and defend him at all cost.

He’s the GOAT coach. He’s the reason for our success with Brady. But he cost the team a Super Bowl. It’s okay to admit it.

Honestly if the board were a butler lynch mob I’d be on the other side defending him.

 

[mosslost]

Bird won a title after switching coaches., maybe time for Brady to get a new regime for his GOATness.

 

[Todd Bradley]

Yiubdint know that at all. You don’t know he is even covering that player much less be 100% certain he makes the tackle. You don’t know hewoildnt have been burned on other plays either. You don’t know. You are guessing.

I know we lost and I know we played one of the worst defensive games ever.

I know Butler is a Pro Bowler who led us in a majority of secondary stats and snaps. I know that Butler is better than Bademosi and Rowe.

I know we needed one stop in order for Brady to win the game.

Butler being in there, for even just the second half, wins the game.

 

[PatriotsNumero1Fan]

if what they are saying about butler is true. then he and he alone is at fault. it's been reported he missed the team flight. missed curfew and something about weed. that's all on him. not the coach.

I am not buying it and he chooses to dress him as well. He was seeing his defense give up big play after big play and he didn't even swallow his pride and put butler in the game. He was a goner after the season as well.