Malcolm Butler Mega Thread

[NG Pats Fan]

belichick came out of this with an egg on his face

 

[HawaiianPatsfan]

Awesome.

However, Its pretty easy to say nice things, when regardless, you still got the contract he just received. He might not be saying that if teams were offering him in the 6-10 million a year range.

I know I wouldn't be talking **** about anyone/anything a day after i just made 60 million. Especially about the team that gave me a chance in the first place.

 

[DarrylS]

If that is true, his agent really is a moron. No waiting a year, protected in case of injury...

This was widely reported last year, when he went on his sales tour to NOLA and walked away when his agent could not make a deal..

Seemed as though at that time that Butler was hindered by his inexperienced agent.. as many agents do, he inflated what Butler should expect in FA, and this year he essentially wound up with what he could have wound up with last year..

 

[aluminum seats]

Hence and.
He did have quite silly outbursts on the topic though..

Could you cite one?

 

[IllegalContact]

You have a guy riding pine in a game where his team is getting destroyed at a position where he can help goes and gets $60M.

sounds like the 'patriot way' has

guess nobody is immune

 

[JG109]

You have a guy riding pine in a game where his team is getting destroyed at a position where he can help goes and gets $60M.

sounds like the 'patriot way' has

guess nobody is immune

Thumbs down on your second point here IC.

My take on the 'Patriot Way' (FWIW and knowing that BB himself has never defined it) is that it's based on 3 things:

1. Do your job.
2. Team first in all things.
3. Don't air the team's 'dirty laundry'.

As long as Belichick is our coach, I think these principles stay intact.

And something else occurred to me. I confess I read way too many 'Comment Sections' on PFT etc, where after the Titans signed Butler a surprising number of idiots said things like "Now Butler is free to tell us all how the Patriots CHEAT" and "How's he going to do now that he doesn't know the other team's playbook", etc. Now I don't know if Russian bots are targeting sports article comment sections to sow discontent, or if there really are this many delusional people in the world, but either way, isn't it amazing that NOT ONE ex-Pat has ever suggested anything nefarious about how the Pats conduct their business? (Correct me if I'm wrong, because I may be forgetting someone).

So, anyway, my two cents. Go Pats.

 

[oceansizer]

You can recognize a real man not how he begins but how he ends things. Butler is classy to me.

 

[DropKickFlutie]

Malcolm is a classy guy

Wish him the best

Pats had the fewest points allowed with Butler as starting CB. Gave up 40 pts in the Super Bowl without him

If it wasn't Belichick there should be an investigation into a coach throwing away a game for gambling profit by benching his best cornerback all game

 

[IllegalContact]

Thumbs down on your second point here IC.

My take on the 'Patriot Way' (FWIW and knowing that BB himself has never defined it) is that it's based on 3 things:

1. Do your job.
2. Team first in all things.
3. Don't air the team's 'dirty laundry'.

As long as Belichick is our coach, I think these principles stay intact.

And something else occurred to me. I confess I read way too many 'Comment Sections' on PFT etc, where after the Titans signed Butler a surprising number of idiots said things like "Now Butler is free to tell us all how the Patriots CHEAT" and "How's he going to do now that he doesn't know the other team's playbook", etc. Now I don't know if Russian bots are targeting sports article comment sections to sow discontent, or if there really are this many delusional people in the world, but either way, isn't it amazing that NOT ONE ex-Pat has ever suggested anything nefarious about how the Pats conduct their business? (Correct me if I'm wrong, because I may be forgetting someone).

So, anyway, my two cents. Go Pats.

so coach can pull a f*ckhead stunt but we keep it in the company, but when something happens to a player, it always gets out

just as with anything else, either you evolve or you whither and die.....the week before the superbowl, 1,2,3 is worth less than actually doing the things to put your team in the best position to win the game......something big coach guy lied through his teeth about.......1,2,3 are impossible when the #1 guy is lying through his teeth

 

[jam757]

Are we really just gonna swallow the "I have no idea" line. I mean if I was Butler I'd be saying all the right things too after signing that massive contract. The sad truth is that Bill is never gonna reveal what happened and we're all left with the great "what if Butler played" and the fact that this Super Bowl was handed to Philly on a silver platter. Something significant happened. Terrible decision by Bill whatever the reason. If it was disciplinary then bench him for a quarter or series. If you can simply accept "I have no idea" then it's a piss poor decision to bench a player that played in 98% of the snaps. And yes, they friggen handed the Lombardi trophy to the Eagles! It certain respects this is worse that the Giants loss in SB 46.

 

[borg]

Healthy enough to dress
Healthy enough to play special teams.
Not healthy enough to get substituted in for even one defensive snap as the team was getting torched for 40+.
Forgive me for going off reservation....but BB's pride/arrogance/stubbornness overrode sound judgement.
My dog knew enough to stop running into the sliding glass door after just one head-first collision.
BB, on the other hand, chose to continue slamming into the glass as football's Bucky "Effing" Dent racked up TD after TD and dominated the NE defense.

