Malcolm Butler Mega Thread

[Todd Bradley]

To not play one of your best defensive players in the entirety of the Super Bowl (a game where you’re getting roasted and you need every bit of help you can get) all because he missed curfew is egregious, and borderline mental.

A series? Absolutely. A quarter? Sure, I get it. The whole damn game? Total ego trip ********.

 

[SHOWTIME15]

Could BB have screwed Butler deliberately over some sort of personal vendetta? I mean telling him at the last minute he’s not going to play? That’s awful - at least tell him Saturday night. It’s almost as if he ripped his heart out.

 

[IllegalContact]

Who would’ve been active as his replacement? Honestly. Someone with 1/4 of the scheme knowledge and team chemistry from the PS?

someone who might play....Branch, Gillislee, Britt, Reedy, Harris, Holliston, Croston......had 10M or so in salary sitting there inactive and one guy who was active but did not play.

 

[dannydyn]

Has anyone thought of the possibility that Butler has turned into a slacker in practice? Perhaps he developed bad work ethics that eventually started affecting his playing ability, practice, attitude, film study, etc.?

Still, none of the above warrants benching him in favor of Rowe.... I just don't get it. Set your ego aside, and let the guy help the team win a goddamn Lombardi! You can always deal with his nonsense after the game! You owe it to the other players on the team, who have put it all out there all season long, just to get you to the big stage, and you 5hit all over them and the whole fan base, because you want to 'teach the guy a lesson'?!?! - REALLY?!?!

 

[Tb12goesinya]

Do you think B.B. would have benched Lawrence Taylor for doing blow at halftime?

 

[IllegalContact]

Could BB have screwed Butler deliberately over some sort of personal vendetta? I mean telling him at the last minute he’s not going to play? That’s awful - at least tell him Saturday night.

with that defensive showing, it's possible that BB did him a favor heading into FA

 

[Chris Stevenson]

then he would have been inactive in favor of someone who may actually contribute....

so, no.......the fact that he was active but did not play is ALL on BB

My uncle has been saying this all day and i disagree. Who would have it been, another quitter in alan branch?

I suppose. Look, i don’t think it is bb’s fault that these kinds of players pull this crap.

A top notch branch and butler would have absolutely helped, but were they playing like that?

Torrey smith did jack squat in this game.

Bademosi should have gone in there for chung, not richards. He has less range than chung! Bademosi is actually solid and specifically mentioned is name with chung and the ertz coverage in one of the gameplan threads.

 

[SHOWTIME15]

with that defensive showing, it's possible that BB did him a favor heading into FA

It looks worse not playing in the biggest game of the year. It makes butler look guilty of some team violation or poor play.

 

[chasa]

that scene in one of the james bond movies, where the girl is in the tub, and shes like "james give me a towel" and he hands her a tiny little hand cloth.

That hand cloth was Rowe. It can't cover anything

 

[VectorPrime]

ONE STOP. WE JUST NEEDED ONE STOP

IM LOSING MY MIND OVER THIS

 

[Chris Stevenson]

Do you think B.B. would have benched Lawrence Taylor for doing blow at halftime?

No. Lt always did blow at halftime. See the difference? A hofer on coke is better than malcolm butlee.

2015 was 2 seasons ago.

 

[IllegalContact]

It looks worse not playing in the biggest game of the year. It makes butler look guilty of some team violation or poor play.

maybe to you

 

[SHOWTIME15]

Do you think B.B. would have benched Lawrence Taylor for doing blow at halftime?

Yes I do, but Parcells would have put an end to it.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Agree

Butler has been jumping routes all year and fingerpointing, showing up teammates. I think they were just requesting he keep it together until after the sb, and is clear he couldn’t. Imagine if the flu thing was just a cover for him going awol and missing the team flight?

What we do know is his level of play was not at 2016 and 2015 level.

I would suspect they had the Jamie Collins radar up and Malcolm convinced them he was cool.

Based on what happened last night I wonder....

When did he show up teammates? I don't remember that one?

Thought it was odd they could not confirm if he fly out with the team and how we didn’t learn about a separate flight, 2 days later.

The story is he sought medical care for flu-like symptoms Sun night and Mon and arrived in MN on Tue.

Just weird

 

[Chris Stevenson]

that scene in one of the james bond movies, where the girl is in the tub, and shes like "james give me a towel" and he hands her a tiny little hand cloth.

That hand cloth was Rowe. It can't cover anything

Did a great job on julio jones last year. Butler gets help over the top, why can’t rowe?

Talk to bb and patricia.

 

[mosslost]

ONE STOP. WE JUST NEEDED ONE STOP

IM LOSING MY MIND OVER THIS

"come on now"

 

[RobertWeathers]

According to the HC he thought Butler didn’t give them the best chance to win. Which lead to Richards playing a big role.

Clearly no one outside of that locker room is buying that line.

 

[chumpchange]

Yup, NE didn't punt once. So one 3rd down stop and you probably win.

Unless he killed someone, Butler should have been on that field. This was the Super Bowl. For most teams, these are once-in-a-lifetime games. You put all your best weapons on the field. You certainly don't voluntarily handicap your team by pulling a player and springing it unexpectedly on the defense who'd practiced with him all year and then stand passively by and watch the replacement fail and flatly refuse to put your better guy in. One stop and we would have won. Bill lost this game. I'd be livid if I were Tom or Kraft or any of the players. It's hard enough to win against the other team and the officials; to have your own coach sabotage your team over "foolish pride" (as Browner described it and Hightower confirmed) is a complete insult.

 

[IllegalContact]

My uncle has been saying this all day and i disagree. Who would have it been, another quitter in alan branch?

I suppose. Look, i don’t think it is bb’s fault that these kinds of players pull this crap.

A top notch branch and butler would have absolutely helped, but were they playing like that?

Torrey smith did jack squat in this game.

Bademosi should have gone in there for chung, not richards. He has less range than chung! Bademosi is actually solid and specifically mentioned is name with chung and the ertz coverage in one of the gameplan threads.

pull what crap? BB said it wasn't discipline so that might be a lie.......but he also said he played people that gave them the best chance to win.....which I believe is a lie

butler would have covered agholor, not smith

 

[Chris Stevenson]

What we do know is his level of play was not at 2016 and 2015 level.

I would suspect they had the Jamie Collins radar up and Malcolm convinced them he was cool.

Based on what happened last night I wonder....

When did he show up teammates? I don't remember that one?



The story is he sought medical care for flu-like symptoms Sun night and Mon and arrived in MN on Tue.

Just weird

The showing up comes from the body language thingy, mainly with the blown coverages earlier in the year. I saw it, too, but this also comes from insiders comments i have seen this year, too. Just surprised butler couldn’t just keep it together through the weekend and then he is free to do as he pleases, being miserable playing for the browns.