Malcolm Butler Mega Thread

[SammyBlueCat]

A lot of good and interesting points by a lot of good people. (Including the two former players.)
The over all story is still inconclusive.

 

[Tony2046]

A lot of good points by a lot of good people.
Still inconclusive.

But do you think the Butler did it?

 

[SammyBlueCat]

He did against Seattle. Those fans are true cry babies.

But do you think the Butler did it?

 

[DarrylS]

Lawyer Milloy, Richard Seymour, Logan Mankins and now Malcolm Butler all stories that have invited a lot of speculation and discussion on this message board, but in reality we never know the whole story.. give BB credit for never disclosing the inner workings as I assume if he did he would expose some bad behavior on the part of all parties..

Some day hope BB writes a book on all of the questionable coaching decisions he made and why he made them.. but then again, probably will not happen.

 

[aluminum seats]

Ah, the stages of grief. It is a fascinating thing to watch. You must find an acceptable reason to get closure even if the reason has already been revealed to you.

Except in this case the reason has not been revealed.

 

[aluminum seats]

I'm not necessarily believing the rumor, I'm just open to the possibility there was something more involved in Butler's benching than a cut-and-dried "football decision." BB calling it "a football decision" could mean other things outside of it being disciplinary or schematic/strategic. Or maybe it was disciplinary and he just didn't want to say so.

I think this comes down to whether (A) BB had an unavoidably compelling reason to bench Butler, (B) he had a personal axe to grind against the player, or (C) he made an uncharacteristically awful coaching gaffe believing it would help the team win. All three are possible, but I'm in the "A" camp and believe therein lies the answer.

The problem with your generally reasonable take here is that hundreds of pages of speculation have yet to provide a single "unavoidably compelling" reason for benching Malcolm Butler.

 

[Observer]

SAT analogy question:
BUTLER: WEED
BRADY:?

Answer: DEFLATED BALLS

 

[Joker]

Observer:?

Answer: Moronical Misanthrope

 

[IllegalContact]

aaaaaaannnnnnnd a ...................... bump

 

[IllegalContact]

please merge this into the butler thread.....and change that title to 'Butler Forever'

 

[IllegalContact]

The problem with your generally reasonable take here is that hundreds of pages of speculation have yet to provide a single "unavoidably compelling" reason for benching Malcolm Butler.

the 'Patriot Way' ....... and the fact that no goal is too big to enforce it

either that or it's BB's way of saying 'I Love You' to Bob Kraft and Tom Brady after forcing him to trade Garoppolo

 

[Huckleberry1]

I understand why Belichick is staying silent about the issue, it’s a good policy, even if he does take huge amounts of sh.t about it, but if Malcolm Butler really believes he didn’t deserve the benching then why doesn’t he say what he did to precipitate the benching? Imo it must have been pretty serious for him to not want that out there.

 

[Tunescribe]

The problem with your generally reasonable take here is that hundreds of pages of speculation have yet to provide a single "unavoidably compelling" reason for benching Malcolm Butler.

All we can do from this end is attempt to logically define the possibilities. I personally find two of the three possibilities I itemized illogical.

 

[The Brandon Five]

In practice leading up to the Super Bowl Butler was not part of the packages they chose.

All the rest is rumors and gossip ... someday maybe we find out why he didn't get more action in the 2nd half.

If that’s the case that is even more damning.

 

[patriot1136]

i am sorry, but i believe people like jeff howe and a mike giardi over butler denying rumors. lastly, his crying during the anthem is damning. he knew he screwed up. bb protecting butler’s fa status has nothing to do with the truth.

also, the word “trust” was used over and over by people in the know. bb lost confidence in butler on top of the flu. also, word was that it became very difficult “managing” butler for games.

read between the lines a little...

bb doesn’t care about weed..i believe the weed thing but it was nowhere near the top of the list of issues

This. I am going with what you said, makes the most sense to me.

 

[Vatahala]

I think it will be telling if the FOBs in Detroit, Atlanta, Houston .... decide to pursue Butler in free agency.

 

[Simpelton]

All we can do from this end is attempt to logically define the possibilities. I personally find two of the three possibilities I itemized illogical.

Let's do a character analysis.

On the one hand, we have a player who threw away chances in college based on misbehavior and terrible attitude and was working at a fast food restaurant when he got a last chance, was signed as a UDFA, and made good for a few years and was a top player for us before he started to feel disrespected after recent contract talks went sour and after that the attitude problems started to resurface in the last year or so

Versus

A man who for 18 years has been doing what he felt was best for the franchise and its ownership and their best possible chance of winning Superbowls with a single-minded, almost religious devotion to that goal above almost all else.

