Malcolm Butler Mega Thread

[IcyPatriot]

I am surprised @incaceratedbob has not weighed in yet in this thread.

 

[Deus Irae]

I am surprised @incaceratedbob has not weighed in yet in this thread.

He may be SBB's source, for all we know.

 

[aluminum seats]

I think Bill made a mistake. It would have taken assault or worse for me to want someone as key as Malcolm on the sidelines.

But some of you guys post like Bill actually just didn't have a clue or lost his mind. How long have you been following this team? By now you should be well-accustomed to never getting the inside story on why they do the things they do but there is always a reason behind their actions.

A reason doesn't mean it's not a wrongheaded or terrible one. And Bill's greatness doesn't make him immune to cluelessness.

 

[aluminum seats]

You're wasting your time.

Well, apparently you're right. Honestly thought I would get some sort of response.

 

[MassPats38]

Short of assaulting a coach, I don’t see anything that Butler could have done that would have been worth benching him the entire game over. A quarter, maybe. But not the whole game. Not when, as a coach, you say your goal is to win championships. Then you choose to withhold one of your better corners and force the team to stay in an alignment that is getting shredded.

Agreed. I also don't see why he was kept on as essentially an emergency replacement if he was being punished (if BB values all active slots, why keep the dead weight?). Deactivate him (that would likely have raised far fewer questions after the health report earlier that week - the Talib comments from the Broncos were shrugged off pretty quickly). The emergency role makes sense if health were the issue (namely, a substantially diminished form of the player may be better than nothing), but not discipline. And quite frankly, the defense was in emergency mode by the end of the first quarter when it reverted to early season form.

If he was physically able to play at close to full value, and was better than other options on the field, then the sanction would be to the team in the form of a reduced defense and ultimately a loss. Even a modestly better defense might have been enough to win that game. If the game plan were radically different and Butler had missed that work, then the Pats have shifted gears to accommodate that by simplifying assignments.

Which returns us to the question of petty and vindictive (stubborn/stupid) or physically diminished? I like the latter as I believe Belichick would not flush a ring to hammer a single player, but I don't have hope for a clear answer to the question.

 

[juny]

I think Amendola's recent comments say that the players never got a real explanation about what happened, and as other players have said, never expected Butler to sit the entire game. BB does not have to address the public at all about this but he has to clear the air with the players so they can move on from it.

 

[fnordcircle]

A reason doesn't mean it's not a wrongheaded or terrible one. And Bill's greatness doesn't make him immune to cluelessness.

The greatest coach of all time would bench someone due to cluelessness?

I think he was wrong. I think some **** went down with Malcolm and the entire team and fanbase got punished as a result. It was the sort of strongheaded decision that has also made Bill how great he has been year in and year out despite the noise and rage by fans when he does other things that we didn't like which 'miraculously' panned out.

Disagree with his choice all you want, I sure do. But to even use the word clueless in the same sentence as Bill Belichick? When it comes to football decisions? C'mon, give me a break.

 

[PatriotsNumero1Fan]

Amendola's sure not holding back after leaving New England. I still think he's hurt that he ain't back here in a way. The guy was so money for us. You can't blame him for taking the money. He has his rings. We where not gonna pay him what miami gave him.

 

[RobertWeathers]

What formations did the Patriots run that Butler was not involved in throughout the season?

Not relevent.

The issue is the Super Bowl. Not the previous 18 games.

Bill determined Malcolm was not ready to play. If Bill thought he was ready he would have played every single snap.

 

[RobertWeathers]

This thread is officially dead to me...good night.

And a good night to you

 

[PatriotsNumero1Fan]

The greatest coach of all time would bench someone due to cluelessness?

I think he was wrong. I think some **** went down with Malcolm and the entire team and fanbase got punished as a result. It was the sort of strongheaded decision that has also made Bill how great he has been year in and year out despite the noise and rage by fans when he does other things that we didn't like which 'miraculously' panned out.

Disagree with his choice all you want, I sure do. But to even use the word clueless in the same sentence as Bill Belichick? When it comes to football decisions? C'mon, give me a break.

I think even the great ones could have an off night. Like someone mentioned it would have to take an assault against someone for him not to play in this game. The guy was gone after the season. Heck amendola said he could be an a hole at times. He has that old school mentality.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Hey, my clock stopped working, it was working and making this weird *errrrrrr* noise, so i opened it and i took this gear out, and the *errrrrr* noise stopped but now the clock doesn't work. I'm pretty sure it's not my fault though.

