![]() The nickelback was having trouble matching the size and length of 6-foot-5, 218-pound receiver Chris Matthews on vertical routes. That all changed after the opening drive of the third quarter, when the Patriots' coaching staff inserted Butler into the game for Kyle Arrington. Not only was one of the heroes of Super Bowl XLIX a little-known player out of Division II West Alabama, but he also wasn't even part of the team's original championship game plan. He was part of a coaching adjustment that ultimately saved the team's heart-pounding, 28-24 victory over the Seattle Seahawks. ![]() On the 32nd defensive snap by the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLIX, undrafted rookie cornerback Malcolm Butler came on the field for the first time. Little-known Malcolm Butler an unlikely hero for Patriots They’re still the best team in the AFC, and more quality additions will come.You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browser Julian Edelman is coming back, and Dont’a Hightower too. 12 pick, should help at the defense’s center of gravity. Acquiring Jason McCourty, mainstay safety and quintessential Patriot Devin McCourty’s twin brother, feels like a coup. The 24-hour stretch in which Butler, Dion Lewis, Nate Solder, and Danny Amendola departed started making it feel like the last days of disco around Foxborough.īut it’s getting better. These have been unusual times around the Patriots, with the Super Bowl loss and stories of Rob Gronkowski’s discontent and weird Brady stuff. I suppose if he can let it go, we should at least try to do the same. Butler is a good cornerback, but he might be an even better diplomat. I’m not sure I know many people, let alone professional athletes, who would handle the situation with that kind of grace. He took a veteran out of Super Bowl XLIX and put in a first-year rookie, and that turned out right, so you could never question his decision.” “But Bill Belichick has been doing this for a very long time. They probably thought I was kind of late on the game plan I wasn’t as locked in as I should be and could have been a matchup deal. “I feel like this was the reason: I got kind of sick. Nevertheless, he was incredibly gracious when he explained to the Boston Herald earlier this week why he believes he was benched. Part of that, I’m sure, is that he can exhale now, knowing that the Super Bowl embarrassment didn’t cost him his chance at the first big contract of his career. But Butler, the one person who is justified in carrying the disappointment with him, has moved on. He’d have made a play, perhaps one that would have been the difference between celebration and sadness. He wouldn’t have given up on the fight against the Eagles. ![]() One of the reasons he did so is because he never gave up on a play or the fight, even if it was against Antonio Brown, Odell Beckham, or some other hot-shot receiver, and even after it appeared he had been beaten. He became a steady, sometimes stalwart cornerback who made one Pro Bowl and probably should have made two. But he was more than a one-play flash in the Arizona desert. And the Eagles ran free all day.īutler’s interception against the Seahawks could have been the only highlight he achieved in his career. ![]() But receivers rarely eluded him after a catch. Perhaps he would have had a rough day in coverage. I will forever believe that they would have won a sixth Super Bowl and a third in four years if Belichick had played Butler in the second half. Even if Butler had a terrible week of practice - and that seems to be a consensus opinion around the Patriots - do you know what he looks like, even after a bad week of practice? A much better option in pass coverage than Johnson Bademosi or Jordan Richards, that’s what. Malcolm, gone.Īll these weeks later, and we’re not much closer to an explanation now than we were that night. I’ll never forget seeing this: When it was over and many Patriots lingered to congratulate the delirious Eagles on their victory, he was already headed to the tunnel and then to the dressing room. The Eagles, with quarterback Nick Foles in full command, picked apart the Patriots secondary at will. “Malcolm, go,’’ the order from defensive coach Brian Flores that sent him into the game right before the fateful play in Super Bowl XLIX, had become “Malcolm, go sit down. Turns out it was something inexplicably bizarre he’d been told he would not play on defense.
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