Malcolm Butler Mega Thread

[QuantumMechanic]

@luuked on second thought, they might not have been prepared for this after all. At least not if you believe Rowe...

Eric Rowe on Malcolm Butler's benching: 'That wasn't the plan'

I believe you all are misinterpreting @luuked 's "prepared" statement. He doesn't mean "be prepared for Butler to be benched". He means "be prepared to deal with a surprise absence of Butler for whatever reason". And he's right.

Say Butler got concussed or blew out his knee on his first snap -- are you going to excuse bad execution by whoever comes in to replace him and say "well, they didn't know Butler would be out of the game, so you have to expect them not being ready to play"? I don't think so.

 

[mosslost]

ya, well, the winds of change are blowing

I feel kind of ready for it... I would love to burn the Colts, keep McDaniels, give him a few years of Brady. If Belichick retired he would not be able to go anywhere else and coach for a while. He could be done.

 

[DaBruinz]

Thats my theory as well. I think BB and MP pulled the plug on Malcolm well before kickoff.

Who is reporting it?

Mike Giardi and Phil Perry. Luuked posted the tweet last night.. Post 231 of the thread

Malcolm Butler Mega Thread

 

[mosslost]

I believe you all are misinterpreting @luuked 's "prepared" statement. He doesn't mean "be prepared for Butler to be benched". He means "be prepared to deal with a surprise absence of Butler for whatever reason". And he's right.

Say Butler got concussed or blew out his knee on his first snap -- are you going to excuse bad execution by whoever comes in to replace him and say "well, they didn't know Butler would be out of the game, so you have to expect them not being ready to play"? I don't think so.

The D was "down" over it, which is on both them and the coaching.. No Excuse for either.. The thing is even if there is a very good reason for the benching, if it were last minute, it could affect the morale. We don't know enough facts.

 

[GorBelSer]

It's already come out that the decision wasn't made right before kick-off despite what Gilmore and Rowe said.

Why would Rowe lie? He is in hot water if that is not what the coaches had told him in the first place, not Butler who is well on his way out of Foxborough.

 

[QuantumMechanic]

I am not sure that BB is known for his flexibility at all. Again, I said it in the GDT and still think that Butler should have been on the field at the very latest in the middle of the third quarter when it became apparent that no adjustment would stop the Eagles taking advantage of our largely talent-barren front 7.

You live by the sword, you die by the sword..

Except we first heard about Butler because in SB49 "it became apparent that no adjustment" was going to stop the plays Seattle was pulling off. So it's not like Belichick has never switched players mid-game because a player wasn't getting it done or a scheme wasn't working.

 

[Ivan]

I’m going to guess that it had a lot to do with the practices leading up to the game. The idea that it was just ego or arrogance is idiotic, whether people agree or not Belichick always does what he thinks is in their best interests, he’s not trying to f.ck up their chances of winning.

 

[IllegalContact]

Thats my theory as well. I think BB and MP pulled the plug on Malcolm well before kickoff.

Who is reporting it?

the one thing that bothers me is that if they had no intention of playing him, then why was he active? if the week of practice proved he couldn't play, then there must have been some other player who would have been in a better position to contribute

 

[luuked]

I don't see how that's true. There are plenty of playoff caliber teams who get bad and mediocre QBs into the playoffs.

I'd say BBs very luck to have the goat because his 4th quarter heroics won all but 1 Super Bowl, and got them to many others. If BBs teams were dragging Brady to the SB like the Broncos did for Manning and many other teams have done for bad to mediocre QBs I could see giving BB more credit. But they aren't. Brady has to be incredible in the 4th to win because the team around him is often mediocre.

The players around him on defense are mediocre because of the sustained excellence of the team. We have been consistently drafting (take or give a year or two) around the late 20s/early 30s for 15 years now ? And yet the teams are more often than not up among the top in scoring defense, ST and offense.

