Malcolm Butler Mega Thread

[bormio]

All I know is that the Eagles looked at film of Malcolm Butler for the 2 weeks before the SB, and their reaction when seeing he was not in was that Christmas had come in February.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Are you Stephen Belichick?

Are you Malcolm's mom?

 

[RobertWeathers]

Has anybody calculated the yards per Richards number? I bet it it is high, real high.

it was in the 70s

 

[mosi]

All I know is that the Eagles looked at film of Malcolm Butler for the 2 weeks before the SB, and their reaction when seeing he was not in was that Christmas had come in February.

That was mentioned briefly at the parade in Philly by Ray Didinger the resident football expert and Eagles guru. Their plan was the stay away from Gilmore and Butler and go after Rowe. Eagles were also surprised how easily they could run against the Pats.

 

[bormio]

The Eagles assistants were reported to have said it right after the game. They could not believe he was not in. They said they went at Rowe because they knew all about him from his Philly days. NESN reported it Monday - the word the Eagles used was “crazy”.

 

[luuked]

Benching Malcolm Butler was another stroke of genius from Bill Belichick ... in theory

It is a pretty interesting theory that smells like it might be going into the right direction. The most important sentence in there is this:

This isn’t meant to be a defense of Belichick’s choices — only an explanation of what he was thinking from a schematic standpoint.

In short the author explains on a schematic level that this was almost the inverse gameplan that BB is famous for with the Giants. He wanted to avoid the Eagles gashing them slowly on the ground, grinding the game out leaving Brady on the sideline.

Go and read it if you have time.. it gives an interesting perspective into what might have been the motivation for this weird gameplan.

I would please ask anyone to stay on topic and dont turn this into another Butler thread. This thread is for the discussion of that potential gameplan and not to whine about BB stealing a title from you.


The other thing that gets pointed out again is that while Rowe said that he didnt know about the Butler benching until before the kickoff we know now not only that the captains knew days ahead that Butlers role got minimized:



And this article points out that Rowe even practiced with the first team defense instead of Butler the entire time:



So can we at least stop propagating this the team got shocked before kickoff narrative ?

 

[IllegalContact]

The Eagles assistants were reported to have said it right after the game. They could not believe he was not in. They said they went at Rowe because they knew all about him from his Philly days. NESN reported it Monday - the word the Eagles used was “crazy”.

B.B. helped the Eagles win

 

[PatsDeb]

The Eagles assistants were reported to have said it right after the game. They could not believe he was not in. They said they went at Rowe because they knew all about him from his Philly days. NESN reported it Monday - the word the Eagles used was “crazy”.

I rated this useful, but I wish we had one of those crying emojis to insert here...

 

[Chris Stevenson]

Benching Malcolm Butler was another stroke of genius from Bill Belichick ... in theory

It is a pretty interesting theory that smells like it might be going into the right direction. The most important sentence in there is this:



In short the author explains on a schematic level that this was almost the inverse gameplan that BB is famous for with the Giants. He wanted to avoid the Eagles gashing them slowly on the ground, grinding the game out leaving Brady on the sideline.

Go and read it if you have time.. it gives an interesting perspective into what might have been the motivation for this weird gameplan.

I would please ask anyone to stay on topic and dont turn this into another Butler thread. This thread is for the discussion of that potential gameplan and not to whine about BB stealing a title from you.


The other thing that gets pointed out again is that while Rowe said that he didnt know about the Butler benching until before the kickoff we know now not only that the captains knew days ahead that Butlers role got minimized:



And this article points out that Rowe even practiced with the first team defense instead of Butler the entire time:



So can we at least stop propagating this the team got shocked before kickoff narrative ?

thanks for posting. i think the “no one knew” narrative is a red herring anyway.

what does it matter? eric lee is on my tv screen as a “starter”, but it doesn’t mean much for a pats team.

so, i think these are
all excuses and sort of a way to scapegoat bb, which always happens due to the vulgar/spazz duo on 98.5 in the 2-6 pm prime time slot.

i mean these are the same mouthbreathers who think the cap means nothing and kraft is “cheap”.

they are honeslty not as intelligent as they think they are, but because they have a mic, people think they are.

 

[Deus Irae]

I refuse to believe that Belichick is that stupid, sorry.

 

[Deus Irae]

So can we at least stop propagating this the team got shocked before kickoff narrative ?

No, because the team being shocked before the game clearly happened.

 

[luuked]

I refuse to believe that Belichick is that stupid, sorry.

Is that what people after the game against the Bills would have said if the FG went in instead ?

 

[IllegalContact]

Benching Malcolm Butler was another stroke of genius from Bill Belichick ... in theory

It is a pretty interesting theory that smells like it might be going into the right direction. The most important sentence in there is this:



In short the author explains on a schematic level that this was almost the inverse gameplan that BB is famous for with the Giants. He wanted to avoid the Eagles gashing them slowly on the ground, grinding the game out leaving Brady on the sideline.

Go and read it if you have time.. it gives an interesting perspective into what might have been the motivation for this weird gameplan.

I would please ask anyone to stay on topic and dont turn this into another Butler thread. This thread is for the discussion of that potential gameplan and not to whine about BB stealing a title from you.


The other thing that gets pointed out again is that while Rowe said that he didnt know about the Butler benching until before the kickoff we know now not only that the captains knew days ahead that Butlers role got minimized:



And this article points out that Rowe even practiced with the first team defense instead of Butler the entire time:



So can we at least stop propagating this the team got shocked before kickoff narrative ?

Outstanding!!! Brilliant!!!

And playing straight into the Eagles game plan.

I could not have drawn it up any better

In other words .... what a crock of sh.t

 

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

Thanks for posting this. I fear, though, that the discussion will be dominated by whining and know-it-all posturing.

 

[IllegalContact]

Is that what people after the game against the Bills would have said if the FG went in instead ?

Hehe......ya, that’s the same

 

[Pape]

Focus on stopping the run, you are daring them to throw. Having them throw - you need the best players in position. Time after time the Pats DBs were either out matched or just in the plain old wrong position.

It was a poor game plan for a woefully overmatched secondary.

 

[IllegalContact]

Thanks for posting this. I fear, though, that the discussion will be dominated by whining and know-it-all posturing.

Yay!!!! Everyone gets to believe whatever they want

Just to be clear, you’re no more in the know than anyone else and somebody fitting your narrative doesn’t change anything

I’ll believe the eagles coaches

 

[MrBigglesWorth]

I honestly thought they would start Rowe to play press coverage but didn't work out that was obviously. The curious question is the 3rd cb slot... Why didn't he play their at all

 

[TBR]

Most detailed speculation I've seen, although that doesn't mean the writer is closer to the truth than others. Even if this was the game plan, shouldn't it have been scrapped by halftime? Or by the end of the 3rd quarter?

 

[juny]

Pats were terrible stopping the run too. Just awful game plan/execution all around on defense