I don't think that's quite exactly fair though to call it a shiny object. The unknown question is if they would have been out-executed with Butler in there too, or if Butler's presence limits that. There have been good posts of the ripple effects here, where Chung wound up covering Agholor a lot since Butler was out, which led to Richards being on the field in Chung's spot in a few cases. Obviously I understand that if Butler were in there, different reads and different plays are called. And obviously I understand that clearly, Belichick thinks Butler's ability to execute would have been just as bad.
This is a completely fair and legitimate question to ask simply because he had played 90% of the snaps all season, and the defense stunk yet he wasn't even given one snap as a, "throw it to the wall, see if it works" solution.
That said, I agree with the principle. The Eagles had a killer offense, their offensive line was the best in the game, and it showed. They took care of the two guys on our line who were worthy starters (Brown and Flowers) because they didn't really have to worry about the guys who would be well suited as rotational players, but wound up playing 80%+ of the snaps because they didn't have anyone better available (Guy and Harrison). And they took care of our linebackers on the ground because only KVN is a reasonable worthy starter; M. Flowers in an ideal world is only out there for passing downs, and Roberts is Brandon Spikes but with George Constanza's instincts (Spikes was so good against the run because he had uncanny instincts; Roberts should take whatever instinct he has against the run and do the opposite). The Pats need another stud on the D-Line and another stud at LB.