 

[Kontradiction]

Are we really just gonna swallow the "I have no idea" line. I mean if I was Butler I'd be saying all the right things too after signing that massive contract. The sad truth is that Bill is never gonna reveal what happened and we're all left with the great "what if Butler played" and the fact that this Super Bowl was handed to Philly on a silver platter. Something significant happened. Terrible decision by Bill whatever the reason. If it was disciplinary then bench him for a quarter or series. If you can simply accept "I have no idea" then it's a piss poor decision to bench a player that played in 98% of the snaps. And yes, they friggen handed the Lombardi trophy to the Eagles! It certain respects this is worse that the Giants loss in SB 46.

Based on everything we've heard from Belichick, Butler, and multiple sources (including players) close to the team, it wasn't anything significant at all. It was for match-up reasons. Which is mind boggling. The GOAT coach cost his team their 6th Super Bowl victory and essentially flushed an all time great game by his quarterback down the crapper.

 

[jam757]

Based on everything we've heard from Belichick, Butler, and multiple sources (including players) close to the team, it wasn't anything significant at all. It was for match-up reasons. Which is mind boggling. The GOAT coach cost his team their 6th Super Bowl victory and essentially flushed an all time great game by his quarterback down the crapper.

If true it just appears that Butler never really left the dog house after the contract dispute and airing his displeasure on social media. I don't think Bill ever forgave him for that. Sigh... What a shockingly terrible decision.

 

[libra957]

let's not try to sugarcoat this issue, Bill screwed up but he earned that right after some many SB wins.

 

[NG Pats Fan]

let's not try to sugarcoat this issue, Bill screwed up but he earned that right after some many SB wins.

It wasn't just some regular season game Bb screwed up on, it was the super bowl..it's a really really big screw up for BB. I still consider him the greatest coach of all time, but what he did with Malcolm Butler is unforgivable. I believe it cost the patriots its 6th ring

 

[Kargetina]

let's not try to sugarcoat this issue, Bill screwed up but he earned that right after some many SB wins.

Tell that to David Harris, Ricky Jean Francois and all the rest of the players who missed their one and only chance of winning a Super Bowl.

 

[Hammer of Thor]

So it was as horrific a decision as we thought, apart from those few who blindly tried to defend it. Worst coaching decision in Belichick's life.

Yeah, the whole thing is still perplexing. I mean, I understand the unconventional game plan. BB built his entire career and reputation off of that in big games - Super Bowls 25 and 36, and even Super Bowl 39 against the Eagles themselves. This one was unique and I can understand the thought process behind it. But what I will never understand is that it clearly wasn't working, and yet Belichick's adjustment was to bring Bademosi in instead of Butler. I mean, Bademosi did have a decent enough year, but even 80% of Butler had to be better than Bademosi. And after Bademosi's big whiff, and the defense still hurting, he still doesn't bring Butler in.

Sigh........... c'est la vie, I guess.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Based on everything we've heard from Belichick, Butler, and multiple sources (including players) close to the team, it wasn't anything significant at all. It was for match-up reasons. Which is mind boggling. The GOAT coach cost his team their 6th Super Bowl victory and essentially flushed an all time great game by his quarterback down the crapper.

The loss did nothing to take away from Tom's performance.

 

[borisman]

The way I understood Malcolm's comments is he was sick, didn't partake in game plan/practices and coach(es) thought the game plan was too complicated to put MB in there and have him screw up (maybe because of what happened earlier in the season with communication issues, and specifically when MB would throw his hands up after a broken play went for a TD or big yards). Now, after Richards and Bademosi couldn't cover or tackle anyone, especially in the 2nd half, I would have taken my chances with MB and just put him on Agholor and adjusted the defense to something more basic, if in fact they thought MB would be a weakness if they played him or started him. This is where I disagree with BB. He told the captains MB wouldn't play but he also could have gone to them and asked them if they're OK if he put MB in the game. The captains also could've said something to BB about getting torched and it wouldn't get any worse with MB in there. The problem is though the lead was only 10 at halftime and BB might have thought halftime adjustments would do the trick. They didn't and by then it may have been too late. Not sure how close I am to the truth or facts or any of the above. It's just my opinion. I do know that MB would've tackled the shet out of a couple of those 3rd down conversions by Philly. Just. One. Stop. and the game could've been ours.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Are we really just gonna swallow the "I have no idea" line. I mean if I was Butler I'd be saying all the right things too after signing that massive contract. The sad truth is that Bill is never gonna reveal what happened and we're all left with the great "what if Butler played" and the fact that this Super Bowl was handed to Philly on a silver platter. Something significant happened. Terrible decision by Bill whatever the reason. If it was disciplinary then bench him for a quarter or series. If you can simply accept "I have no idea" then it's a piss poor decision to bench a player that played in 98% of the snaps. And yes, they friggen handed the Lombardi trophy to the Eagles! It certain respects this is worse that the Giants loss in SB 46.

Malcolm is taking the high road.

We have no idea if he is being totally forthcoming.