Dear Bill - Thanks for Giving Away the Super Bowl.

[Soliel]

I don't even know WTF you are talking about with this. I am PO'd at BB's ridiculous coaching decisions on Sunday, and therefore I want Mike Tomlin? Whatever.

And my day is complete as Quantum has added all his little red X's to my posts.

I am not going to change your minds that BB never gets it wrong, and never says anything misleading to cover up for his real reasons for benching one of his best players on a defense that until this game was playing great. You can defend him all you want, but to me he screwed up big time by messing with the chemistry of his team (at kickoff no less) and refusing to fix it, even though he could have. He shouldn't have done that to the rest of the team, the coaches or the fans. If you are okay with it then good for you. I am not okay with it and I never will be.

I’m not in the camp where B.B. is always right however I just feel like benching someone is a simple decision. The guy must be trusted to make this decision as his record is not questionable. Example. If Antonio played for the pats, B.B. would probably have fired him off the team for doing Facebook live in the Locke room. I would have supported that decision even if it meant losing the super bowl

 

[SHOWTIME15]

You are assuming a lot. So you think he would have spent 2 hours crying? It came out at thr anthem when he realized how bad he f-Ed up. That could have happened if he knew for a week.
You are making a guess and calling it a fact which is why this thread is a crapfest.

Eric Rowe said he was told he would start right around kickoff. If Butler was told of his status earlier in the week, I’m sure Rowe would have known he was starting much earlier.

 

[Ring 6]

I don't even know WTF you are talking about with this. I am PO'd at BB's ridiculous coaching decisions on Sunday, and therefore I want Mike Tomlin? Whatever.

And my day is complete as Quantum has added all his little red X's to my posts.

I am not going to change your minds that BB never gets it wrong, and never says anything misleading to cover up for his real reasons for benching one of his best players on a defense that until this game was playing great. You can defend him all you want, but to me he screwed up big time by messing with the chemistry of his team (at kickoff no less) and refusing to fix it, even though he could have. He shouldn't have done that to the rest of the team, the coaches or the fans. If you are okay with it then good for you. I am not okay with it and I never will be.

How can you judge a decision of you don’t know the reason for he decision
No one is defending belichick. We are saying you are crucifying him without facts.
Does it mean anything to you that not a single player, coach or Doritos dink in that locker room has uttered a word supporting butler?

If people were crucifying butler I would be saying the same thing, you don’t know happened and can’t judge it.

One of 2 things happened here.
Either butler did something that warranted being benched the entire game.
Or belichick made a concious decision that he was going to choose the SB to, fit the first time in his career over discipline a player and risk losing a Sb without real justification.

I cannot fathom after 18 years that Bill Belichick would hurt his teams chances to win without being stuck believing he has no choice.

People seem to want to believe belichick suddenly at 65 as the most competitive coach we have seen, just throw games to play a trick on someone.


It jusy makes no sense.
So in the end Malcolm did something that B.B. felt worthy of being ostracized in the mist important game.
No one can honestly judge whether that was the right decision or not without knowing the reason.

 

[Ring 6]

Eric Rowe said he was told he would start right around kickoff. If Butler was told of his status earlier in the week, I’m sure Rowe would have known he was starting much earlier.

Perhaps but that doesn’t really change anything.

 

[lancerman]

Based on what? You have this belief BB thought there was a chance Malcolm could help them win.

You can create all the scenarios all you want but based on multiple factors, BB did not trust or have confidence in Malcolm helping the team and his program on any level.



No ****. Im playing with your analogy.

What if the fire extinguisher was filled with muriatic acid and started the process of melting the foundation?

1. It doesn't matter once what your doing clearly isn't working. When you are in do or die mode on something this big, everything even the things that you think won't work are in play if nothing else is working.

2. If he thought Butler was THAT toxic for you to completely twist the analogy, then there is no justification for him being there period.

 

[PatsFan2]

If he wasn't eligible he shouldn't have dressed. If it was that bad

And even if it's something completely justified like he hit a women or fought a coach, or got caught doing some hard drugs.... you still have to answer for why he even dressed.

That's the problem I have with the whole situation he was dressed. Why totally dismiss from the Defense and you didn't have Two Gilmore's out there?? It's not like you couldn't use him on that Third and First Defense all night.

 

[RobertWeathers]

I don't even know WTF you are talking about with this. I am PO'd at BB's ridiculous coaching decisions on Sunday, and therefore I want Mike Tomlin? Whatever.

Look- I have no problem with you ripping BB a new one over in-game decisions. Go for it.

My problem is how casual you are in not making Malcolm accountable.

And my day is complete as Quantum has added all his little red X's to my posts.

LOL. I think I have more Xs and thumbs down in one day than my total over 10 years.

I am not going to change your minds that BB never gets it wrong, and never says anything misleading to cover up for his real reasons for benching one of his best players on a defense that until this game was playing great. You can defend him all you want, but to me he screwed up big time by messing with the chemistry of his team (at kickoff no less) and refusing to fix it, even though he could have. He shouldn't have done that to the rest of the team, the coaches or the fans. If you are okay with it then good for you. I am not okay with it and I never will be.

The difference between you and me is my belief in BBs system and how you don't like it when a selfish a-hole like Malcolm Butler pulls this crap and you think BB should look the other way. The fact you do not assign Malcolm 100% of the blame when 52 other players did their job is nuts.

 

[Ivan]

Since it's the Super Bowl and you messed up your whole defense, and did nothing to fix it when it became patently obvious.

