Malcolm Butler Mega Thread

Ivan · Feb 5, 2018

NG Pats Fan said:
Way too much time and money is invested by fans to watch the patriots win a super bowl. Benching Malcolm Butler over a minor disciplinary issue is inexcusable. You don't punish the team and fans during the game, you punish the player after the game is over.

I'll never forgive BB for that decision

That will break his heart.

DaBruinz · Feb 5, 2018

GorBelSer said:
What could Rowe possibly gain by making all this up? He appeared to be genuinely surprised by what had transpired last night.

If you can't fathom that Rowe could have made erroneous assumptions despite the game plan that is why he was "genuinely surprised", that's on you. And there's nothing I can do to help you. I'm going to take McCourty's word over Rowe since McCourty is a captain as well as a guy who helps make the adjustments in the secondary.

I've already stated that I was disappointed that Butler wasn't out there. I've also stated that I have no idea what would have happened if he'd played. It changes the entirety of the game. No clue what the outcome would have been . None.

dannydyn · Feb 5, 2018

luuked said:
Because with Jonathan Jones landing on IR we had no CB depth in case someone got injured during the game. BB even said that Bademosi got the most practice reps for 3 CB sets during the last two weeks.

Fair enough

K. Dog · Feb 5, 2018

Pats1989 said:
Again, how do you know how bad or good I'm taking this game? You keep talking in absolutes. Furthermore, does the coach not owe the paying fans an explanation for the benching? He's not a dumb guy. There's no way that he could've thought Butler was worse then what we saw.

Now, I'm not saying the Patriots win with Butler. But you want to go down with your best players. And that's why this loss is so difficult to take.

I always thought there was an implicit understanding between players and coaches that coaches would try to allow players who helped get them to the Super Bowl to play in the Super Bowl.

I thought this was considered a kind of reward for hard work during the regular season, even if the player was a bit banged up.

luuked · Feb 5, 2018

Xerostomia said:
This may have been mentioned already, but the latest rumors are that Butler was partying at DJ Khalids the night before the game past curfew. There are also rumors that Butler missed the plane to MN.

Where did you hear about that ? Radio ? I find it weird that none of those rumors have made their way to the usual suspects on Twitter yet.

PatriotsNumero1Fan · Feb 5, 2018

luuked said:
That was last year. This year he has been a below average player ever since Thanksgiving. His game against the Steelers was just awful.

Dude you have been grasping for straws. He's still better than Rowe. He was the second best corner on this team.

Xerostomia · Feb 5, 2018

IllegalContact said:
but it wasn't disciplinary

These same rumors state that he was treated for the flu, and practiced like '****' during the week. I think you compound missing the plane, having the flu, practicing poorly, partying the night before, suggests that his head was not in the game. Since he was dressed, and not made inactive, he was there incase of an injury.

As we all know, after decades of being a coach, I think BB has very little tolerance for such behavior. I was surprized 2 years ago that Chandler Jones actually played after being stoned, so BB will not sacrifice talent to teach a lesson and hurt the team. I truly believe that BB and MP probably saw enough to determine that Rowe at that moment in time was the better option.

Brady6 · Feb 5, 2018

luuked said:
The question is not about being driven because obviously both of them are maniacs independently of each other. What makes the situation special is that they complement each other. BB is the ideal coach for Brady for he is similarly detailed obsessed and built an environment that over 15+ years has emphasized the strengths of Tom. By all accounts Brady loves to be coached hard and thrives on competition.

Similarly Brady is the ideal QB for BB because he is calculated in the risks he take, he is rarely injured (i.e. dependable) because he actually actively working to minimize risks (e.g. learning how to fall..), damn accurate and is level headed enough to keep taking what the defenses are giving him.

But sure go on trying to rank them as if it makes any difference at all.

All I know is Brady did everything he could to win that game and Belichick did what he could not to win.

IllegalContact · Feb 5, 2018

Mike Reiss:

Question: After the game, it was mentioned that the players and game-plan were put out there that gave you the best chance to win. A lot of people who follow the team and invest emotionally were curious as to what that was specific to Malcolm Butler, who had played pretty much every play this season and wasn't out there in the Super Bowl. Could you detail that for those people who follow the team and feel an emptiness and would like to understand it better?

Bill Belichick's answer: "I appreciate the question, but it would be a much longer discussion. There are a lot of things that go into that. In the end, the final decision is what I said it was."

so yeah.....in short, one way or another, BB is lying, be it directly or by omission

it has really bad optics when it looks like the reason you lost the superbowl..........hubris, gotta love it

RobertWeathers · Feb 5, 2018

Xerostomia said:
This may have been mentioned already, but the latest rumors are that Butler was partying at DJ Khalids the night before the game past curfew. There are also rumors that Butler missed the plane to MN.

I heard he missed the plane b/c of flu treatment

Partying w Khalids is news to me.

luuked · Feb 5, 2018

PatriotsNumero1Fan said:
Dude you have been grasping for straws. He's still better than Rowe. He was the second best corner on this team.

I am not grasping for any straws. Turn on the games, rewatch them calmly and you will see that in the second part of this year he was not particularly good. He blew bracket coverages, was overly aggressive on occasions to make a highlight play.. took wrong leverages when he had help..

Those might be details to you but those are exactly the same detailed that got us beat yesterday by a couple of other players. Details matter..

Deus Irae · Feb 5, 2018

DefenseRules said:
What does he care that Butler wasn't in the game? It helped their team win.

You might want to review your linking of those two sentences. The second certainly would explain the first, after all.

GorBelSer · Feb 5, 2018

luuked said:
I think it is pretty simple what happened and Mayo has talked about it a few times on QuickSlants.

