Malcolm Butler Mega Thread

[DropKickFlutie]

What is pretty despicable by andyjohnson and robertweathers is how they keep repeating unfair behavioral accusations about Butler despite zero evidence and a straight up denial from Butler, plus Belichick himself saying no misconduct. Despite all this these clowns keep claiming dirt that isn't there.

 

[SVN]

Its one thing to come up with a gameplan.Its another to stick with it when non of it was working and expecting chung to be come better vs a WR or richards to becoming rodney harrison the 4th Q.

 

[DaBruinz]

Having a bad week of practice wouldn't have gotten him banned for the whole game. When you put it into the equation it just serves to provide a smokescreen and it weakens your follow up assertion. If he had had an awesome week of practice and fought with the coaches would Belichick have changed his mind? How would that have looked to the 52+ other guys? The problem I have with the whole "he sucked in practice and it was disciplinary" mantra is part A is irrelevant and part B is the only significant component. Part A MAYBE would have got him benched for a quarter or a half at most. Thus my statement that the benching wasn't done to win the Super Bowl. Are you arguing that it was?

Really? Butler sucking in practice is irrelevant? WOW..

 

[Deus Irae]

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

No, it's what people who understand the logic behind GTFB would say.

 

[Soliel]

Butler was partying and doing whatever.

He got benched for it

 

[Boomer B]

I agree with the article about Bill’s gameplay going in.

What I, and most other fans, don’t get is why didn’t he adapt? It wasn’t working. We were getting killed. Chung should never have been on Agholor. On 3rd downs Butler should have gone in.

Gilmore/Jeffrey
Butler/Agholor
Rowe/Smith
Chung/Ertz

That’s the lineup we should have went to, especially on 3rd downs. Belichick needed to adapt once the Defensive gameplay was circling the toilet.

 

[Horace's Ivories]

So Bill outgeniused himself...

 

[Ring 6]

I find myself agreeing with your post, but I have a couple questions:
If poor performance in practice led to MB being demoted to CB3...and the supposed fighting, weed, curfew, or whatever we don't know led to him being demoted to what CB who will not play, then 1. why did come out for the kick off and ST unit and 2. why was he even active?

He was active because we only have 3 other corners. He was the 4th corner. If there were injuries he would have played. It wasn’t butler you scumbag you will never pkay for me. It was butler you aren’t ready to help in this game so I’m going to play other pkayers who are.
Why did he come out for the kickoff? Why did Karras? He is a player on the team who’s role was reduced to last man at his position. That doesn’t mean stay in the locker room.

If what @robertweathers and you suggest is true (he broke a core BB principle, etc) then why even let him be available.

I don’t knie what he did. I suspect he just handled the demotion poorly and melted down and by kick off belichick felt he wasn’t an option to ojay effectuveky in any role.

Why not stick to your principles and play without him, win or lose. People say, "well, what if Rowe or Gilmore get hurt?" Well, put in a linebacker or Amendola or Burkhead at DB. Do whatever you have to do to prove and uphold your principles but don't go back to Butler. Thus, many of us on the board feel that personal feelings and principles resulted in us losing trophy#6.

It’s not principles.
Let’s try something else.
I think butler was mentally unable to help the team. Between not getting the gane plan, not handling his demotion well, and melting down.
He was still a better option than not having a corner at all. This isn’t punishment, retribution, anger or hatred.
So let’s assume for a moment it was a physical injury. He injured a leg. He was able to run at 85% which meant he could play but everyone else at his position was a better option.
Making him the 4th corner isn’t a matter of principles it’s a matter of you can use him in an emergency but can’t count on him to be effective.
That example is the only way in my opinion that all the info we have fits together.

Other than belichick threw the game, or suddenly one day changed everything he is about and lost his mind, what realistic alternative explanation is there?

 

[PatriotsNumero1Fan]

It really was Ertz. Agholor did nothing special. Ertz was key on all third downs either by converting or creating space.

Go look at those keys drive in the second half. He had 78 yards. Also had Richards on Ertz on a key 3rd down. They where making it manageable because of agholor. It's still incomprehensible what bill did but the iggles sure liked it.

 

[aluminum seats]

There is no fantasy. What vendetta? What example?

We have 18 years of examples where BB has pissed off the locker room and it had zero impact on winning

They lost to the Bills 31-0.

 

[VectorPrime]

Butler was partying and doing whatever.

He got benched for it

No he f.ucking wasn’t.

 

[Deus Irae]

So Bill outgeniused himself...

Bill's whole career is based on forcing teams to work the ball down the field. You figure he just decided "Screw it! Let them beat us with all the quick strikes they want!", and then realized that was bad only after Rowe'd been smoked multiple times?

Anything's possible, I guess.

 

[PatriotsNumero1Fan]

Its one thing to come up with a gameplan.Its another to stick with it when non of it was working and expecting chung to be come better vs a WR or richards to becoming rodney harrison the 4th Q.

When it was 22-19 and the eagles had the ball we had chung on agholor and Richards on ertz. Tell me how that's not ridiculous?! They went on to score a td. No sh*t

 

[PatsDeb]

No. It's not, effectively, what he did because Butler was dressed and we'd likely have seen him in the event of an injury..

Really? it's pretty obvious to me that BB was not putting Butler in come hell or high water. And sure enough, it came.

 

[PatriotsNumero1Fan]

Bill's whole career is based on forcing teams to work the ball down the field. You figure he just decided "Screw it! Let them beat us with all the quick strikes they want!", and then realized that was bad only after Rowe'd been smoked multiple times?

Anything's possible, I guess.

Chung on agholor and Richards on ertz on a big 3rd down's very foolish. I was hoping we could surprise them with a blitz. They did none of that. It was like a slow death on defense.

 

[IllegalContact]

It really was Ertz. Agholor did nothing special. Ertz was key on all third downs either by converting or creating space.

Take your pick Ertz/agholor agholor/Ertz

They were both getting open easily

 

[PatsDeb]

Chung on agholor and Richards on ertz on a big 3rd down's very foolish. I was hoping we could surprise them with a blitz. They did none of that. It was like a slow death on defense.

It was a pretty fast death, from what I could see, over and over again.

 

[PatsDeb]

Chung on agholor and Richards on ertz on a big 3rd down's very foolish. I was hoping we could surprise them with a blitz. They did none of that. It was like a slow death on defense.

Chung also got hurt and had to come out twice for a couple of plays. Did we THEN go to our 2nd CB? Nope. We put some other JAG out there. I was at the game and we honestly thought Butler was sick or injured. Never in a million years did we guess that he had been intentionally benched. Unreal.

 

[Ras-IR Dowling]

Agholor was the MVP in the second half. It was one of the weirdest brain farts by BB.

No ertz was. But agholor was pretty good too.

 

[RobertWeathers]

They lost to the Bills 31-0.

....and the started 2-2 and won the SB