Malcolm Butler Mega Thread

[skinnydog]

Who cares what Philly's D ranked in the regular season? They played horribly. Maybe the Pats couldn't establish the run all that well, but Brady carved that D up. One could argue that the winner of the Super Bowl was the lesser of the two crappy defenses.

That the GOAT exposed Philly’s defense is maybe not so surprising. Was there some sort of weird benching on the Philly side or did Brady do what Brady does

 

[skinnydog]

Dude, there were 3 dropped picks and collinsworth was even pointing out how brady was missing, and i cannot stand collinsneck.

You’re going with, Collinsworth’s commentary as the gold standard are you?

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

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.

It's almost like they drew the perfect set of receiving threats, where their deep secondary would really pay dividends in the biggest game. It' really incredible they would out-think themselves out of this the obvious matchups that you listed.

 

[Kargetina]

Tom Brady

has has played in 8 Superbowls and in all 8 has either led the team on a late 4th quarter drive to win the game or give them the lead late in the fourth quarter. In three of those games the defense could then make a stop and they lose, but in all 8 Brady led the team down the field to score late in the fourth quarter. 8 for 8 in giving you team a great chance to win at the end of the Super Bowl is insane and we will never see that again in our lifetimes.

Not to mention that the defense has allowed a TD in the last 2:30 minutes in:

SB 36
SB 37
SB 39
SB 42
SB 46
SB 52

It would have allowed another in SB 49 except for Seattle's decision to throw/Butler's reaction.

It allowed Atlanta into field goal range where literally kneeling three times would have given them an 11 point lead.

On top of that AFCCG 2006.

It's really unbelievable that we've won 5 of those with defenses that have always collapsed at the end.

 

[Chris Stevenson]

Uh, Brady missed on multiple throws so as to not take an int. The Pats, scored on something like 4 drives in a row of something like 90, 75, 75, 75 yards and a minimal running attack. I’d say he was accurate enough.

What? So, the floater to gronk at the 1 was to “not take an int”? That does not make sense.

You’re going with, Collinsworth’s commentary as the gold standard are you?

not at all, but when the ball is poorly thrown on the tv screen, i go by the fact he was off a bit with it.

look, i appreciate how great he is at protecting the ball. it just seemed he was a bit off early.

 

[Chris Stevenson]

And you are as clueless when it comes to the joy of being a fan as you are graceless in dealing with others. A touch of gallows humor, like a little respect, goes a long way.

dude, i realize it is humor. no one player should be above the team. we have people defending butler’s antics and pretending butler was a savior in waiting, where many aspects by all 3 phases could have been better.

 

[slash83]

BB trying something unorthodox on D in a key game can almost be expected.

Remember putting Rodney Harrison at cornerback (covering Marvin Harrison), not safety, and playing Ty Law at safety, not corner, vs. the Colts?

The Colts were dumbfounded. Marvin Harrison was blasted over and over and made one catch for 6 yards in the first half and finished with only 3 catches for 19 yards. Law had three interceptions. Rodney Harrison had a game-high 10 tackles, an interception and forced a fumble on Marvin Harrison.

The mystifying thing, of course, is that when your unorthodox strategy in not working, why won't you change it?

I'd guess that we won't know that, ever.

Yeah it’s one thing experaminting with high level talents of Law and Harrison, it’s just outright dumb doing that with Richards.

 

[Tony2046]

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

One of your best posts. Thanks

 

[Kdo5]

You are hell bent on convincing people that the poor start by the offense and apparently brady sucking up in the 1st half is the bigger issue than BB not even trying his 2nd CB all game. If you have made up your mind in this direction then there is no point to discuss further.

Chris Stevenson is a joke. He is trashing Butler's character with no basis for it. Scummy of him.

 

[Kdo5]

It's almost like they drew the perfect set of receiving threats, where their deep secondary would really pay dividends in the biggest game. It' really incredible they would out-think themselves out of this the obvious matchups that you listed.

It is insane. If you use those very logical matchups we would have won this game. I'm not saying our defense would have turned in a good performance but it would have been a helluva lot better than the train wreck we witnessed. It's really depressing to see our brilliant HC make such a mistake and refuse to correct it.

 

[K. Dog]

I've seen several of these complicated schematic "proofs" that show that it made perfect sense for the Patriots to sit Butler for football reasons.

What makes me angry about these analyses is they miss the point. The point is not about whether there is or is not some microscopic potential advantage based on some complex reasoning to sit Butler.

The point is that Butler gave the Patriots a huge amount over the last three years. A huge number of snaps. Key postseason plays. Great reliability. An insultingly low salary cap hit.

As long as a reasonable case could be made to play Butler, Butler should have been played. I'm sorry it's just classless not to play him.

