Content Post Dear Bill - Thanks for Giving Away the Super Bowl.

[SammyBlueCat]

Why do you feel that that's not largely Butler's responsibility and fault?

Did not say that.

 

[Ring 6]

So then why dress him. I thought Bill didn’t coach with injuries in mind

What do you mean he doesn’t coach with injuries in mind?
You can’t go until a game with 3 corners.

 

[Simpelton]

Did not say that.

Perhaps I'm cross-reading too much, but by avoiding the discussion of Butler's share of the responsibility for whatever happened, that pushes 100% of the blame onto Belichick. That's probably unfair, agreed?

 

[patsfan13]

Of course it makes sense because it’s what happened. Butler was benched but if there was an emergency and there was no choice but to play him he would have gone in.

NAH just put in a S like they did. IF it was that serious you leave him OFF the gameday roster.

Why the D is being shredded you puit him to TRY to change the situation.

YOU DO NOT LET THE SEASON THE SB GO DOWN IN FLAMES.

IF THE SIN WAS SO AGGREVIOUS LEAVE HIM OFF THE ROSTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[PatsFan2]

Apparenly Bill didn’t give Butler (or the team) a reason for getting benched. Good job Bill!

NFL Rumors: Bill Belichick Didn’t Give Malcolm Butler A Reason For Benching

They said someone laid a $h!t Load of $$$$ on Philly maybe it was the Devil himself.

 

[Huckleberry1]

That’s a fair enough response. If Butler really F-ed up that badly where BB had no choice but to sit him than that part is on him. Our scheme collapsed without him & Chung should have been on Ertz with the 3 CBs on the 3 WRs. We still need the full story.

Honestly PITS-the more I think about it the more I reach the conclusion that this is entirely Butler’s fault. By his own words the Patriots coaching staff lost faith in him, and you can’t blame those who put trust and faith in you for losing faith and trust in you.

 

[Mr.Bandwagon]

You put a fuc.kin safety on a slot!!!!
How dare you!!!

 

[RobertWeathers]

That’s entirely the issue and why people are upset. How that flies over your head is another story.

People can be upset. I get it. It doesn't change the fact that Bill still felt Malcolm couldn't do his job.

This by the way is the same guy that felt comfortable pulling Kyle Arrington in place of rookie Butler in a close down to the wire Super Bowl game.

That proves BB is not afraid to make changes or do something drastic if he has confidence in the alternative. In the case of Malcolm, he did not have confidence in him.

But in a Super Bowl where your defensive gameplan is failing on every level and the score is tethering on the edge of a possible blowout, it makes very little sense to not give Pro Bowler Butler even a few snaps to prove his worth.

Again, BB felt Malcolm was not in a position to do his job or carry out his assignments. If he was (like in in 2014) he would have played him.

 

[Huckleberry1]

Apparenly Bill didn’t give Butler (or the team) a reason for getting benched. Good job Bill!

NFL Rumors: Bill Belichick Didn’t Give Malcolm Butler A Reason For Benching

Butler said it, “ they lost faith in me.”

 

[IllegalContact]

No.

BB still didn't think Malcolm could help the team.

that's what he says....I don't buy it....not with Agholor abusing safeties

 

[moosekill]

My whole sentiment is that the punishment of the ENTIRE TEAM did not fit the crime. You can't bench your starting CB for the Super Bowl with no viable back-up plan, which is what BB did. And even if he thought he had a back-up plan, it was clear about 10 minutes into the game that the back-up plan was not going to work. And if he benched Butler right before the game with no warning to the other guys on defense, then even more shame on him. Adjust like you always do, go win the game, then deal with Butler. BB deviated from his own formula, despite what others are saying here, over his anger at Butler. He wronged Tom Brady, Gronk, and the other 50 guys on the team. He pulled the rug out from under Matt Patricia and left him with no way to make adjustments, a hall mark of the Pats, and particularly this year, where the defense often gave up no or minimal points in the 2nd half once they knew what the other team was doing. You worked all year to get to the Super Bowl then threw it away, many times over. Why? You never have to look at Butler again if you don't want to. The other guys on the team aren't going to defend Butler either way. If he is an immature distraction they'll be glad to see him gone too, but they sure would have liked his skills on the field on Sunday. Some on here are saying I am defending Butler or giving him a pass. I am not. Shame on him many times over for letting down his teammates and the Pats. I just don't think the head coach should have joined him in doing that.

You keep saying the same thing over and over. We get it, you are upset they lost and upset that BB sat Butler. With no knowledge of what Butler did to deserve the demotion, you are blaming Bill. Got it, not quite sure how else you can say it again. You feel Bill should have ignored his rules and let Butler play, and by not doing so he didn't give the Pats the best chance to win. Got it! I also don't know what Butler did, but do know that you can't have rules that only apply sometimes or those rules aren't followed. I do know that Butler is a professional who should be able to follow the rules, especially when he has been playing for the Patriots for a number of years and is a grown up, no matter how he was acting during the National Anthem. Perhaps he was crying because he saw millions of dollars floating away. Perhaps he was crying because he finally realized his childish behavior caused him to be benched. Who know. I don't care. I do know, that BB would not have benched him out of spite, he did it for a reason.

 

[SammyBlueCat]

Perhaps I'm cross-reading too much, but by avoiding the discussion of Butler's share of the responsibility for whatever happened, that pushes 100% of the blame onto Belichick. That's probably unfair, agreed?

