Malcolm Butler Mega Thread

[DaBruinz]

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.

And, if by "manning up" he paints Butler in a horrific light, costing him millions, then what? HUH?

Seriously, stop acting like a spoiled brat and thinking you are owed anything. You aren't.

 

[DaBruinz]

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.

Umm.. McCourty, who is a team Captain, said he knew that Butler wasn't a part of the game plan.. What other "captains" are you referring to?

 

[DaBruinz]

Sorry but with butler we get some of those stops on 3rd down. We can actually do things like maybe blitz. He adds another dimension to our defense.

So, you can see alternate realities now? Good to know..

 

[DaBruinz]

What about philly’s d, the fake td by clement and awful gostkowski yet again? Sometimes games are shoootouts. This was one of them and our offense was as asleep out of the blocks in a super bowl again.

Why is it ok for brady and mcdaniels to be confused for an entire first half against a crap pass d?

Both the misses were on Cardona and Allen. Not Gostkowski..

 

[RobertWeathers]

You know that Butler being an UFA played a major part in not playing him.

Please explain why you think this is true.

This was BB's worst coaching move.

Which part? Sitting Malcolm? The defensive game plan? Not having an athletic enough front 7? Not covering Foles during the TD catch?

He's the greatest coach of all time, but he lost us this SB

Maybe he did. Maybe he didn't.

What should not be happening are fans who think the winning culture this dynasty is built on is something casual.

 

[PatriotsNumero1Fan]

You know that Butler being an UFA played a major part in not playing him. This was BB's worst coaching move. He's the greatest coach of all time, but he lost us this SB

You can't criticize the best NFL coach ever. Even the great coaches have a bad night. It's inexplicable how he dresses him and decides not to even put him in a series especiallly in the 4th quarter. I am glad he got roasted for it.

 

[Soliel]

Don't be jealous; the race for the craziest and most out-of-touch-with-reality justification for Bill's indefensible decision was very close! You were all strong and deserving candidates.

Damn! Foiled again.
No matter how convolluted and crazy I get I’m always burned on this award

 

[PatriotsNumero1Fan]

Please explain why you think this is true.



Which part? Sitting Malcolm? The defensive game plan? Not having an athletic enough front 7? Not covering Foles during the TD catch?



Maybe he did. Maybe he didn't.

What should not be happening are fans who think the winning culture this dynasty is built on is something casual.

BB's the greatest coach ever but you have to admit he had a bad night on Sunday. He watched his defense give up big 3rd downs left and right and he didn't even look at butler and said go in the game.

 

[chumpchange]

Outside of the four or five Positive Patties on here defending Bill's ridiculous decision to bench Butler in the Super Bowl because of practice, are there any media articles or journalistic takes defending any part of it? Obviously, I haven't seen any since it's indefensible, but I'd love to read even one opinion piece offering even a slight justification.

 

[Chris Stevenson]

I could certainly see the rationale for starting Rowe:

1. Rowe has been matched up versus larger WRs before and logic dictates he was the better corner to match up versus Jeffrey.

2. re:butler: minor infractions/bad practices/flu/aggressive attitude towards coaches

However, as soon as it was obvious that Rowe was going to struggle with Jeffery, and they had to make the switch to Gilmore in that spot, the coaches should have swallowed their pride and had Butler versus Agholor. Regardless of what transpired, he was the best option against a smaller, shifty WR, who killed the Pats all night versus Bademosi, Rowe, and others.

For a team that is reknowned for their adjustments, the decision to keep Butler out and assume that the Eagles would falter at some point, while Brady carried them to victory, was an unnecessary risk to take. Ultimately, this is the SB and you have to do what it takes to win. On the defensive side, the coaches did not do that.

Holy mackerel, but why wasn't Harmon or McCourty over the top on

Just up Bademosi's reps and have him work on Torrey Smith. McCourty had to have been used on Smith, because who else was taking him out?

This was a plan failure, not a player failure.

We win this game with this:

1. Rowe/Harmon on Jeffery. There'd be no attractive deep look, which is all the routes Jeffery ever runs. BB took out Jeffery in when he was with the Bears.

2. Gilmore on Agoholor. He's their best WR, we need our best, most physical man player, so it was a no brainer to me. Ertz and Agholor run the closer routes at the line of scrimmage and needed the physical match up. Chung was ideal on Ertz, which is why Ertz did jack squat until Chung got concussed.

3. Bademosi (Was going to be Butler), on Torrey Smith.

Someone took out Smith and it had to be McCourty. That means, the whole field deep, was on Harmon.

Why wasn't Harmon instructed to get way back, favor Jeffrey's side, which would then allow Patricia to dictate his scheming elsewhere?

