It's Beginning to Feel Like the End of the Malcolm Butler Era
From Bill Belichick’s press availability today:
Q: Would you categorize Eric Rowe as a player who is ascending, descending or generally at about the same level on a consistent basis?
BB: Well, you know, Eric was in a tough situation last year. He came in during the season, didn’t have the benefit of training camp, the foundation of the systems, a lot of catching up on the way, which I thought he did a real good job of and he helped us a lot. But this year it’s been much better for him to be able to be here from the beginning with a year of experience behind him. [He has a] much better understanding of what he’s doing, what our opponents are doing. Some of the techniques and so forth that we use are a little different than what they had in Philadelphia. He’s definitely gaining with the experience that he’s received and earned.
Q: On that same note, where would Malcolm Butler fall on the scale of rising or descending players?
BB: Well, Malcolm has more experience. He’s played more, so it’s really totally different, a totally different situation.
Q: Has Malcolm Butler performed as consistently this season as he has shown you in the past?
BB: Well, look, we’re into a new season, so I don’t think anybody’s performance this season is really where it needs to be or where it will be.
When it comes to answering questions in a way to hide what he’s actually thinking, Belichick is a one man Enigma Code. But you don’t have to be Alan Turing to draw the conclusion we are in the beginning of the end of Malcolm Butler in New England.
All the warning signs are right in front of us, and really have been from the start of Training Camp. And those signs have lead right up to where we stand two weeks into the season.
Most of the amateur Body Language Interpreters at the practices were talking about how Butler seemed to be off by himself more than he was last year. Which I read nothing into because a couple of years ago when the Patriots were off a bad start, those same BLIs were measuring the distance Brady was standing from Jimmy Garoppolo during stretching, like that was a sign he resented having the kid around and saw him as some kind of existential threat. Which was idiotic beyond even the standards of the Boston media.
With Butler though, it’s much more tangible than that. Eric Rowe has scrambled over his back to the top of the depth chart. Butler was relegated to slot duties against the Saints. Which wouldn’t be the worst assignment in the world since slot corner is essentially a position now. But on a team like the Patriots that play a base nickel with three safeties, “slot” equals “sub.”
And even in that limited role, he was targeted six times, gave up four receptions and one touchdown. We can probably give him a pass on some, since the defense was playing ahead and just trying to keep everything in front of them and prevent the home run ball. Nevertheless, it seems like this has been building. Butler played the worst football of his career in preseason. And while you can caution yourself not to read anything into fauxball, a defensive back iso’d on a receiver is a defensive back iso’d on a receiver, no matter how vanilla the game plan is. And Butler didn’t look like 2016 Butler.
Add to it the fact they openly let the Saints take him for a test drive back in the Spring and that Belichick has yet to make his traditional Shocking Veteran Trade of the Year for 2017, and you have to draw the conclusion Butler’s days are numbered. It has that same feel of the opening week in 2012, when Wes Welker was only targeted five times against Tennessee and it seemed like they were moving away from him to a future built around Brandon Lloyd, Aaron Hernandez (whatever became of him?) and Julian Edelman.
Maybe I’m simply reading too much into this. I hope so. But it’s hard not to read Belichick giving positive, expansive answers about Rowe and how well he’s doing and then see him get all cryptic when Butler’s name is mentioned and not get the impression that the guy who made me want to get my vasectomy reversed just so I could name my next kid Malcolm Go Thornton is about be in Dumpsville, Population: him.
Again, hopefully I’m wrong. That his limited playing time was just matchup/gameplan specific and he’s not going anywhere until the season is over. If not years from now. Because I thought Butler and Stephon Gilmore had a chance to be one of the top five corner pairings in football, but obviously moreso because of the emotional component. No one wants to see a guy go from unknown to superhero, then from superhero to one of the best in the league, only to be benched and then left at the end of the driveway the following season. But right now I’m not seeing it any other way. Sad.