I understand your analogy but that was not the situation

 

[RobertWeathers]

This is a perfectly reasonable conclusion but that doesn't necessarily mean Belichick made the right decision.

I might think it's in my best interest to do 'x' rather than 'y', and I might have some reasoning and evidence to support my decision to do 'x', but in reality 'y' may have been the better option.

I'd like to think Belichick didn't act in a stubborn, spiteful manner, and that he had very legitimate reasons to not play Butler which were purely tactical (and not personal) in nature.

However, that doesn't mean that the decision he made ultimately gave them the best chance to win, despite what were hopefully his best intentions.

Of course not.

I believe the issues are he did not think Malcolm was ready for the game thus not having confidence he would help the team. Add to that Malcolm said he wasnt not locked in and that confirms the reason why Bill sat him.

Bill is not going to bench a player who played 98% of the snaps without a legit reason.

Clearly fans have a problem with whatever the reason was and I get that.

 

[bormio]

I think Amendola's recent comments say that the players never got a real explanation about what happened, and as other players have said, never expected Butler to sit the entire game. BB does not have to address the public at all about this but he has to clear the air with the players so they can move on from it.

He does not HAVE to do anything, but he would be wise to.

 

[Boomer B]

Of course not.

I believe the issues are he did not think Malcolm was ready for the game thus not having confidence he would help the team. Add to that Malcolm said he wasnt not locked in and that confirms the reason why Bill sat him.

Bill is not going to bench a player who played 98% of the snaps without a legit reason.

Clearly fans have a problem with whatever the reason was and I get that.

As said before, most of us understand the benching, it's the keeping him benched while they walked up and down the field on us and nothing we tried worked that leaves most of us, including players like Amendola, scratching our heads.

We had P. Chung on N. Agholor. A first year junior high school coach knows what the outcome of that matchup would be. How did the best coach of the modern era not see it? It's unfathomable. Bench Butler to start the game but once everything went to sh*t he should have played. He was dressed so he should have been in the mix to play. At the very least he would have been a lot better on Agholor then Chung was.

 

[aluminum seats]

The greatest coach of all time would bench someone due to cluelessness?

I think he was wrong. I think some **** went down with Malcolm and the entire team and fanbase got punished as a result. It was the sort of strongheaded decision that has also made Bill how great he has been year in and year out despite the noise and rage by fans when he does other things that we didn't like which 'miraculously' panned out.

Disagree with his choice all you want, I sure do. But to even use the word clueless in the same sentence as Bill Belichick? When it comes to football decisions? C'mon, give me a break.

That's pretty much exactly the kind of thinking that brings dynasties, not just in sports, down.

 

[Kdo5]

He said he wasn't locked in to play the SB. If that doesn't bother him for the rest of his life then that is concerning.

75% locked in Butler is better than 100% locked in Jonathan Bademosi.

 

[Kdo5]

If Bill thinks he is about to make a bad decision he won't do it. He'll do something different.

I think Bill decided he wanted the players on the field who he felt gave him the best chance to win the game.

In Bill's mind on that day, Malcolm was not one of them.

Bill would have to be a dunce to still believe Malcolm on the bench gave them the best chance to win, especially half way through the game.

But he isn't a dunce so it's probably something else.

 

[Lee144]

So let me get this straight and this is directed at the unnamed source of unsubstantiated drug and alcohol stuff.
So if I’m understanding you correctly on this, to punish MB for his conduct he benches him (which ultimately hurts the team) but MB still gets a game check.

And instead of coming out publicly with this detrimental conduct which would exhonnorate Bill and the team for the benching, as well as hit MBs value on the open market, they keep it under wraps so MB can sign a huge payday in FA?

Is that what your “source” is saying?

I’m sure Bill is an expert disciplinarian that can figure out how to address personal misconduct and I’m sure he wouldn’t make a silly mistake like you are implying.

 

[RobertWeathers]

As said before, most of us understand the benching, it's the keeping him benched while they walked up and down the field on us and nothing we tried worked that leaves most of us, including players like Amendola, scratching our heads.

We had P. Chung on N. Agholor. A first year junior high school coach knows what the outcome of that matchup would be. How did the best coach of the modern era not see it? It's unfathomable. Bench Butler to start the game but once everything went to sh*t he should have played. He was dressed so he should have been in the mix to play. At the very least he would have been a lot better on Agholor then Chung was.

You can do one of two things.

Believe BB had legitimate football reasons (scheme plus Malcolm's lack of readiness)

Believe BB was on crack.