It is entirely within Butler's character to backslide into the guy who blew his first couple chances at making a life out of football and wound up a UDFA despite what should have been second- or third-round talent.

It is entirely within Bill Belichick's character to size that situation up as it's happening and make the football decision that Butler's deteriorating character does not allow him to be a viable option in the Superbowl and decide that putting the best possible team on the field is more important than putting the best possible jersey names on the field, and that Butler is not part of his best possible team anymore.

That would be technically a football rather than a disciplinary situation, it would fit both the character of the two men and all the available facts. Butler backslid to the behaviors and personality that got him kicked out of college the first time round, and Bill decided that he couldn't trust him to perform at the level we'd come to expect, and that he couldn't risk putting a player he didn't trust on the field.

 

[Off The Grid]

Let's do a character analysis.

On the one hand, we have a player who threw away chances in college based on misbehavior and terrible attitude and was working at a fast food restaurant when he got a last chance, was signed as a UDFA, and made good for a few years and was a top player for us before he started to feel disrespected after recent contract talks went sour and after that the attitude problems started to resurface in the last year or so

Versus

A man who for 18 years has been doing what he felt was best for the franchise and its ownership and their best possible chance of winning Superbowls with a single-minded, almost religious devotion to that goal above almost all else.

It is entirely within Butler's character to backslide into the guy who blew his first couple chances at making a life out of football and wound up a UDFA despite what should have been second- or third-round talent.

It is entirely within Bill Belichick's character to size that situation up as it's happening and make the football decision that Butler's deteriorating character does not allow him to be a viable option in the Superbowl and decide that putting the best possible team on the field is more important than putting the best possible jersey names on the field, and that Butler is not part of his best possible team anymore.

That would be technically a football rather than a disciplinary situation, it would fit both the character of the two men and all the available facts. Butler backslid to the behaviors and personality that got him kicked out of college the first time round, and Bill decided that he couldn't trust him to perform at the level we'd come to expect, and that he couldn't risk putting a player he didn't trust on the field.

FTW, Brother Simpleton.

Beautifully done.

 

[Soliel]

Let's do a character analysis.

On the one hand, we have a player who threw away chances in college based on misbehavior and terrible attitude and was working at a fast food restaurant when he got a last chance, was signed as a UDFA, and made good for a few years and was a top player for us before he started to feel disrespected after recent contract talks went sour and after that the attitude problems started to resurface in the last year or so

Versus

A man who for 18 years has been doing what he felt was best for the franchise and its ownership and their best possible chance of winning Superbowls with a single-minded, almost religious devotion to that goal above almost all else.

It is entirely within Butler's character to backslide into the guy who blew his first couple chances at making a life out of football and wound up a UDFA despite what should have been second- or third-round talent.

It is entirely within Bill Belichick's character to size that situation up as it's happening and make the football decision that Butler's deteriorating character does not allow him to be a viable option in the Superbowl and decide that putting the best possible team on the field is more important than putting the best possible jersey names on the field, and that Butler is not part of his best possible team anymore.

That would be technically a football rather than a disciplinary situation, it would fit both the character of the two men and all the available facts. Butler backslid to the behaviors and personality that got him kicked out of college the first time round, and Bill decided that he couldn't trust him to perform at the level we'd come to expect, and that he couldn't risk putting a player he didn't trust on the field.

This makes more sense than other things I’ve heard. Good thinking

 

[Tunescribe]

Let's do a character analysis.

On the one hand, we have a player who threw away chances in college based on misbehavior and terrible attitude and was working at a fast food restaurant when he got a last chance, was signed as a UDFA, and made good for a few years and was a top player for us before he started to feel disrespected after recent contract talks went sour and after that the attitude problems started to resurface in the last year or so

Versus

A man who for 18 years has been doing what he felt was best for the franchise and its ownership and their best possible chance of winning Superbowls with a single-minded, almost religious devotion to that goal above almost all else.

It is entirely within Butler's character to backslide into the guy who blew his first couple chances at making a life out of football and wound up a UDFA despite what should have been second- or third-round talent.

It is entirely within Bill Belichick's character to size that situation up as it's happening and make the football decision that Butler's deteriorating character does not allow him to be a viable option in the Superbowl and decide that putting the best possible team on the field is more important than putting the best possible jersey names on the field, and that Butler is not part of his best possible team anymore.

That would be technically a football rather than a disciplinary situation, it would fit both the character of the two men and all the available facts. Butler backslid to the behaviors and personality that got him kicked out of college the first time round, and Bill decided that he couldn't trust him to perform at the level we'd come to expect, and that he couldn't risk putting a player he didn't trust on the field.

This is the sort of thing I've been trying to say. People have been interpreting "it was a football decision" too narrowly.