The captains were informed during a captains meeting with BB that Butler would not start / be benched for whatever occurred. How they distributed that information and why it reached certain players but not others remains unclear.

If that`s the case, it is even worse. This is the most important game of the season and the D captain goes around fist pumping "WHO ARE WE? THE PATRIOTS!! WE GONNA SHOW`EM!!! NOT DONE YET!!! Oh Eric, my man, forgot to tell you... you start in about... 7, 5 minutes." One thing is if the information did not reach bit players like King and Grissom, not having your #3 CB aware of the fact that he just got promoted is a serious issue. Rowe is not a starter, never has been, it is a whole different story when you know you are going to start on a big stage. Naturally, the Eagles started to pick on him as soon as they saw him lining up against Jeffery.

HeadHunter · Feb 5, 2018

The killer here that just won’t stop haunting me is the fact that I truly believe the defense needed just one more damn stop. And I’m telling you Butler does not miss that 3rd n 6 tackle. The Pats put up over 600 all purpose yards and lost. That’s unheard of. And while I don’t want anyone else as our coach, Bill owns this one and I’m pissed at him.

pwes · Feb 5, 2018

DaBruinz said:
If you can't fathom that Rowe could have made erroneous assumptions despite the game plan that is why he was "genuinely surprised", that's on you. And there's nothing I can do to help you. I'm going to take McCourty's word over Rowe since McCourty is a captain as well as a guy who helps make the adjustments in the secondary.

I've already stated that I was disappointed that Butler wasn't out there. I've also stated that I have no idea what would have happened if he'd played. It changes the entirety of the game. No clue what the outcome would have been . None.

I mean it is fully possible Mccourty knew and Rowe didn't. That doesn't make either one liars but it does fall on the Coaches as to why some knew in advance and other seemed to find out just before the game. Just another notch in 'what the hell was going on with this game'.

luuked · Feb 5, 2018

Xerostomia said:
As we all know, after decades of being a coach, I think BB has very little tolerance for such behavior. I was surprized 2 years ago that Chandler Jones actually played after being stoned, so BB will not sacrifice talent to teach a lesson and hurt the team. I truly believe that BB and MP probably saw enough to determine that Rowe at that moment in time was the better option.

The entire Chandler Jones situation is a good key on why it most probably is a mix of both.. disciplinary and performance related. That being said I guess there is a difference between getting stoned during a BYE week and missing curfew to party the night before the SB.

pwes · Feb 5, 2018

luuked said:
Where did you hear about that ? Radio ? I find it weird that none of those rumors have made their way to the usual suspects on Twitter yet.

Because they are ******** being spewed by randoms on twitter and reddit. The same crap about him being high or showing up to practice drunk.

IllegalContact · Feb 5, 2018

Xerostomia said:
These same rumors state that he was treated for the flu, and practiced like '****' during the week. I think you compound missing the plane, having the flu, practicing poorly, partying the night before, suggests that his head was not in the game. Since he was dressed, and not made inactive, he was there incase of an injury.

As we all know, after decades of being a coach, I think BB has very little tolerance for such behavior. I was surprized 2 years ago that Chandler Jones actually played after being stoned, so BB will not sacrifice talent to teach a lesson and hurt the team. I truly believe that BB and MP probably saw enough to determine that Rowe at that moment in time was the better option.

I don't buy it when your other options are Bademosi and/or Richards ....... screw that.......the picture is a little bigger than the discipline

you take a guy like James Harrison who comes here ruining his legacy in his last place only to have coach screw him out of a championship because he had to teach a guy who is going to be a free agent anyway a lesson......

the stupidity is relentless if that is the case

Todd Bradley · Feb 5, 2018

luuked said:
Your hyperbole language is what makes this take just silly

I guess that BB is at fault that Rowe miscalculated a jump ball yet again even though this is being practiced a lot.
I guess that BB is at fault that Gilmore took a few steps too far to the sideline on one of the third down conversions and allowed a completion.
I guess that BB is at fault that Cardona snapped the ball low, which caused the holder to muff it and Ghost to miss a kick.
I guess that BB is at fault that Cooks thought he can friggin hurdle a player for a first down instead of diving towards he sideline.
I guess that BB is at fault that KVN vacated the space on a delayed rush where Ertz ended up on that 4th down conversion.
I guess that BB is at fault that DMac got picked on the very same 4th down 2 yards down the field.
I guess that BB is at fault that Bademosi could not make a straight forward tackle even though he is one of the better ST players in he entire league.
I guess that BB is at fault that Brady wasted about 20 seconds of time before halftime with a stupid run instead of throwing the ball away.
I guess that BB is at fault that KVN didnt drop into a zone behind towards the goal line, when Harmon motioned with the Eagles RB on the Ertz TD
.....

Point being sitting Butler definitely didnt help yesterday but the plays to win the game were there to make and we did not make a single one of them. And that is not squarely on coaching but to a big part on the players as well.

You know how we needed about 20 things to go in our favor to come back against the Falcons ? We just needed just 1-2 of those 10-12 situations yesterday to go our way but simply could not make it.

Belichick handicapped the team by refusing to play Butler and instead choosing to play scrubs Richards and Bademosi in his place.

Nothing else you've cherry picked matters.

luuked · Feb 5, 2018

HeadHunter said:
And I’m telling you Butler does not miss that 3rd n 6 tackle.

If that really kills you then relax because if Butler is on the field the Eagles would attack someone completely different on that play. Most probably one of the LBs. So it would have been most likely a totally different play which makes all those coulda-shoulda scenarios pointless.

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