This would have won the game.

 

[Boomer B]

Actually, it's been known since last Wednesday that Butler wasn't on the team flight..

Yes, but it wasn't listed that he missed the flight because of anything other then he was sick and was coming the next day.

 

[DaBruinz]

This was the SB. All that mattered was winning.

So, in your eyes, any player who is going to be a UFA after the SB should get free reign to snub team rules during the week leading up to the SB. It shouldn't matter because, well, it's the SB.

Have you stopped to think how damaging THAT truly is to a team??

 

[Chris Stevenson]

BB's the greatest coach ever but you have to admit he had a bad night on Sunday. He watched his defense give up big 3rd downs left and right and he didn't even look at butler and said go in the game.

Because it wasn't a Butler salveable issue. It was scheme. They failed, but it wasn't something Butler was going to change.

Get SB 49's last play out of your head.

 

[Chris Stevenson]

Outside of the four or five Positive Patties on here defending Bill's ridiculous decision to bench Butler in the Super Bowl because of practice, are there any media articles or journalistic takes defending any part of it? Obviously, I haven't seen any since it's indefensible, but I'd love to read even one opinion piece offering even a slight justification.

May I ask when it's been popular for the media to defend BB? It's a massive moneymaker. All they do is shift who they go after, for clickbait.

They actually WERE going after Vrady, and now it's going after BB again.

Nice, huh?

Malcom Butler, as a 28 year old adult male, needs to take accountablity. Period.

If even half of this is true, BB absolutely did the right thing by playing those deserving and those who were practcing well, working hard, and could be trusted.

End of story.

Bademos, Gilmore or Rowe had to go down in that game for Butler to get in.


Get over it. The flaw was matchups and scheme, not Butler's presence.

 

[chumpchange]

Damn! Foiled again.
No matter how convolluted and crazy I get I’m always burned on this award

I'm sorry, Soliel, but your posts made far too much sense and were too grounded in reality. That immediately disqualifies you from this award. To get a feel of what we're looking for in this special honor, I'd suggest reading some of the delusional posters' "arguments" about how Bill made the right call because it's more important to discipline one guy over some minor infraction than win the title we slaved all year to get to, and if you punish the whole team and franchise by forfeiting, then so be it. THAT is the kind of ridiculousness we're looking for in selecting our winner.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

The worst thing about trying to learn "the truth" here is that what Belichick offers in exchange for demanding his players follow his rules is (A) having the team do their best to block distractions so they can focus on football, and (B) not throwing his own players under the bus.

IOW, I expect Belichick will not explain this bewildering decision for a long while, if ever.

 

[DaBruinz]

He played him on 97% of defensive snaps for the year and completely benched him for the Super Bowl while still dressing him and not using the roster spot for someone else.

Belichick's never done something like this. The worst he's done, is bench Edelman for a quarter.... in a game he lost.

Yeah Belichick deserves blame for this.

Adalius Thomas - Benched for missing a Saturday team meeting. Still had to dress.
Jabaal Sheard - Benched for poor practice. Didn't dress.
Jamie Collins - wasn't used much in his last regular game with the Pats.

To claim that BB has never done something like this says you haven't followed the Pats for very long.

 

[Chris Stevenson]

So, in your eyes, any player who is going to be a UFA after the SB should get free reign to snub team rules during the week leading up to the SB. It shouldn't matter because, well, it's the SB.

Have you stopped to think how damaging THAT truly is to a team??

Agreed. That's the precedent they want BB to set. They probably also wanted Brady to have a crap year in 2010, to keep Moss, and watch Brady's INT rate spike as Moss lobbied for a new contract into the Lockout. lmao

Kids don't get these kinds of problems in the real working world.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

On a separate but related note, hypothetical question:

If Jonathan Jones had not been injured in the Titans game, would Butler have been outright inactive?

 

[Boomer B]

Minnehan on the radio this morning said his sources inside the Patriots said Belichick has soured on Butler's play over the year and wanted to bench him during the AFC Championship game, but was talked out of it. He decided a few hours before the Super Bowl, after watching him in practice all week, he was benching him and informed Patricia. The coaches and the players did not know, which confirms what Rowe said that he didn't know he was starting until an hour before the game.

The source said the players aren't happy and that it may have cost them the Super Bowl. This was based more on his play then any disciplinary action. For what it's worth, Minnehan's source has given him some good info in the past that Minnehan broke.

If this is true and Butler was benched more for play then some huge indiscretion then this loss is 100% on Belichick's arrogance and if I was a player who has given their all this year I'd be extremely pissed.