I'm not too worried about a lost Super Bowl. But the Patriots this last season are really in danger of losing their classiness. They were always since '01 the classiest, the smartest, team on the field. Not always the fastest or the biggest or strongest but always the classiest.

This last season versus the Eagles I'm not so sure. The Butler thing, the Blount thing, the documentary of Brady in his mansion praising his leadership skills. [Edit: incorrect basketball comment deleted]

The Patriots can bounce back from a loss but not so sure about bouncing back from a loss of class.

 

[Joker]

what the **** would YOU know about "class"....? You've been trolling this board since last year.

 

[Ras-IR Dowling]

Chris Stevenson is a joke. He is trashing Butler's character with no basis for it. Scummy of him.

That maybe but you can’t deny the guy has put in some work during his short time on this board. 1300 posts in a month?

 

[Kdo5]

That maybe but you can’t deny the guy has put in some work during his short time on this board. 1300 posts in a month?

A pace of 15,000 posts a year. Damn.

 

[Observer]

Not to mention that the defense has allowed a TD in the last 2:30 minutes in:

SB 36
SB 37
SB 39
SB 42
SB 46
SB 52

It would have allowed another in SB 49 except for Seattle's decision to throw/Butler's reaction.

It allowed Atlanta into field goal range where literally kneeling three times would have given them an 11 point lead.

On top of that AFCCG 2006.

It's really unbelievable that we've won 5 of those with defenses that have always collapsed at the end.

THIS. Brady has always had to overcome the shortcomings of the defense in every Super Bowl but this was the first time that his job was made deliberately harder thanks to Belichick.

 

[luuked]

The author of the article says everything was going according to plan except for third downs LOL.

Not sure why you are laughing. That is not a stupid statement to make. We kept putting them into third and 4+ consistently throughout the game which is exactly where you want to be get the other team off he field. But letting them convert those for big gains is where we lost the game and not on first or second down.

 

[luuked]

THIS. Brady has always had to overcome the shortcomings of the defense in every Super Bowl but this was the first time that his job was made deliberately harder thanks to Belichick.

If Brady doesnt throw 2 brainfart picks against the Seahawks, the one to the Giants in 2011 and some other stupid things in general in SBs maybe he wouldnt have had to overcome so many deficits. Point being it is a team sport.

 

[Deus Irae]

Not sure why you are laughing. That is not a stupid statement to make.

Yes, it was. The play-by-play makes that clear, even if your memory of the game doesn't (not a shot, but a nod to the reality of memory).

Super Bowl LII - Philadelphia Eagles vs. New England Patriots - February 4th, 2018 | Pro-Football-Reference.com

 

[luuked]

Yes, it was. The play-by-play makes that clear, even if your memory of the game doesn't (not a shot, but a nod to the reality of memory).

Super Bowl LII - Philadelphia Eagles vs. New England Patriots - February 4th, 2018 | Pro-Football-Reference.com

I have rewatched the condensed game a couple times. I dont need a play by play. There were enough favorable third downs in the game to turn this into a 3 score blowout.

 

[Deus Irae]

I have rewatched the condensed game a couple times. I dont need a play by play. There were enough favorable third downs in the game to turn this into a 3 score blowout.

Come on, man.

First drive, converted:
3rd and 4
4rd and 12
2nd and 3
2nd and 4
then settled for FG

Second drive, converted:
2nd and 3 (36 yard run)
1st and 10 (34 yard TD pass)

Third drive, converted:
None, and this was the Eagle's only punt of the game

Fourth drive, converted:
3rd and 7
2nd and 10
1st and 10 (21 yard TD run)

Fifth drive, converted:
3rd and 4 (drive soon ended with the INT)

Sixth drive, converted:
3rd and 3
4th and 1 (goal line trick play)

Seventh drive, converted:
3rd and 6
2nd and 5
3rd and 1
3rd and 6 (22 yard TD run)

Eighth drive, converted:
1st and 10
1st and 10
2nd and 9
3rd and 3 stopped for a FG

Ninth drive, converted:
3rd and 6
4th and 1 (after holding on 3rd and 1)
2nd and 9
1st and 10
1st and 10
3rd and 7 (11 yard TD pass)

There's plenty of pre-3rd down failure there, since there were 18 times where it was either less then 4 yards (your chosen number for success) on 3rd down, or the first down was made before even getting to 3rd down in the series. There were 13 series where the Eagles got a first down without needing to get to 3rd down first. The failure wasn't just on 3rd down. The failure happened multiple times on all 4 downs. They converted more first downs before getting to 3rd down than they converted 3rd downs, which isn't a surprise in the NFL. But, even forgetting the rest, to say that it was going according to plan when they gave up 3 20+ yard TDs on first or second down is crazy talk.

Super Bowl LII - Philadelphia Eagles vs. New England Patriots - February 4th, 2018 | Pro-Football-Reference.com