Malcolm Butler Mega Thread

[IllegalContact]

Disagree. One trick pony with deep routes only. A bust in chicago and bb took him out in 2015, with ease. Big guy, strong, but one dimensional, so you bracket him with rowe.

It is the mike wallace gameplan. Take your 2nd best cb with size and take away the top, so the qb never likes the look, which then allows you to drill down on his main #1 read, in ertz.

Gilmore would have taken out agolohor

you are entitled to your opinion, but its only that

 

[Mack Herron]

 

[aluminum seats]

I might be getting trolled, but are you suggesting they fire BB ? Really? Ok, fine. you want to fire the best coach, arguably, the league has ever seen. What is your solution? Who will you replace him with?

No, because it's Belichick you don't fire him.

 

[Chris Stevenson]

Sure it could be. I was screaming at him 2 weeks ago as he got torched AGAIN and again. He's had a horrible year and I think all of the trade talk got in his head as well as playing for a new contract. He just was not the same player this year that he has been in prior years.

Agree, which is technically separate from the skill set matchup discussion on our dbs vs their wrs.

The disagreemenr i have is richards over bademosi. Bademosi has some range and size. The second you see richards in man vs a faster guy, it is over but patricia may be fearful of calling zone due to gilmore.

 

[SHOWTIME15]

They game planned without Butler in practice and decided at game time he would not start.

According to Rowe, they did game plan with Butler. The coaching staff pulled a last minute switcharoo that left the defense confused.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

People are so desperate to grasp at straws that Butler had to have broken a rule or did something illegal when the reality is that it was likely just a poor game plan that backfired and screwed us. My only issue is the adjustments they did make were not enough and they should have at least tried to have Butler in the game.

If it was really just the game plan, and Belichick thought that a Butler-less game plan was the way to go, after the D gave up 22 points in the first half, maybe they should have tried putting him in the game. . . . but they didn't. And that's the issue here—not that they didn't let him start, but that they basically refused to put him in.

 

[slash83]

Going to the Browns for Butler would be a blessing at this point. Glad he’s taking his talents elsewhere, Bill don’t deserve him.

 

[Joey007]

He’s right.

 

[XLIX]

Maybe Bill just ****ed up. Why is that so hard for some people to believe? Bill can be the greatest coach and still make coaching mistakes. Its not the first time its happened. He game planned incorrectly and took a gamble that was wrong. I know its hard to believe but why not just take what he says at face value instead of trying to find out what Malcolm did wrong when by all (credible) accounts he didn't do anything wrong other than maybe have a poor practice or warm up.

Because it isn't as simple as one single bad decision, say, to go for it on 4th down. Or even leaving Butler out of the starting lineup.

It is completely inexplicable why a guy who played 97% of snaps this year (when active) played 0% last night while, at the same time, the defense was getting torched up and down the field all night long.

3 years ago against Seattle, Belichick put Butler in for Arrington, and that decision won a Super Bowl. Last night the secondary was playing even *worse* and no substitution was made.

 

[mosi]

What if he made up the flu like symptoms if he knew he was not going to start vs philly’s taller wrs?

Who gets the flu and then, 3 days later goes on a bender?

An addict but that is about it. There is something else going on here and honestly, we may never find out why.

 

[Chris Stevenson]

I didnt like the fact that Butler was on the bench but until we hear the whole truth I will refer to BB on this.

Apart from that I think the game plan didnt matter too much because the Eagles just matched up well with our defense. It came down to execution and on this day we lost most of the all-important 50/50 plays (or rather 80/20 plays in some cases). We were a fraction of a second late 3-4 times on a potential sack / strip on Foles and instead he converted third and fourth downs. That was the game. A stop on 1-2 of those plays and this game might be a 40-28 blowout win for us.

You know how when watching Hightower strip Ryan last year you can almost feel that if he had gotten there just a quarter of a second later the ball would have been out and at best an incompletion ? This years SB was full of that. We were missing a player like Hightower or Nink who could just make that one play. Instead the Eagles made it when they stripped Brady.

*****ing about Butler is just a shiny thing to complain about right now but the plays were there even without Butler that is reality. What would have happened with him on the field is all imaginary.