Oh, I didn’t know he was entitled to play. My understanding was that they were preparing Bademosi while Butler was in Boston recovering.

I’m guessing that if it were any other situation you would agree that blowing the faith and trust that others place in you is your fault, but since you are disappointed about the loss that concept doesn’t apply.

 

[Ivan]

Look- I have no problem with you ripping BB a new one over in-game decisions. Go for it.

My problem is how casual you are in not making Malcolm accountable.



LOL. I think I have more Xs and thumbs down in one day than my total over 10 years.



The difference between you and me is my belief in BBs system and how you don't like it when a selfish a-hole like Malcolm Butler pulls this crap and you think BB should look the other way. The fact you do not assign Malcolm 100% of the blame when 52 other players did their job is nuts.

Couldn’t agree more.

 

[PatriotsNumero1Fan]

I wish some of our players had the balls to say why's butler not playing at that same exact moment when BB decides not to start him. BB seems to run a totalitarianism system. That wickersham report probably was a sham but probably had some truth to it in terms of some stuff when it comes to the QB and the coach.

 

[Ivan]

I wish some of our players had the balls to say why's butler not playing at that same exact moment when BB decides not to start him. BB seems to run a totalitarianism system. That wickersham report probably was a sham but probably had some truth to it in terms of some stuff when it comes to the QB and the coach.

Belichick and Hitler have never been seen together.

Coincidence?

 

[Bradybranch]

Can I just zoom out for a second to point out the incredible irony of accusing anyone of "giving away" the Superbowl in a Superbowl in which we were only leading once for a few minutes over the course of the entire game, and then only by 1 point?

Shanahan "gave away: SB51. We did not "give away" SB52. It was never ours to give away.

We may have made some suboptimal personnel decisions but to call that "giving the game away" is hillariously idiotic on several levels. It presumes that Philly wasn't good enough to beat our best when that's laughably false.

The game was given away though. It's a totally different ballgame with butler and all you really needed was one stop. So straight up, yes sitting butler was the difference between winning and losing

 

[PatriotsNumero1Fan]

Belichick and Hitler have never been seen together.

Coincidence?

You know what i mean. Nobody's gonna question him. They're very afraid of the guy. It's his way or the highway lol.

Well except maybe tommy.

 

[makoute]

the punt unit sucked, the punt return unit sucked, ryan allens hands were cold because of #1 which resulted in a missed fg.

there was only one punt return.

 

[SHOWTIME15]

Perhaps but that doesn’t really change anything.

I was just justifying that it’s more than just speculation that Butler was told of his benching at the Anthem. There is a good deal of circumstantial evidence for it.

 

[RobertWeathers]

If he wasn't eligible he shouldn't have dressed. If it was that bad he shouldn't have dressed. If whatever he did was s

I suspect it was a timing issue.

The why matters. It's just your being completely disingenuous saying discussion is futile and that we lack facts.

We have an abundance of facts about what happened, the effect of it on the team, and the outcome of the game.

What facts?

The only indisputable facts are A) Malcolm f-ed up and B) BB benched him.

There's one question left is whether Butler did something so bad that Belichick was completely justified not playing him and sabotaging his teams chances of winning or even attempting to play him when the defense was getting hosed and there was nothing to lose.

Who is the judge of this so called justification? You?

Last time I checked Bill was the judge and when it comes to player management and what it takes to win he has an 18 year track record of having supreme judgement in these matters

And even if it's something completely justified like he hit a women or fought a coach, or got caught doing some hard drugs.... you still have to answer for why he even dressed.

Why are fans coming back to a morality situation that would have impacted his availability?

If he hit a woman he would have played.

If he got caught doing hard drugs he would have played.

If he fought with a coach verbally he would have played.

Do you really think those things would stop BB from chasing a 6th Lombardi?

It would have all been swept under the rug until a later date.

As long as BB trusted him and had supreme confidence he would be able to do his job on the field he would have played.

 

[PatsDeb]

The difference between you and me is my belief in BBs system and how you don't like it when a selfish a-hole like Malcolm Butler pulls this crap and you think BB should look the other way. The fact you do not assign Malcolm 100% of the blame when 52 other players did their job is nuts.

That is not a difference between you and me. I never said BB should look the other way when it comes to Butler. I said he should have come up with a way to punish him alone for his transgression(s), whatever they may be, not the whole team, even benching him for the first half. How can Butler be assigned 100% of the blame when he never got a chance to play? That's 100% on BB. If Malcolm started and played like Rowe and it came out that he did some or all of those things, then it would be 100% on Butler. If Rowe started and was pulled for Malcolm and Malcolm played like what was put out there, then that's 100% on Butler. The fact that you do not assign BB any of the blame when 52 other players did (or in the case of the secondary tried, but failed to do) their job, is nuts.

 

[PatriotsNumero1Fan]

I was just justifying that it’s more than just speculation that Butler was told of his benching at the Anthem. There is a good deal of circumstantial evidence for it.

It was handled terribly. Almost cowardly.

 

[chasa]

there was only one punt return.

i know i was being sarcastic.

 

[chasa]

What facts?

The only indisputable facts are A) Malcolm f-ed up and B) BB benched him.


.

You left off the fact that that his defense was failing, the players he was using were not getting the job done, and instead of changing it, he decided to try and win a shoot out.

He let his ego get in the way of trying to win, plain and simple.

to not give butler a single snap to see how he played means the BB would rather lose the game, then leave even the tiniest wiggle room for a player to step out of line in any way.