The reason Brady had players around him that put a light on his greatness like Moss, Welker, Gronk or Edelman is because they were acquired or drafted by BB and Caserio. When Brady gets all the presnap reads and sometimes easy throws it is because of the routes designed meticulously by the coaching staff.

 

[mosslost]

You might be right. Especially if McDaniels changes his mind about the Indy job and stays.

McDaniels getting ready to resign as the HC of the INDY-C (or "renege")

 

[Ras-IR Dowling]

The Clement TD was not on Dmac. It was on Richards...

No it wasn’t. Flowers had the wheel route coverage on clement but Dmac was responsible for that particular zone and clement got behind him.

 

[luuked]

I believe you all are misinterpreting @luuked 's "prepared" statement. He doesn't mean "be prepared for Butler to be benched". He means "be prepared to deal with a surprise absence of Butler for whatever reason". And he's right.

Say Butler got concussed or blew out his knee on his first snap -- are you going to excuse bad execution by whoever comes in to replace him and say "well, they didn't know Butler would be out of the game, so you have to expect them not being ready to play"? I don't think so.

Exactly this. I am not even trying to form a real opinion on the benching itself until we have all the context. But it is laughable to suggest that Butler being unavailable is an excuse for other players to be missing tackles or misjudging jumps. Those are plays that essentially happen in a vacuum where no scheme or clever design is relevant. It is just about fundamentals.

 

[luuked]

Except we first heard about Butler because in SB49 "it became apparent that no adjustment" was going to stop the plays Seattle was pulling off. So it's not like Belichick has never switched players mid-game because a player wasn't getting it done or a scheme wasn't working.

I was talking more about flexibility in terms of discipline. It was not particularly well put if you dont see the post I replied too. Sorry about that.

 

[Absurdly Metro]

The fact that you refused to play the guy in the Super Bowl when you’re getting burned for 41 points, 22 at the half which was the most given up all season long, is complete and utter arrogance.

He’s been arguably our best corner all season long. To literally not even try him out in the second half is so mind-bogglingly stupid I can’t even fathom the rationale.

Make no mistake, Bill Belichick lost this game.

BB admitted as much after the game. “This one’s on me,” he said. Nero fiddled while Rome burned.

 

[Ras-IR Dowling]

Let me point you to the discussion with GIFS and pictures inside another thread: 4th and 1 ertz catch pick play?

That helps, thanks.

 

[Ivan]

the one thing that bothers me is that if they had no intention of playing him, then why was he active? if the week of practice proved he couldn't play, then there must have been some other player who would have been in a better position to contribute

He played on special teams, and he’s depth. I like Butler and they got a couple of really good seasons out of him but his play slipped considerably this season. And while I have no idea why he was benched it may have been his performance against mobile quarterbacks this season combined with the RPO offense they were facing.

 

[RobertWeathers]

the one thing that bothers me is that if they had no intention of playing him, then why was he active? if the week of practice proved he couldn't play, then there must have been some other player who would have been in a better position to contribute

Well, they might have kept him around just in case of an injury in the secondary.

Seeing how they were gashed on the ground...Branch?

 

[Pats1989]

I rewatched the SB 49 pick this morning. It brought tears to my eyes. I remember how much joy it brought me. I'll never forget.

 

[luuked]

No it wasn’t. Flowers had the wheel route coverage on clement but Dmac was responsible for that particular zone and clement got behind him.

Ertz turned DMac around on this play..


DMac had responsibility on both Clement and Ertz as possible targets on that play. If Ertz breaks to the outside behind Clement DMac has to cover that. You see the little wiggle Ertz does freezes DMac for a fraction of a second which was just the window they needed..

It was just another well designed route to occupy the safety. Also required a hell of a throw into double coverage with not an inch to spare for the receiver to make the catch (or not depending on how you stand on the review).

 

[libra957]

Its just weird, last game of the year you need all the positive energy you can get, the superbowl was not the time to start petty discipline. Not having Butler was a huge factor and bad karma. The eagles were united, the patriots were not. Belichick is a great coach but he sometimes hinders the team with weird decisions, overtime people will get tired of his act.