Malcolm Butler Mega Thread

[RobertWeathers]

Ertz turned DMac around on this play..


DMac had responsibility on both Clement and Ertz as possible targets on that play. If Ertz breaks to the outside behind Clement DMac has to cover that. You see the little wiggle Ertz does freezes DMac for a fraction of a second which was just the window they needed..

It was just another well designed route to occupy the safety. Also required a hell of a throw into double coverage with not an inch to spare for the receiver to make the catch (or not depending on how you stand on the review).

Flowers was RIGHT THERE. You can't ask for better LB coverage 40 yards downfield. Ugh....

On that play you just gotta say great throw and a great catch.

I'm not going to bash DMC or Flowers on that one.

 

[DropKickFlutie]

He played on special teams, and he’s depth. I like Butler and they got a couple of really good seasons out of him but his play slipped considerably this season. And while I have no idea why he was benched it may have been his performance against mobile quarterbacks this season combined with the RPO offense they were facing.

Flat out wrong. Fact is they had the league's best defense for a month while Gilmore was out and Butler was the #1 corner. Defense only gave up 14ppg after Sept with Butler playing 98% of snaps. So he was a starter contributing to a great defense

 

[Ras-IR Dowling]

I guess. I dont know. After looking through so much footage from yesterday I feel like Ertz almost deserved the SB MVP. He was a key aspect of the majority of third/fourth down conversions in terms of route design and receptions. So I can see why DMac would cheat a bit towards Ertz breaking to the sideline against Richards with inside leverage.

To me this is one of those tip of your hat plays. It required a perfect throw into a very small window by Foles to a third string RB and even then had to survive a review from upstairs because it was so close. Those are not plays that I get upset about. If anything one could argue that this was another play that showed our problem with pass rush because Foles had all day on that snap.

Dmac on ertz was a matchup advantage for Philly. Abused him on that GW td. Secondary as a whole wasn’t good at all but agree worst part was the DL and the amount of time foles had. Philly OL won them the game

 

[RobertWeathers]

media should be asking why he was benched until they are blue in the face...coaches decision is just not good enough

....and they will get the same response over and over again.

 

[sb1]

 

[DropKickFlutie]

Is it possible that the Patriots wanted to be bigger in the back end in nickel and dime because of Ajayi and Blount? Would that solve the riddle?

No. Keeping Chung as your elite box SS to support run would then make sense, not pull Chung to cover slot which isn't his strength. The whole defense got F'd up by not having Butler, 3 players then playing out of ideal position

 

[Tb12goesinya]

Flowers was RIGHT THERE. You can't ask for better LB coverage 40 yards downfield. Ugh....

On that play you just gotta say great throw and a great catch.

I'm not going to bash DMC or Flowers on that one.

Out of all the plays yesterday, I think that one makes me the sickest

 

[Steve102]

Do we make anything of the reports that Butler cleaned out his locker before the trip? Would that be a case of Belichick saying "If you're not part of the team anymore, then have a seat?" Doesn't make any sense to me that he doesn't give his team their best chance to win. Now they end up in this situation:

Some of you keep mixing up the huge ramifications.
- Chung an elite in the box safety had to play slot
- McCourty an elite FS had to defend Ertz
- Rowe a decent slot corner had to play outside
- No Chung in the box led to horrible run defense as well.

Basically made every player in the secondary play their unideal position. Also demoralizing to know your talented 2-ring heart and soul teammate was benched for no reason
.

I think the whole "teaching him a lesson" argument is not valid. He's not gonna be here next season, fine, but he's here now. I can't wrap my head around ANY reason that he's not in this game.

 

[redsx8827]

Is it possible that the Patriots wanted to be bigger in the back end in nickel and dime because of Ajayi and Blount? Would that solve the riddle?

Nope. What about 3rd and 8 plays? 2 and 12 plays on the final drive? All of those obvious passing situations are textbook dime defense packages, ones in which you dare the offense to run.

 

[Pats1989]

i think the bigger story is that hightower liked the post

Yepp. Absolutely mind numbing decision. There's got to be something to this story.Otherwise, I want this pos fired. I'm sorry but I do.

