Malcolm Butler Mega Thread

[VJCPatriot]

I think benching Butler has got to be on BB. His ego is getting out of control. And benching Butler was a power play imo. He wanted Butler to know - if I say you only play special teams today, that's what you'll do.

I think BB's ego is getting a bit out of hand. He gave away Garappolo for peanuts because he was pissed Kraft told him to keep Brady and get rid of Jimmy G.

The compensation is whatever. But benching Butler on the biggest game of the year when he played 98% of your defensive snaps before today? That smells fishy. DC Matt Patricia will probably go to his grave swearing up and down that was what the packages dictated, but it smells like ******** to me. The order came from the top, BB, and Butler was not allowed to play.

BB's ego may have cost Brady and the Patriots dynasty their 6th championship this past Sunday.

Check the stats of the Patriots secondary according to Jeff Howe's tweet:

Jeff Howe @jeffphowe

Coverage stats:
Gilmore: 1/5 7yds, 2 PBU
Rowe: 4/9 80yds, TD, 3 PBU
Chung: 3/6 56yds
DMC: 3/5 13yds, TD
Richards: 2/2 74yds
Bademosi: 1/1 17yds
Harmon: 0/1 plus an INT
Lee: 1/1 1yd, TD
MFlowers: 2/2 14yds, TD
KVN: 1/2 18yds, PBU

You are telling me Butler would not have helped? You're lying through your teeth BB. What was the real reason you benched Butler? Dude should not have been crying on the sidelines, to find out just before kickoff that he was not allowed to play. That's not cool at all.

Like if you are going to say height is the reason we don't put Butler on the outside, he would be better elsewhere, I could see that. At least stick him at nickel because we were getting GASHED through the air out there. Butler could NOT physically have played worse than Richards and Bademosi!

 

[Deus Irae]

I am surprised it was not Giardi reporting this. All of his JG alarms should have gone off immediately.

He might need to towel off, first.

 

[lancerman]

he won't fire Bill. If he does that Bill can coach somewhere else. That would be crazy unless the man is trying to lose now.

I would never suggest we fire Belichick. He made a large miscalculation here. He deserves criticism. It's probably going down as the biggest mistake of his career. That said I could see Kraft reigning him in some and saying that these decisions need to be made game time.

The fact that the defensive coordinator had to fight Belichick to get Butler to play the AFCCG tells me that not everyone was onboard with the decision.

 

[Joey007]

It’s hilarious that the media is bashed for “fake news” and being “mediots” until now, when they report on rumors that people are deciding are totally and completely true because they want them to be.

The big homers here are suddenly Buddy Buddy with the same people that made deflate gate into a witch hunt.

Ain’t it funny?

 

[RobertWeathers]

You have no proof he was going to freelance. And Malcolm has never shown any indication of freelancing in previous play.

Get a grip of reality.

You have no proof he didn't.

We do know the coaching staff was frustrated by his reluctance to modify his technique back to 2015/2016 form.

 

[mosslost]

The only way I could see it is if it was actually a mutual thing, where Bill has too deep of disagreements with Kraft.

maybe, but only a retirement where his rights remain with the Pats... and he can't coach elsewhere.

 

[JarOfMayo51]

The only thing that is going to make this Super Bowl so hard to get over is understanding WTF Belichick was doing keeping Butler benched the entire game and playing JAGS like Richards and Bademosi

In a game where the Philly offense led by Nick Foles completely embarassed and shredded our secondary, I find it hard to stomach that they wouldn't get Butler in there on a few plays

Richards has never been able to cover well, he only belongs on the field in the event of a CATASTROPHE... and they played him over Butler in the ****ING SUPERBOWL!!!!!


AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!

 

[SHOWTIME15]

Belichick should be held accountable then made to stay or retire

I don’t think he should resign or be fired. He can be very vindictive and cold hearted though.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Yet Bill watched the defense play horrifically and didn't just put Butler in the game to see if it made a difference.

I wouldn't be quite as mad at Belichick if he had realized this is the goddamn Super Bowl and **** it what more could go wrong by putting in our season long starter?

The only reason that makes any sense is Malcolm was not ready to play the game and Bill didn't trust him out there. In conclusion Malcolm did "things" to make Bill loose confidence and trust in Malcolm out on the field.

Thats it.

 

[signbabybrady]

Malcolm is refuting the Media not the Patriots. Players are standing behind a teammate again who is correcting the media.

Let's not overblow this into some sort of player v management issue.

That said I still am clueless as to why the hell he was benched Sunday.

 

[Joey007]

You have no proof he didn't.

We do know the coaching staff was frustrated by his reluctance to modify his technique back to 2015/2016 form.

Had they been that frustrated, they would’ve traded Malcolm to New Orleans in the offseason.

Again, your theories are not making sense.

 

[YOUGOTMOSSED]

Apparently, Eric Rowe, and Johnson Bademosi were targeted 17 times, allowing 14 catches, 152 yards and 2 TDs.
I simply cannot believe that BB, who preaches situational awareness, didn't notice the problem and try to correct it by putting Butler into the game.
Either Belichick is being disingenuous when he says these guys gave us "our best chance to win" or he has gone insane.

