Malcolm Butler Mega Thread

[Satchboogie3]

On the flip side some don't want to entertain the idea he did what he has always done and put some blame on MB.

I'm not saying that MB shouldn't get any blame. But the answer to the defenses problems was just standing there all night... all f*cking night.

I mean, is being benched for a half in the Superbowl really going 'soft' on punishment? The really bothersome part is that he wasn't inactive, he's there. A half is a f*cking nough. But no... Who cares about winning #6...

 

[Kdo5]

I don't buy this Malcolm Butler benching caused us to lose the Super Bowl and Belichick is to blame for all of this. For one, none of us on this board have any facts to work with, much less a full picture of what really happened. Without that, it's needless speculation. Belichick has his reasons, maybe we'll find out, maybe we won't. But I sure as hell am not going to second guess the guy.

Also, considering we lost a one score game and had possession to end the game, we need to account:

-A missed filed goal (on botched snap) and missed extra point - half of the margin of our loss right there
-An inexplicable fourth down try in the first half with five yards to go while in field goal range in a domed stadium
-Tom Brady, also inexplicably, running for the sideline and getting tackled short rather than throwing the ball away with no time outs as the time was running out in the first half
-Amendola overthrowing a wide open Brady, who is 6'4" with the ball off his outstretched fingertips ending a promising possession
-Bademosi not making a crucial tackle on third down with the Eagles deep in their territory late in the game, which I believe the Eagles went on to score on that drive
-Brady getting stripped sacked late in fourth quarter, allowing Philly to score, but just as crucially burning too much clock and spending time outs after getting ball back
-Cutesy plays like the Cooks end around leap (short) on a 3-2 and the failed Amendola-Brady pass (which was on fourth down, right?) instead of just playing solid no frills offense

If any one of these plays were executed properly by the Patriots, the outcome may indeed have been different. Our exeuction and clock management at the end of both halfs, in particular, were not good. With the exception of the Bademosi missed tackle, Butler's absence had nothing to do with these screw ups.

Heh you are going lay blame the offense? Sure they missed a few opportunities but that just happens. Brady is so great that he put together three straight TD drives to keep us alive and even gained us the lead. This is all on the defense. 41 ****ing points.

 

[RobertWeathers]

The problem here though is BBs constantly talking about doing what’s best for the team to win. He’s all about the here and now. His players and captains are saying they didn’t find out about Butler until kickoff. His decision, right, wrong, or indifferent, segregated the team and put them at a competitive disadvantage. It may very well have cost them the game.

Maybe it did but in BBs estimation having Malcolm out there put them at a competitive disadvantage.

 

[Chris Stevenson]

So Eric Rowe is a better corner? Just answer me this please. The defense sucked, coverage and tackling. So who's a better corner?

Philly’s d sucked too. Goodell. Offensive era.

When the 1981 playoff between Miami and sd ende, did anyone say “the defense sucked”?

Nobody cared. Some games are shootouts. We lost a shootout because we sucked in the first half vs a poor pass d.

 

[SHOWTIME15]

So BB is the uncompromising, rules above God old coach now?

Whatever the rules, 51 other players had zero problem adhering to them.

As parcells said, Belichick doesn’t see the big picture sometimes. By benching Butler, he is hurting 52 other guys who did nothing wrong. This ain’t the army where if 1 guy dogs it the whole platoon has to clean toilets. It’s the friggin’ super bowl.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Long was a rotation player and there was no indication either way he was leaving or staying. We had a defense that gave up the 3rd most yards and against good teams looked really bad. We couldn't afford to not have Butler out there. The proof is there, because our defense got torched. Imagine Gilmore didn't play good, they could have scored 50 on us

Long played 50 snaps.

I was just pointing out how BB will play short timers in the SB if they can help the team win.

 

[PatriotsNumero1Fan]

I don't buy this Malcolm Butler benching caused us to lose the Super Bowl and Belichick is to blame for all of this. For one, none of us on this board have any facts to work with, much less a full picture of what really happened. Without that, it's needless speculation. Belichick has his reasons, maybe we'll find out, maybe we won't. But I sure as hell am not going to second guess the guy.

Also, considering we lost a one score game and had possession to end the game, we need to account:

-A missed filed goal (on botched snap) and missed extra point - half of the margin of our loss right there
-An inexplicable fourth down try in the first half with five yards to go while in field goal range in a domed stadium
-Tom Brady, also inexplicably, running for the sideline and getting tackled short rather than throwing the ball away with no time outs as the time was running out in the first half
-Amendola overthrowing a wide open Brady, who is 6'4" with the ball off his outstretched fingertips ending a promising possession
-Bademosi not making a crucial tackle on third down with the Eagles deep in their territory late in the game, which I believe the Eagles went on to score on that drive
-Brady getting stripped sacked late in fourth quarter, allowing Philly to score, but just as crucially burning too much clock and spending time outs after getting ball back
-Cutesy plays like the Cooks end around leap (short) on a 3-2 and the failed Amendola-Brady pass (which was on fourth down, right?) instead of just playing solid no frills offense

If any one of these plays were executed properly by the Patriots, the outcome may indeed have been different. Our exeuction and clock management at the end of both halfs, in particular, were not good. With the exception of the Bademosi missed tackle, Butler's absence had nothing to do with these screw ups.

Sorry but with butler we get some of those stops on 3rd down. We can actually do things like maybe blitz. He adds another dimension to our defense.

