Malcolm Butler Mega Thread

[RobertWeathers]

I think he had a bad weak of practice, Butler knew this was his last game as a Patriot and BB thought i'd rather go with the guys who will be here next year. It will go down as his biggest mistake as a coach. It cost us the SB

BB has had dozens of players in their final year in their deals have great Super Bowls and be gone the next year.

See Chris Long.

Not buying it.

 

[Satchboogie3]

Do you really think he would freeze out Malcolm, his #2CB and SB hero in the biggest, the most historical game of his coaching career over something so miniscule as a curfew violation?

There is much more to this.

This is exactly my point though, it's the f*cking Superbowl, it CANT be bad enough to sit the entire game. I don't care if he clocked BB in the face. He's dressed there on the field. If the defense came out playing great, then awesome, everything works out and you can let him stand there crying. But the defense wasn't working out. It was laying a colossal turd. He's RIGHT THERE.

I'll put it this way: Doug Peterson played that game to win, he was willing to do whatever it took to win. whatever it took. Bill didn't. Bill put making a stupid f*cking point over winning a Superbowl. Do you seriously think benching a player for the first half of a Superbowl isn't already a big f*cking punishment? But no... you just have to sit him out the entire game, result be damned. F*ck that. Win at all cost.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Except Calipari doesnt win, And BB is 100 times the coach Cal is

Of course Calipari wins. Wha?

BB blows Cal out of the water. No arguement there.

 

[Lee144]

So BB is the uncompromising, rules above God old coach now?

Whatever the rules, 51 other players had zero problem adhering to them.

The problem here though is BBs constantly talking about doing what’s best for the team to win. He’s all about the here and now. His players and captains are saying they didn’t find out about Butler until kickoff. His decision, right, wrong, or indifferent, segregated the team and put them at a competitive disadvantage. It may very well have cost them the game.

 

[Kdo5]

It's just insane. Everyone around me, we were all screaming to put Butler in. It's not one bad call made in a tight pressure spot, it's 3+ hours of being an idiot. Holy ****, it's so obvious. They can't cover, they can't tackle... The best god damn tackle corner maybe in the NFL is just standing there, Bill. Why dont you try using him. Maybe you'll only have 8 broken tackles next drive instead of 10... The defense was THAT bad.

YES. The tackling drove me crazy and that is something Malcolm is great at. Not to mention he is is a better playmaker than anyone on the defense.

Belichick's stubborn ass lost us the game. McDaniels and Brady destroyed that Eagles defense. They missed a few plays but did more than enough and it was just wasted.

 

[Chris Stevenson]

This is a case where Belichick should man the **** up and admit specifically why he did it. This crap about "did what I thought gave us the best chance to win" is ludicrous. I'll defend Bill on a lot of things but he is hiding behind this and refusing to acknowledge that it may have been the wrong decision. It comes across as cowardly to me.

What is cowardly is butler turning down 8 mil per year. He owes his entire life to bb, basically.

He has worked hard, but who else called him for a camp invite? This guy actually thinks he is worth more than 8 mil per.

I love his heart and grit, but reports are about them walking on pins and needles all year after they decided to commit his money to gilmore. Sucks thag butler picked this time to do this.

If anyone thinks bb wanted to do that, they are crazy.

 

[SalemPats]

BB has had dozens of players in their final year in their deals have great Super Bowls and be gone the next year.

See Chris Long.

Not buying it.

Long was a rotation player and there was no indication either way he was leaving or staying. We had a defense that gave up the 3rd most yards and against good teams looked really bad. We couldn't afford to not have Butler out there. The proof is there, because our defense got torched. Imagine Gilmore didn't play good, they could have scored 50 on us

 

[Kdo5]

What is cowardly is butler turning down 8 mil per year. He owes his entire life to bb, basically.

He has worked hard, but who else called him for a camp invite? This guy actually thinks he is worth more than 8 mil per.

I love his heart and grit, but reports are about them walking on pins and needles all year after they decided to commit his money to gilmore. Sucks thag butler picked this time to do this.

If anyone thinks bb wanted to do that, they are crazy.