What is your point? I said that there must have been a better way to deal with this. What was done ultimately punished the other 50 + players. Is that fair to you?

 

[chasa]

Honestly PITS-the more I think about it the more I reach the conclusion that this is entirely Butler’s fault. By his own words the Patriots coaching staff lost faith in him, and you can’t blame those who put trust and faith in you for losing faith and trust in you.

Well at least they had faith in Rowe right?

couldn't get a stop on third down if their lives depended on it, and the half time adjustment seemed to be "Well the house is on fire, this is fine" "should we maybe see if butler can have a little more sucsess, give him a series to see if he matches up better" "Nah lets just let them keep scoring points."

 

[Simpelton]

What is your point? I said that there must have been a better way to deal with this. What was done ultimately punished the other 50 + players. Is that fair to you?

it depends too heavily on what Butler may or may not have done for me to give you a coherent answer to that question.

It also depends on what might have been at risk, which is balanced against the cost to those other players, and is unknowable if we don't know what Butler did.

 

[SHOWTIME15]

People can be upset. I get it. It doesn't change the fact that Bill still felt Malcolm couldn't do his job.



That proves BB is not afraid to make changes or do something drastic if he has confidence in the alternative. In the case of Malcolm, he did not have confidence in him.



Again, BB felt Malcolm was not in a position to do his job or carry out his assignments. If he was (like in in 2014) he would have played him.

Why decide this right just hours before the game? Did Bill have some sort of revelation on Sunday morning, “Hmm, that Butler guy that I have been watching all year long isn’t good enough to play today”?

 

[RobertWeathers]

the entire defense had to change assignments because of butler being out


Well, Bill said it wasn't discipline. he answered a straight up "NO" on that question, Bill isn't a guy who lies, and if had been he would have side stepped the question.

The fact of the matter is Rowe played like Hot garbage, not cold garbage, not luke warm garbage. HOT STINKY GARBAGE.

Butler played ZERO snaps ZERO ****ING ZERO snaps. You're telling me the guy who played in 98% of the defensive snaps during the season couldn't play better in the second half then the guy who gave up 95% of the targets thrown at him in the game?

really?

REALLY?

Take the blinders off dude. I'd take a one armed butler wearing a blindfold over Rowe in the second half of the superbowl.
ZERO SNAPS on defense.

****ING ZERO?!

ARE YOU KIDDING ME.

zero snaps to the guy with the highest snap count on defense during the season.

This isn't like cutting tiquan underwood before the game. tiquan was a 4th string wide receiver. Butler was CB 1 for the two years prior to this one, and was CB 2 this year.

With Butler playing defense the patriots gave up 14 ppg during the season.

With Butler not playing defense the patriots gave up 41 ****ing points in the superbowl.

ZERO SNAPS

I understand you are upset.

You are in your right to believe Malcolm was able to do his job and help the team.

It doesn't change the fact that Bill did not trust or have confidence in Malcolm doing his job on any level.

I wasn't in that locker room or know why Malcolm was benched.

What I do know is BB will not play players he does not think can help the team win on that particular day.

 

[Tuck]

It doesn’t take a good actor to screw up and act like you were entitled to not be punished.

True but I'm not sure entitled is a word Id use to describe his reaction to Reiss' question. He seemed genuinely confused and unaware of the reason for his benching. Just an observation.

 

[XLIX]

So the picture being painted is one of a player who did not fly with the team because he was too ill. But then when he got there he proceeded to have crappy practices. Assuming still recovering from the illness he went to a concert at a club and missed curfew. Then had some sort of argument/fight with a coach.

I would say Bills mistake was not the benching but actually dressing him. Makes me think the last straw may have come within 90 minutes of kick off. I wonder if the reported fight/argument occurred just before kickoff.

I am starting to think there is much more to Butler's absence on the team flight than we originally thought. I think we all sort of just assumed it was an excused absence due to illness. Maybe it was a little more.

 

[primetime]

Well at least they had faith in Rowe right?

couldn't get a stop on third down if their lives depended on it, and the half time adjustment seemed to be "Well the house is on fire, this is fine" "should we maybe see if butler can have a little more sucsess, give him a series to see if he matches up better" "Nah lets just let them keep scoring points."

Rowe was fine and would have played whether Butler did or not. He gave up that crappy 3rd and 12 early in the game but settled in. The touchdown he gave up was just a great throw where he got outjumped by a good receiver with several inches on him but he was in perfect position. He had several defensed passes in critical situations, including saving a touchdown. He completely quieted his receiver in the second half.

The issue wasn't Rowe, it was Richards and Bademosi, who wouldn't have been playing if Butler had been in. A secondary's only as good as its weakest link - when that's Rowe, as it would have been with Butler playing, it's a pretty good secondary. When that's Richards, it's a historically bad secondary. That's the difference that Butler makes.

 

[Todd Bradley]

People can be upset. I get it. It doesn't change the fact that Bill still felt Malcolm couldn't do his job.



That proves BB is not afraid to make changes or do something drastic if he has confidence in the alternative. In the case of Malcolm, he did not have confidence in him.



Again, BB felt Malcolm was not in a position to do his job or carry out his assignments. If he was (like in in 2014) he would have played him.

Oh boy. You’re going to ballwash Belichick no matter what is said, so there’s no point in even debating with you.