 

[Chris Stevenson]

Heh you are going lay blame the offense? Sure they missed a few opportunities but that just happens. Brady is so great that he put together three straight TD drives to keep us alive and even gained us the lead. This is all on the defense. 41 ****ing points.

60 min game.

We lost a shootout to nick foles because they attacked the end zone. We did not.

The d’s on both sides of course could have been better.

 

[RobertWeathers]

He doesnt win. He gets the best players every year and doesnt win championships! Hes an average coach on the floor

I don't want to get into a Calipari debate. He's always in the Final Four. Thats pretty good.

 

[SHOWTIME15]

And that cowboy dynasty lasted how long?

That’s not the point I was making. Could you imagine Jimmy johnson benching michael irvin for the super bowl for partying? Not that butler is a HOFer but he’s been one of your better defenders.

 

[Chris Stevenson]

Heh you are going lay blame the offense? Sure they missed a few opportunities but that just happens. Brady is so great that he put together three straight TD drives to keep us alive and even gained us the lead. This is all on the defense. 41 ****ing points.

Why do you lay all the blame on the d? You can’t use the oline blame excuse here, can you?

 

[chumpchange]

Maybe it did but in BBs estimation having Malcolm out there put them at a competitive disadvantage.

According to the Eagles coaches, the decision to bench Butler was "crazy". They then changed their game plan to target Rowe, a former Eagle, whom they knew well and considered a "mismatch" for their new plan. THAT was what put us at a competitive disadvantage, and that's straight from the account of the opposing coaches.

 

[Kdo5]

You people are funny..mcdaniels is the most overrated coordinator ever. The constant confusion, red zone woes, entire halves of awfulness and over-analysis or benching of players aftee great work never to be seen again,etc, are all obnoxious.

Philly had no problem being diverse in approach trying to score, meanwhile, mcdousche, a former plastics salesman, given the keys to the car with brady fiddles around for another first half in a super bowl. Why does the urgency start in the second half?

What lost us the game is missed opportunities and a weak first half. Again. Every sb loss has features a poor half.

Pats will not miss a beat without mcdaniels and may even better without him.

What lost us the game was our listless defense that couldn't manage a stop. If Brady had caught the ball do we win? Maybe. If Cooks gets the first down on the sweep or we make a better play call? Maybe.

But we scored 33 points on offense. The only reason our team was not totally embarrassed on the field was because our offense thrashed the Eagles constantly and scored three straight touchdowns in crunch time.

 

[billikens]

So Eric Rowe is a better corner? Just answer me this please. The defense sucked, coverage and tackling. So who's a better corner?

No, actually my point is in agreement of you. I think Butler is very good and his presence may have made a difference. What I am saying is, we still almost won anyway, and there are a host of other screw ups we committed that caused us to lose. Inexplicable and uncharacteristic failures to execute simple plays (like snappng the ball, throwing the ball away instead of being tackled inbounds), that had nothing to do with the Eagles, much less their offense. Amendola makes the pass - Brady is 6'4" for crying out loud and wide open - it would have been a different game. It is not Belichick and this one decision. It was a balanced, team loss on all sides of the ball and on the sidelines all sharing the blame.

 

[PatriotsNumero1Fan]

I would have rather have gone down in flames with our second best corner on the team. It was his last year on this team. I don't give a damn about what he did. I will be forever grateful for that interception. He drops that and we probably lose the game.

 

[Bobsyouruncle]

It wasn't just last night. BBs defenses have routinely given up lots of points and leads late in the Super Bowls.

In 2001 they gave up 14 points in the 4th quarter of the SB. Brady saved them with the drive at the end or it would be a loss.

In 2003 they gave up 3 TDs in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl to Jake Delhomme but Brady matched them.

We've seen the 50+ pass numbers where Brady is so much better than great QBs at winning games when it's on him. If Brady's heroics were closer to even great QBs like Brees this franchise history is much different.

 

[chumpchange]

And that cowboy dynasty lasted how long?

Soooo, you're saying you'd really rather have Perfect Attendance awards than a Super Bowl? Do we get a trophy for that?

 

[RobertWeathers]

As parcells said, Belichick doesn’t see the big picture sometimes. By benching Butler, he is hurting 52 other guys who did nothing wrong. This ain’t the army where if 1 guy dogs it the whole platoon has to clean toilets. It’s the friggin’ super bowl.

So now all the sudden BB isn't a big picture guy just because he's being polite and accommodating to his ex boss who has coached in 5 LESS Super Bowls?

Please.

 

[Ring 6]

This is a case where Belichick should man the **** up and admit specifically why he did it. This crap about "did what I thought gave us the best chance to win" is ludicrous. I'll defend Bill on a lot of things but he is hiding behind this and refusing to acknowledge that it may have been the wrong decision. It comes across as cowardly to me.

So you think the brave, manly thing to do is to publicly embarrass they player by telling the world the reasons you felt he didn’t belong in the field?
Belichick is doing what he is supposed to do, and what he always done.

 

[Satchboogie3]

Against what size wr?

Butler and Gilmore get Agholor and Jeffery, then Rowe has the more favorable matchup on Smith. It's not just about swapping Rowe and Butler though, because by benching Butler, now Rowe's in a different role he isn't used to and 3rd/4th string guys are taking significant snaps. It's foolish and the results speak for themselves.