He earned his role as a starter through his own hard work. He doesn't owe Belichick jack ****.

 

[fightingirish595]

Of course Calipari wins. Wha?

BB blows Cal out of the water. No arguement there.

He doesnt win. He gets the best players every year and doesnt win championships! Hes an average coach on the floor

 

[billikens]

I don't buy this Malcolm Butler benching caused us to lose the Super Bowl and Belichick is to blame for all of this. For one, none of us on this board have any facts to work with, much less a full picture of what really happened. Without that, it's needless speculation. Belichick has his reasons, maybe we'll find out, maybe we won't. But I sure as hell am not going to second guess the guy.

Also, considering we lost a one score game and had possession to end the game, we need to account:

-A missed filed goal (on botched snap) and missed extra point - half of the margin of our loss right there
-An inexplicable fourth down try in the first half with five yards to go while in field goal range in a domed stadium
-Tom Brady, also inexplicably, running for the sideline and getting tackled short rather than throwing the ball away with no time outs as the time was running out in the first half
-Amendola overthrowing a wide open Brady, who is 6'4" with the ball off his outstretched fingertips ending a promising possession
-Bademosi not making a crucial tackle on third down with the Eagles deep in their territory late in the game, which I believe the Eagles went on to score on that drive
-Brady getting stripped sacked late in fourth quarter, allowing Philly to score, but just as crucially burning too much clock and spending time outs after getting ball back
-Cutesy plays like the Cooks end around leap (short) on a 3-2 and the failed Amendola-Brady pass (which was on fourth down, right?) instead of just playing solid no frills offense

If any one of these plays were executed properly by the Patriots, the outcome may indeed have been different. Our exeuction and clock management at the end of both halfs, in particular, were not good. With the exception of the Bademosi missed tackle, Butler's absence had nothing to do with these screw ups.

 

[Kdo5]

Long was a rotation player and there was no indication either way he was leaving or staying. We had a defense that gave up the 3rd most yards and against good teams looked really bad. We couldn't afford to not have Butler out there. The proof is there, because our defense got torched. Imagine Gilmore didn't play good, they could have scored 50 on us

It would have been a blowout if Brady had an average game. Like 45-20. But he had an extraordinary game.

 

[cmasspatsfan]

That's just it though, a lot of fans aren't willing to even entertain the thought that BB might have made a bad decision and a decision that cost them the game. Hell, some actually believe Butler wouldn't have made any difference! That's nuts. At worst, at least you tried. They didn't. BB can't say this team give it 100% of everything they had with Butler standing on the sidelines all game. He just can't.

On the flip side some don't want to entertain the idea he did what he has always done and put some blame on MB.

 

[SalemPats]

YES. The tackling drove me crazy and that is something Malcolm is great at. Not to mention he is is a better playmaker than anyone on the defense.

Belichick's stubborn ass lost us the game. McDaniels and Brady destroyed that Eagles defense. They missed a few plays but did more than enough and it was just wasted.

People complain about Butler, but even when he's beat, he's always there. Not too mention he was good against the run and we used him to blitz from the corner

 

[Satchboogie3]

I don't buy this Malcolm Butler benching caused us to lose the Super Bowl

So Eric Rowe is a better corner? Just answer me this please. The defense sucked, coverage and tackling. So who's a better corner?

 

[Chris Stevenson]

YES. The tackling drove me crazy and that is something Malcolm is great at. Not to mention he is is a better playmaker than anyone on the defense.

Belichick's stubborn ass lost us the game. McDaniels and Brady destroyed that Eagles defense. They missed a few plays but did more than enough and it was just wasted.

You people are funny..mcdaniels is the most overrated coordinator ever. The constant confusion, red zone woes, entire halves of awfulness and over-analysis or benching of players aftee great work never to be seen again,etc, are all obnoxious.

Philly had no problem being diverse in approach trying to score, meanwhile, mcdousche, a former plastics salesman, given the keys to the car with brady fiddles around for another first half in a super bowl. Why does the urgency start in the second half?

What lost us the game is missed opportunities and a weak first half. Again. Every sb loss has features a poor half.

Pats will not miss a beat without mcdaniels and may even better without him.