 

[skinnydog]

So 38 pages into this thread and still not a single good explanation as to why Bulter goes from starter to persona non grata

 

[mb6592]

You’re missing the point here. If you work on a project with your office team and one of the guys who was supposed to do a part of the presentation, one that’s been prepared over and over for two weeks, is told for no reason to stay home, you’re going to be pretty rattled when Fred from accounting is thrown into the mix in his place and has no idea what to do.

And no matter how “average” you may think Butler was, that “average” was miles better than Bademosi and Richards, two players who should see strictly Special Teams snaps and nothing more during ANY football game, let alone during the goddamn Super Bowl.

The fact that it was the other way around is appaling and the reason fans are furious.

That average played 95% of the defensive snaps for the year, that average was a key part of EVERY game plan during the year, that average was arguably the 3rd or 4th best defensive player available on the team.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Out of all the plays yesterday, I think that one makes me the sickest

The Badmosi missed tackle is mine. IMO that was a killer.

Just a great play by Foles and Clement. We can scream that it wasn't a catch but whatever. Whats done it done.

 

[redsx8827]

I don't understand why some are defending Belichick. He either made the decision for two reasons:

1. Butler pissed him off, either showing up late because of the flu, cussing him out, whatever.
2. Belichick actually believed the corner who played 98% of the snaps wasn't good enough or the right matchup on a single defensive play due to Philly's scheme

Obviously #2 is extremely unlikely. If he's healthy enough to be active, to play on STs, then he's healthy enough to at least play on obvious passing situations, especially in the second half when you're getting torched by Foles.

So that leaves reason #1. And that means if you support Belichick, then you support him punishing Butler based on something petty that Butler did, whether that's because Belichick is spiteful or because he wants to set a precedent. Is that really worth losing the Super Bowl? (And yes, I think this cost them the SB. All Brady needed was one single stop by the defense).

 

[luuked]

Dmac on ertz was a matchup advantage for Philly. Abused him on that GW td. Secondary as a whole wasn’t good at all but agree worst part was the DL and the amount of time foles had. Philly OL won them the game

That game winner was another brilliant design by the Eagles.


I described it somewhere else but shortly before the snap they jet-motioned Clement (?) to the side where they already had trips and cleared the entire upper side for Ertz vs. DMac. This means that Ertz could just react to what leverage DMac would play with.

The mistake DMac made was he should have played this with inside leverage forcing Foles to make the more difficult throw for a fade instead of giving him the easy completion on the slant. I think what happened was that originally Harmon was around to help on a slant but when he got moved by the motion DMac never adjusted properly.

The way Foles was playing there is a good chance he would have hit that fade TD on Ertz anyway but at least it would have been more difficult than a lousy slant.

 

[SHOWTIME15]

So 38 pages into this thread and still not a single good explanation as to why Bulter goes from starter to persona non grata

Belichick and patricia are the only ones who can answer that.

 

[The Brandon Five]

Flowers was RIGHT THERE. You can't ask for better LB coverage 40 yards downfield. Ugh....

On that play you just gotta say great throw and a great catch.

I'm not going to bash DMC or Flowers on that one.

That wasn’t a TD. Should have been overturned.

 

[archstanton543]

So 38 pages into this thread and still not a single good explanation as to why Bulter goes from starter to persona non grata

BB says that he wasn't part of the defensive scheme. People may not like that answer but it's the only one we have (that is until Butler leaves the team and then maybe tells the media what happened). So, instead of speculating without having all the facts, we have to go with the unpalatable answer of "it was a scheme thing" and rip the Pats for obviously not using the correct defensive scheme to stop the Eagles.

 

[IllegalContact]

Well, they might have kept him around just in case of an injury in the secondary.

Seeing how they were gashed on the ground...Branch?

Branch was inactive

 

[luuked]

And that means if you support Belichick, then you support him punishing Butler based on something petty that Butler did, whether that's because Belichick is spiteful or because he wants to set a precedent. Is that really worth losing the Super Bowl? (And yes, I think this cost them the SB. All Brady needed was one single stop by the defense).

How do you know at this point that what happened actually was something petty ?