Should he need to apologize if he and the coaching staff felt that Butler had been looking out of position lately, and that his illness (or whatever it was) had set him back a bit in the game planning and prep? There was even some chatter that they wanted to bench him in the AFC Championship game, so it’s possible that the coaches didn’t evaluate Butler’s play as well as some of the fans did.
I mean, obviously he made the wrong decision by assuming that Eric Rowe could hold his own, and more importantly, not switching Butler at halftime, but I’m sure that Belichick feels pretty lousy about all of his hard work and late nights being completely flushed down the toilet. I’m sure that it stings pretty badly. Justifiable or not, it was a coaching decision that didn’t work out. We’ve seen a ton of examples in all of the major sports over the years that have either been controversial or were simply failures. I don’t remember too many times when a coach apologized to anyone, and the majority of them couldn’t hold Belichick’s jock.
There were a lot of other variables in the game such as only scoring 12 points at the half, allowing a game ending strip sack from Mason, Brady missing a wide open White on the checkdown, Gost missing some kicks, Cooks’ strange decision to try and wedge his penis into the face mask of a defender instead of scoring an easy TD, and at least 2-3 calls that the NFL officials completely botched under their “change the rules on the fly” policy implemented for the postseason.
I’m not saying that Belichick did/didn’t make a mistake. I’m saying that it’s much easier to criticize him in hindsight, and I think some are being a bit hard on him and his decision. Malcolm Butler would’ve increased the odds of winning, but it’s not the sure thing that some here believe that is, either. Any one of those previously mentioned variables falling our way would’ve increased the odds of winning just the same. Ultimately, the absence of Butler was one piece, not the entire puzzle that a lot of people make it out to be.