 

[RobertWeathers]

This is exactly my point though, it's the f*cking Superbowl, it CANT be bad enough to sit the entire game. I don't care if he clocked BB in the face. He's dressed there on the field. If the defense came out playing great, then awesome, everything works out and you can let him stand there crying. But the defense wasn't working out. It was laying a colossal turd. He's RIGHT THERE.

I'll put it this way: Doug Peterson played that game to win, he was willing to do whatever it took to win. whatever it took. Bill didn't. Bill put making a stupid f*cking point over winning a Superbowl. Do you seriously think benching a player for the first half of a Superbowl isn't already a big f*cking punishment? But no... you just have to sit him out the entire game, result be damned. F*ck that. Win at all cost.

I hear you. Believe me. I'd sell my kids for a 6th SB (well, maybe not all of them).

Its clear as day to me something happened which made BB lose complete confidence and trust in Malcolm and because of <whatever> he was not comfortable playing him at all. He felt so strongly about it that he felt him being out there would hurt the team.

To use a military term, he was not a soldier he wanted in his foxhole.

 

[Chris Stevenson]

So Eric Rowe is a better corner? Just answer me this please. The defense sucked, coverage and tackling. So who's a better corner?

Against what size wr?

 

[SalemPats]

What is cowardly is butler turning down 8 mil per year. He owes his entire life to bb, basically.

He has worked hard, but who else called him for a camp invite? This guy actually thinks he is worth more than 8 mil per.

I love his heart and grit, but reports are about them walking on pins and needles all year after they decided to commit his money to gilmore. Sucks thag butler picked this time to do this.

If anyone thinks bb wanted to do that, they are crazy.

How is turning 8 M cowardly when he could get more on the open market. Not too mention, BB is notorious for trading high priced vets.

BB knew that when Butler wanted more money they had him for one year. He could have traded him, he had options

 

[cmasspatsfan]

He's just too old school with disciplinary stuff, much like Tom Coughlin. I agree that if the reports are true then Butler should be punished but not for the super bowl. Heck, players like Irvin and Deion used to party all the time and they showed up for the Super Bowl. All anyone remembers is who wins and who loses.

And that cowboy dynasty lasted how long?

 

[chumpchange]

But the meeting ....

Haha, isn't it supposed to take place next week? Only seven days to cool off after this epic debacle? This is going to be the most awkward meeting ever.

I don't buy this Malcolm Butler benching caused us to lose the Super Bowl and Belichick is to blame for all of this. For one, none of us on this board have any facts to work with, much less a full picture of what really happened. Without that, it's needless speculation. Belichick has his reasons, maybe we'll find out, maybe we won't. But I sure as hell am not going to second guess the guy.

Also, considering we lost a one score game and had possession to end the game, we need to account:

-A missed filed goal (on botched snap) and missed extra point - half of the margin of our loss right there
-An inexplicable fourth down try in the first half with five yards to go while in field goal range in a domed stadium
-Tom Brady, also inexplicably, running for the sideline and getting tackled short rather than throwing the ball away with no time outs as the time was running out in the first half
-Amendola overthrowing a wide open Brady, who is 6'4" with the ball off his outstretched fingertips ending a promising possession
-Bademosi not making a crucial tackle on third down with the Eagles deep in their territory late in the game, which I believe the Eagles went on to score on that drive
-Brady getting stripped sacked late in fourth quarter, allowing Philly to score, but just as crucially burning too much clock and spending time outs after getting ball back
-Cutesy plays like the Cooks end around leap (short) on a 3-2 and the failed Amendola-Brady pass (which was on fourth down, right?) instead of just playing solid no frills offense

If any one of these plays were executed properly by the Patriots, the outcome may indeed have been different. Our exeuction and clock management at the end of both halfs, in particular, were not good. With the exception of the Bademosi missed tackle, Butler's absence had nothing to do with these screw ups.

Now I'm no mathematician, but I think the problem was more that our Defense allowed scores on 80% of the Eagles' possessions. In a game in which your offense sets Super Bowl records for passing and total yardage and does not punt once in the entire game, I don't think the fault can be placed at their feet.