Malcolm Butler Mega Thread

[Chris Stevenson]

Dude he played all the snaps! He's better as our second corner. He can give up plays but he can also make a big play at any moment. You play with your starters and what got you there! The guy deserved to play in his last game in a pats jersey. He us won a damn super bowl. Something seems like it was personal between bill and butler.

I don't think it was personal at all because BB would have given Butler away for peanuts like he did with Jamie Collins, even at the trade deadline, sliding Jon Jones into the slot.

I think Butler had the flu (not his fault), came in late, knew he wasn't a focal of the point of the gameplan, and his contract situation, Gilmore taking his money, all had an effect on the quality of his play.

You don't have a drop of 30 points in defending the pass with your rating overnight, without something bothering the guy.

Going from 98% of the snaps to 0% screams to me that BB took that train as far as he could and didn't want Butler ruining the SB for the TEAM. Just because we didn't know of the baggage Butler was bringing behind the scenes, doesn't mean it wasn't happening.

When was the last time Butler made a play anyway? HIs body language was poor all year. He was looking for a holding call after being bulldozed vs Jax. Maybe if he was focusing on technique and not so focused on things peripheral to his situation, none of this would have happened, including crying, actual CRYING, when learning they weren't going to use him to start?

A 103 passer rating against is a lot higher than I would have guessed after an erratic season from him. I knew it wasn't as good as last year, but not that far off.

The pats ABSOLUTELY had the personnel to match up in man. Beatuifully. Gilmore played really well and they had the size they had been missing for many years in man. As they did all year, minus Sept. You can't take on that many injuries on one side of the ball to key players, and expect it not to add up. The Chung injury hurt any chance at the D settling in. That and the mistake by BB to not have Gilmore and Agholor.

Jeffery is not their best WR as a one trick pony.

Gilmore on Agholor
Rowe/Harmon on Jeffery
Chung on Ertz
McCourty on Torrey Smith/when a run play, up at the line in run support.

Harmon was either late or directed incorrectly in supporting Rowe.

But, these were all very winnable match ups. Chung and McCourty were doing their thing.

 

[Kontradiction]

Yeah, and I suppose BB should be blamed for injuries that occur in the NFL, too.

Did you see Philly's D?

If our offense wasn't failing in the red zone the entire first half, Brady doesn't drop an easy ball, wide open, who knows, maybe we win a shootout style SB, as opposed to losing it?

See?

A lot of people on the team could have been better. You can;t play a game like that and expect to win. Compare any of the SB wins to the losses and what do you see? I see differences.

Plenty of things to nitpick about with regards to the game and how each phase of the game could have been better.

Yeah... so, again, Philly's D not having a banner day doesn't excuse our's. That's a red herring. If you score over 30 and still lose while surrendering 41, your defense is directly to blame. Looking closer into that statement, they stuck with the same defense in spite of the fact that they didn't have the horses to run it. Adjustments had to have been made and they weren't and the only thing we know about it right now was that it was purely based on a schematic/football decision. Therefore, the blame lies on the coaching staff for not putting the players they had in the best position to succeed. That's where the blame should lie for anyone with a modicum of knowledge about the game unless more comes out on the reason behind his benching as the offseason progresses.

Further, if Cooks turns it upfield instead of hurdling, the offense scores in the red zone, the Patriots win the game, and Brady is lauded for two of the best performances EVER in a Super Bowl back to back. They were in the red zone. They failed down there because Cooks tried to get too cute.

We've been through this before.

 

[PatriotsNumero1Fan]

I agree. It's why some of our fans need therapy on this topic. It's like they're personally offended Brady doesn't have a 6th ring on his finger.

It's become more of a quest for Brady's legacy than anything else now for them, as opposed to fans enjoying the team and the ride.

They also act like they're entitled to win every SB, when the rest of us know how tough it is to win them, especially 2 in a row, all injured with a target on your back.

Parity may be very weak in thew NFL right now, but when you get to a SB, they're coin toss situations.

The Pats as a TEAM did not play an A game, while Philly played closer to theirs.

Simple.

Brady did his part. Our defense and coaching didn't.