 

[Joey007]

The only thing that is going to make this Super Bowl so hard to get over is understanding WTF Belichick was doing keeping Butler benched the entire game and playing JAGS like Richards and Bademosi

In a game where the Philly offense led by Nick Foles completely embarassed and shredded our secondary, I find it hard to stomach that they wouldn't get Butler in there on a few plays

Richards has never been able to cover well, he only belongs on the field in the event of a CATASTROPHE... and they played him over Butler in the ****ING SUPERBOWL!!!!!


AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!

It would be very easy to get over otherwise. This is making it difficult.

 

[chasa]

You have no proof he didn't.

We do know the coaching staff was frustrated by his reluctance to modify his technique back to 2015/2016 form.

Just so we're all on the same page

you said there were reports that butler said he was going to freelance, we asked for proof, and you decided to defend your comments are "there is no proof that he didn't say he was going to freelance" ?

did i miss a page or two?

 

[SHOWTIME15]

What was Bill's motivation?

Why would Bill keep his 1000 snap, #2 CB, Super Bowl/Pro Bowl defender out of the most important game of the year?

Because he made a mistake, which all coaches do, and made an even bigger mistake by not putting him in late in the game.

 

[Kdo5]

The only reason that makes any sense is Malcolm was not ready to play the game and Bill didn't trust him out there. In conclusion Malcolm did "things" to make Bill loose confidence and trust in Malcolm out on the field.

Thats it.

Well then Bill was being a stubborn idiot (in the moment), if he had less faith in Butler than Rowe and Bademosi.

The only way Belichick could be semi-vindicated is if Butler did something egregious off the field and it doesn't seem like he did.

 

[makoute]

What was Bill's motivation?

Why would Bill keep his 1000 snap, #2 CB, Super Bowl/Pro Bowl defender out of the most important game of the year?

Maybe he really thought that it was the best way to win, unless you don’t trust his and Patricia’s words.

 

[PatriotsNumero1Fan]

I think benching Butler has got to be on BB. His ego is getting out of control. And benching Butler was a power play imo. He wanted Butler to know - if I say you only play special teams today, that's what you'll do.

I think BB's ego is getting a bit out of hand. He gave away Garappolo for peanuts because he was pissed Kraft told him to keep Brady and get rid of Jimmy G.

The compensation is whatever. But benching Butler on the biggest game of the year when he played 98% of your defensive snaps before today? That smells fishy. DC Matt Patricia will probably go to his grave swearing up and down that was what the packages dictated, but it smells like ******** to me. The order came from the top, BB, and Butler was not allowed to play.

BB's ego may have cost Brady and the Patriots dynasty their 6th championship this past Sunday.

Check the stats of the Patriots secondary according to Jeff Howe's tweet:

Jeff Howe @jeffphowe

Coverage stats:
Gilmore: 1/5 7yds, 2 PBU
Rowe: 4/9 80yds, TD, 3 PBU
Chung: 3/6 56yds
DMC: 3/5 13yds, TD
Richards: 2/2 74yds
Bademosi: 1/1 17yds
Harmon: 0/1 plus an INT
Lee: 1/1 1yd, TD
MFlowers: 2/2 14yds, TD
KVN: 1/2 18yds, PBU

You are telling me Butler would not have helped? You're lying through your teeth BB. What was the real reason you benched Butler? Dude should not have been crying on the sidelines, to find out just before kickoff that he was not allowed to play. That's not cool at all.

Like if you are going to say height is the reason we don't put Butler on the outside, he would be better elsewhere, I could see that. At least stick him at nickel because we were getting GASHED through the air out there. Butler could NOT physically have played worse than Richards and Bademosi!

Telling stat with the coverage. Rowe starting hurt in the first series. Agholor killed us. Gilmore did his thing.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Just chiming in, but let's assume the bolded is true. Did they trust Rowe/Bademosi/Richards more? And if they did (which appears to be the case), they were clearly mistaken.

They trusted them to execute the game plan and their assignments.

Insanity is trying the same thing over and over while expecting a different result. Rowe got torched early so they put Gilmore on Jeffery.

They should have done that from the beginning but Bill went with the tennis bracket methodology in coverage. 2+3 covers 1 and 1 covers 2

Was Butler THAT bad performance-wise to justify not even trying him out on a defensive series? You can't get any worse than what we trotted out.

They sucked but Bill didn't trust Malcolm out there.

 

[mosslost]

I would never suggest we fire Belichick. He made a large miscalculation here. He deserves criticism. It's probably going down as the biggest mistake of his career. That said I could see Kraft reigning him in some and saying that these decisions need to be made game time.

The fact that the defensive coordinator had to fight Belichick to get Butler to play the AFCCG tells me that not everyone was onboard with the decision.

Kraft should hire a GM, and have some decisions need to be run by him and the GM. Belichick can quit but his rights retained from coaching other teams