Jeff Benedit AMA on Reddit

[luuked]

The writer of the new book The Dynasty will be doing a Ask Me Anything session on Reddit in /r/patriots in a few hours.

Just thought I give a heads up to some folks in case they want to take the chance to ask him something..

 

[Hyped]

Nice! I'll check it out later when the AMA is done. Thanks, dude!

 

[Ian]

The writer of the new book The Dynasty will be doing a Ask Me Anything session on Reddit in /r/patriots in a few hours.

Just thought I give a heads up to some folks in case they want to take the chance to ask him something..

I bought his book and it’s been an excellent read so far. Highly recommended

 

[Hammer of Thor]

I was hoping someone would ask and he answered. Unfortunately he didn’t have any real extra info in the book, and his answer below is a non answer that tells me he didn’t get any further details in his interviews and research.

6RingsPats CAM 2h

Whats your honest personal opinion on why Malcolm Butler was benched in SB52?

2h

23m

This remains the biggest question around Coach Belichick's coaching career in New England. Bigger than sticking with Brady after Bledsoe was cleared to play in 2001. Bigger than jettisoning Lawyer Milloy. Bigger than not calling timeout in the final minute of the Super Bowl against the Seahawks. All of those controversial decisions -- like so many other ones he's made over the years -- were gutsy calls that turned out to be right. The Butler decision -- especially his decision not to put him back in the game after it was clear that those playing in his place weren't rising to the occasion -- is one that will probably go down in history as his biggest mistake. It is amplified by the fact that it happened on the game's biggest stage. As I said in the book, "For a coach so obsessed with winning, Belichick's handling of Butler was wholly inconsistent with his practical approach to game management. A less assured man might have felt the need to explain or defend his decision. But Belichick's hubris was part of what made him such a great coach, and many of his achievements would have been unthinkable without it.”

 

[ForThoseAboutToRock]

Jeff Benedict was also on the Patriots Talk Podcast with Tom Curran and Michael Holley a couple of weeks ago - it's a great listen, definitely whet my appetite for this book.

(Scroll to Aug. 31st episode)

Tom Curran’s Patriots Talk Podcast

 

[Triumph]

other Butler theories.

1. He got physical with Steve Belichick Super Bowl week.
2. He was feeding Mike Reiss inside locker room info and got caught.

 

[luuked]

Bigger than not calling timeout in the final minute of the Super Bowl against the Seahawks.

Not sure what exactly there is to say about that has not been said already. I mean it has been answered in DYJ1 pretty clearly. Not entirely clear why Benedict is not aware of that.

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

Benedict: Thanks for all of your transparency, Bill. It’s been a delight interviewing you for this book. Oh...one last question. Could you explain the circumstances leading to Malcom Butler’s benching and your thought process during the game?

Belichick:

 

[sb1]

other Butler theories.

1. He got physical with Steve Belichick Super Bowl week.
2. He was feeding Mike Reiss inside locker room info and got caught.

I read the rumor about something involving Steve Belichick’s wife too. I think Felger was even alluding to this one.

Personally I think he was the real Deflator. Lol

 

[BaconGrundleCandy]

I'm waiting for mine rn.

Where does it rank among the rest? And there have been some great ones, am going to reread Holley's books soon.

 

[Vindicate]

Not sure what exactly there is to say about that has not been said already. I mean it has been answered in DYJ1 pretty clearly. Not entirely clear why Benedict is not aware of that.

His wording isn't the best for the setup, but I think he's saying - "It's typical that Belichick is one to make a controversial decision - but perhaps his most controversial decision is both his biggest blunder and without explanation."

Typically, we find out why he does this things, and more often than not, they make a brilliant lick of sense. Some don't I'm assuming, I can't remember a controversial call that was pretty bad, but I'm sure they exist. The difference with the Butler decision is there is absolutely no reason, from a pure football standpoint, that explains the benching - nor has there ever been a confirmed reason behind it, and what compounds its mystery is how awful the result was, on a huge stage. It being the SB alone makes it so wildly confounding.

Damn I always just kind of ignore that part of that SB, as I know we'll never get an answer, but there are like, maybe 2 questions in the universe that I'd want the answer to as much as that one haha. Drives me up a wall thinking about it.

 

[luuked]

The difference with the Butler decision is there is absolutely no reason, from a pure football standpoint, that explains the benching - nor has there ever been a confirmed reason behind it, and what compounds its mystery is how awful the result was, on a huge stage. It being the SB alone makes it so wildly confounding.

The thing is that he has built up such an amazing track record in terms of decision making -- even with gambles where the outcome didnt go our way but the basic reasoning was very understandable -- that I am just willing to assume that he didn't just sit a player completely out of spite. If this was just one unwarranted kneejerk move from him you can be sure we would have heard about the details by now from one of the players that have moved on like Marquis Flowers or Bademosi.

From my point of view the mistake wasn't benching Butler for whatever happened but making him sit through it on the bench instead of making him inactive or just sending him home early.

 

[PP2]

His wording isn't the best for the setup, but I think he's saying - "It's typical that Belichick is one to make a controversial decision - but perhaps his most controversial decision is both his biggest blunder and without explanation."

Typically, we find out why he does this things, and more often than not, they make a brilliant lick of sense. Some don't I'm assuming, I can't remember a controversial call that was pretty bad, but I'm sure they exist. The difference with the Butler decision is there is absolutely no reason, from a pure football standpoint, that explains the benching - nor has there ever been a confirmed reason behind it, and what compounds its mystery is how awful the result was, on a huge stage. It being the SB alone makes it so wildly confounding.

Damn I always just kind of ignore that part of that SB, as I know we'll never get an answer, but there are like, maybe 2 questions in the universe that I'd want the answer to as much as that one haha. Drives me up a wall thinking about it.

Or in other words, BB refused to give him an answer.

 

[1960Pats]

His wording isn't the best for the setup, but I think he's saying - "It's typical that Belichick is one to make a controversial decision - but perhaps his most controversial decision is both his biggest blunder and without explanation."

Typically, we find out why he does this things, and more often than not, they make a brilliant lick of sense. Some don't I'm assuming, I can't remember a controversial call that was pretty bad, but I'm sure they exist. The difference with the Butler decision is there is absolutely no reason, from a pure football standpoint, that explains the benching - nor has there ever been a confirmed reason behind it, and what compounds its mystery is how awful the result was, on a huge stage. It being the SB alone makes it so wildly confounding.

Damn I always just kind of ignore that part of that SB, as I know we'll never get an answer, but there are like, maybe 2 questions in the universe that I'd want the answer to as much as that one haha. Drives me up a wall thinking about it.

The fact that Butler was singing the praises of Belichick after he was gone tells me that he knew he did something wrong. The question is was it bad enough to sit a whole game for.

When I look back on Bill's 20 years here I can only think of a handful of situations that could be called blunders. Most HC's provide that many in a game.

 

[RASTAN99]

If this was just one unwarranted kneejerk move from him you can be sure we would have heard about the details by now from one of the players that have moved on like Marquis Flowers or Bademosi.

Great point.

Players must believe the rationale to be legit.