 

[PatriotsNumero1Fan]

Yeah, and I suppose BB should be blamed for injuries that occur in the NFL, too.

Did you see Philly's D?

If our offense wasn't failing in the red zone the entire first half, Brady doesn't drop an easy ball, wide open, who knows, maybe we win a shootout style SB, as opposed to losing it?

See?

A lot of people on the team could have been better. You can;t play a game like that and expect to win. Compare any of the SB wins to the losses and what do you see? I see differences.

Plenty of things to nitpick about with regards to the game and how each phase of the game could have been better.

Injuries are part of the game but butler was healthy enough to play. Blaming the offense is a little ridiculous. All they needed was one or two stops in the second half.

 

[Kontradiction]

Injuries are part of the game but butler was healthy enough to play. Blaming the offense is a little ridiculous. All they needed was one or two stops in the second half.

It's absolutely staggering that anyone, ANYONE in the world would be dumb enough to blame the offense for this. You're not winning many games in the NFL if you surrender 40 or more points. You can maybe do it at the college level, but not the NFL. That the Patriots were even able to be in that game with as bad as their defense and coaching was is a testament to how great Brady was.

 

[PatriotsNumero1Fan]

Yeah... so, again, Philly's D not having a banner day doesn't excuse our's. That's a red herring. If you score over 30 and still lose while surrendering 41, your defense is directly to blame. Looking closer into that statement, they stuck with the same defense in spite of the fact that they didn't have the horses to run it. Adjustments had to have been made and they weren't and the only thing we know about it right now was that it was purely based on a schematic/football decision. Therefore, the blame lies on the coaching staff for not putting the players they had in the best position to succeed. That's where the blame should lie for anyone with a modicum of knowledge about the game unless more comes out on the reason behind his benching as the offseason progresses.

Further, if Cooks turns it upfield instead of hurdling, the offense scores in the red zone, the Patriots win the game, and Brady is lauded for two of the best performances EVER in a Super Bowl back to back. They were in the red zone. They failed down there because Cooks tried to get too cute.

We've been through this before.

Seriously they made no adjustments at all and having Richards on ertz is suicide. Ertz had a big 3rd down play agains Richards. The matchups where just terrible all across the board with the benching of butler. They did a good job on alshon but having Chung or whoever on agholor was a mismatch.

 

[The Brandon Five]

Flu-->High Maintenance-->Lack of Trust-->Poor play

This is who you want in a game?

41 points. That is what we had in the game. I think what people are suggesting is that given how poor the play was with the players that were out there, maybe, just maybe give Butler a few snaps to see if we could get, you know, a stop.

 

[Ras-IR Dowling]

Yeah, and I suppose BB should be blamed for injuries that occur in the NFL, too.

Did you see Philly's D?

If our offense wasn't failing in the red zone the entire first half, Brady doesn't drop an easy ball, wide open, who knows, maybe we win a shootout style SB, as opposed to losing it?

See?

A lot of people on the team could have been better. You can;t play a game like that and expect to win. Compare any of the SB wins to the losses and what do you see? I see differences.

Plenty of things to nitpick about with regards to the game and how each phase of the game could have been better.

You can keep nitpicking things about the offense until your red in the face, facts are we still managed 33 pts (37 if not for special teams) and we gave up 41. I don’t think anyone is arguing the red zone O could’ve been better in half 1 but the defense is definitely the reason we lost this game. And BBs gameplan was a big reason why.

 

[Uptown]

 

[PatriotsNumero1Fan]

You can keep nitpicking things about the offense until your red in the face, facts are we still managed 33 pts (37 if not for special teams) and we gave up 41. I don’t think anyone is arguing the red zone O could’ve been better in half 1 but the defense is definitely the reason we lost this game. And BBs gameplan was a big reason why.

The breakdown on defense in the first half was awful as well. When it was 15-12 philly if they would have gotten gotten a stop there. 3rd and 3 and they give up a 55 yard play to clement. Get a stop and they have all their time outs and not to mention they get the ball to start the second half. This defense lost us the damn super bowl.

 

[Ras-IR Dowling]

He’s got some talent but man to me seems way too childish to be reigned in.