They didn’t match up all that well. Bb and patricia used the wrong guys. Gilmore would have taken out agoholor who is their most dynamic wr. Jefferey is s one trick deep shot pony, where harmon helping rowe all game, would have shut down that option or st least made it very unattractive.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Maybe Bill just ****ed up. Why is that so hard for some people to believe? Bill can be the greatest coach and still make coaching mistakes. Its not the first time its happened. He game planned incorrectly and took a gamble that was wrong. I know its hard to believe but why not just take what he says at face value instead of trying to find out what Malcolm did wrong when by all (credible) accounts he didn't do anything wrong other than maybe have a poor practice or warm up. You'd think with these 'rumors' someone credible would have had something to corroborate but instead they are saying the same thing Belichick is saying. They game planned without Butler in practice and decided at game time he would not start.

People are so desperate to grasp at straws that Butler had to have broken a rule or did something illegal when the reality is that it was likely just a poor game plan that backfired and screwed us. My only issue is the adjustments they did make were not enough and they should have at least tried to have Butler in the game.

It is entirely possible Bill f-ed up - but unlikely.

Think about it.

Regular season
2015 16 games 16 starts, starts both playoff games
2016 16 games 16 starts, starts 3 playoff games
2017 16 games 15 starts, starts first 2 playoff games

Over a 3 year period he played 98% of the snaps.

Bill chose to only play Wise for 6 snaps. Should he have played him more and would he have been able to help the pass rush? That is a f-up (maybe)

Not playing Malcolm in the SB was a premeditated, calculated decision.

 

[IllegalContact]

That' Just BB speak, he's never going to throw a player under the bus but MB did something serious enough to warrant sitting. He must have done something after the inactive list was submitted or he would have been on it. He must have broke one of BB's cardinal rules. Why isn't anyone blaming MB for not putting the team first?

that's possible, but then BB is clearly lying by saying it's not discipline and by saying they fielded the team that put them in the best position to win.

not playing him IS throwing him under the bus

 

[chumpchange]

Maybe Bill just ****ed up. Why is that so hard for some people to believe? Bill can be the greatest coach and still make coaching mistakes. Its not the first time its happened. He game planned incorrectly and took a gamble that was wrong. I know its hard to believe but why not just take what he says at face value instead of trying to find out what Malcolm did wrong when by all (credible) accounts he didn't do anything wrong other than maybe have a poor practice or warm up. You'd think with these 'rumors' someone credible would have had something to corroborate but instead they are saying the same thing Belichick is saying. They game planned without Butler in practice and decided at game time he would not start.

People are so desperate to grasp at straws that Butler had to have broken a rule or did something illegal when the reality is that it was likely just a poor game plan that backfired and screwed us. My only issue is the adjustments they did make were not enough and they should have at least tried to have Butler in the game.

Because Bill's not an idiot and it doesn't take a genius to notice, "Hey, that one guy I put in sucks; maybe I should pull him and put in this superior guy suited up on the sideline who's played the position all season?" Honestly, if I didn't know better, the only reasonable explanation for such unprecedented ineptitude was that Bill was trying to lose the game.

 

[pwes]

If it was really just the game plan, and Belichick thought that a Butler-less game plan was the way to go, after the D gave up 22 points in the first half, maybe they should have tried putting him in the game. . . . but they didn't. And that's the issue here—not that they didn't let him start, but that they basically refused to put him in.

I agree and said as much.

 

[Chris Stevenson]

An addict but that is about it. There is something else going on here and honestly, we may never find out why.

I doubt he is an addict, just made bad decisions, stemming from an attitude problem. I think bb tried to trade him in the offseason and who knows, maybe at the deadline, but it didn’t make enough sense, so he rolled the dice, hoping butler would just stay the course.

I think we just assume butler was to start but the fact he was crying during the anthem sprt of shows it was more of a “not starting” issue, but a “we are sitting you down unless we have to play you due to injury”.

 

[RobertWeathers]

I agree and said as much.

Exactly. If Bill saw his old CB from the Giants, Toast Patterson who is 57 years old in the stands he would have played him instead.

 

[DropKickFlutie]

Butler to Houston or Butler to San Francisco = star corner on revitalized franchises with Patriot connections. He was our best corner THIS year, our best secondary tackler, leader in pass deflections, who cares if he was 2 inches shorter !?

 

[Teej]

Butler's play fell off this year and IMO he stopped taking coaching the same way he did when he made the team. It might be due in part to his feelings about his contract but I think being benched in the SB is mostly about his on-the-field play.

 

[Chris Stevenson]

Maybe he shouldn't be fired. But he let everyone down last night.

You know what let us down? Another slow start to a postseason game, almost like they are half asleep.