 

[Ras-IR Dowling]

The breakdown on defense in the first half was awful as well. When it was 15-12 philly if they would have gotten gotten a stop there. 3rd and 3 and they give up a 55 yard play to clement. Get a stop and they have all their time outs and not to mention they get the ball to start the second half. This defense lost us the damn super bowl.

And here we are back to gameplan and personnel on that play. Clement on Richards is a mismatch all day long.

 

[Uptown]

He’s got some talent but man to me seems way too childish to be reigned in.

IBBWT.

 

[PatriotsNumero1Fan]

And here we are back to gameplan and personnel on that play. Clement on Richards is a mismatch all day long.

Chung on agholor's a mismatch as well. Defense still wins championships. This team really needs to focus on the defensive side of the football.

 

[PatriotsNumero1Fan]

No, you're wrong.

OFFENSE wins championships. Have you been asleep the last 10 years?

Chung was never on Agoholor. If he was, yes, that was a mismatch and needed to be adjusted presnap.

It's why Gilmore should have been hammering Agoholor at the line all night long from snap 1.

This teams needs to pray for health in 2018, because they didn't get it in 2017.

Sorry, but not buying all the fans who claim "lack of talent" when we just won 2 SBs in 4 years. That's the dumbest premise I've ever heard and it's why other fanbases hate us. We're spoiled rotten and act like there is no way we can ever lose a game.

This isn't a video game.

2009, 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017 all were seasons that featured either a rash of key injuries or one huge one (Welker, 2009), which completely affected the odds of winning a SB.

It's that simple. Our team wasn't quite good enough for a number of reasons.

Yes he was. Agholor had the game of his life in the second half. You need defensive stops. Gilmore was the only one who was any good in the secondary. Rowe as your second corner's terrible.

 

[captain stone]

I want to have the honor of being post #4000...

 

[captain stone]

Yay me!

 

[FreeTedWilliams]

It's absolutely staggering that anyone, ANYONE in the world would be dumb enough to blame the offense for this. You're not winning many games in the NFL if you surrender 40 or more points. You can maybe do it at the college level, but not the NFL. That the Patriots were even able to be in that game with as bad as their defense and coaching was is a testament to how great Brady was.

They didn't punt! think about that, the Pats offense had one turnover and did not punt once in the game. If I had told you that each side would have one turnover, and that the Pats would not punt in the entire game, you would have predicted a blowout!

33 points wins most NFL games, this loss lies squarely on the defense and BB hubris in regards to not playing Butler!

 

[Boomer B]

No, you're wrong.

OFFENSE wins championships. Have you been asleep the last 10 years?

Chung was never on Agoholor. If he was, yes, that was a mismatch and needed to be adjusted presnap.

It's why Gilmore should have been hammering Agoholor at the line all night long from snap 1.

Clearly, many fans here have no idea of Agoholor's skill set. He plays big, he's fast, quick and twitchy, so we needed our best, most physical press man guy on him. That's not Butler. And, Chung doesn't have the range in case he missed on the jam.

This teams needs to pray for health in 2018, because they didn't get it in 2017.

Sorry, but not buying all the fans who claim "lack of talent" when we just won 2 SBs in 4 years. That's the dumbest premise I've ever heard and it's why other fanbases hate us. We're spoiled rotten and act like there is no way we can ever lose a game.

This isn't a video game.

2009, 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017 all were seasons that featured either a rash of key injuries or one huge one (Welker, 2009), which completely affected the odds of winning a SB.

It's that simple. Our team wasn't quite good enough for a number of reasons.

Were you asleep during the game? Did you miss that 30 yd reception Agholor got with Chung on man to man coverage. The one where he had 5 yards of separation and Foles made an easy throw I could make to a wide open receiver.

You got about a 1000 posts in this thread stating Butler couldn't of helped. He most certainly would have been a better 1 on 1 option on Agholor then Chung was. BB is the best ever but this was a horrible decision to not play Butler when Philly went 3 WR.

 

[Steve102]

Brady cannot continue to coast by with Giselle consoling him, when we all know he missed his own opportunities, too.

Now you're just trolling to keep this thread going. I'm tapping out.