To be clear, I'm not calling for BB's head. Far from it. The worst decisions he's ever made still result in him being the greatest coach of all time. That said, I'm allowed to be pissed tonight, and I'm allowed to think that Tom Brady, the team and the fans got fucked by a decision that never should have been made.
This is correct. It was a spectacular high stakes coaching fuckup by someone who has built a HoF career on not doing that.
QUOTE="scottyno, post: 2662268, member: 54862"]Anyone have the target and yardage numbers by corner? Rowe got torched at times in the first half but did make some nice plays, including breaking up the td on the first drive, and seemed much better in the 2nd half after adjustments. FWIW pff graded him as one of the better pats defenders (obviously debatable I know, but seems to indicate he at least wasn't terrible). Bademosi or Harmon over Butler as the 3rd CB seems much harder to explain if they just didn't like the matchup of Butler on a big wr.[/QUOTE]That's exactly right. Starting Rowe was a defensible move given his size and Butler's struggles on the season. Dopping Butler from starter to behind bad guys who have barely played this year was an inexcusable gaffe.
So what is it? He just might have had the most dreadful coaching night of his life at the worst possible time. He was wedded to a game plan -- big corners -- and simply failed to adjust. He failed to adjust because he is very confident in his judgments (call it hubris if you like) and because during a game moving at warp speed, things just never got quite desperate enough. Hell, they nearly pulled it out.
Belichick was an economics major in college. Whether that fact has had any connection to his success over the years I don't know, but he has always shown at least an intuitive understaning of economics (not just money, but, more generally: trade offs and getting by with limited resources). At the same time, I think he's also had a firm grasp on the human side of the game, whether it be holding players accontable or recognizing the difference between numbers and real ability to perform under pressure on a football field. Last night those understandings failed him miserably.
No doubt, he saw an advantage in going bigger in the secondary. But what did he trade away to capture that advantage?
1. Continuity. He rolled with Butler for 18 games, then didn't just demote him but banished him from the field in the biggest game, going instead with guys who mostly didn't see the field during less important games.
2. Skills. Butler had a rough year, but until now, not rough enough to see his role decreased. He's also a better open field tackler than most if not all of the guys who played ahead of him, and secondary tackling wound up being a huge problem for the Patriots in this game.
3. Tested on the big stage. Butler has shown the capacity to step up and perform in the biggest games. Belichick opted to run with guys who haven't done that consistently in the small games.
4. Big play potential. Butler has made big plays, even in this disappointing year. He made the biggest defensive play in SB history 3 years ago (and his stellar play during the whole second half was a key reason why he was in position to make that play). On a defense lacking in big play potential Belichick took maybe his best weapon off the field entirely, and instead played a guy whose biggest plays helped the other team.
Beyond all of that, his failure to adjust was jaw dropping. Looking back at it, the only way it even begins to make sense is if Belichick and Patricia went into this game thinking Philly's offense was absolutely going to ruin them and that they needed to try and play for every small advantage they could think of and hope fr the best. Thus they were not at all surprised by the beating Philly gave tem and it didn't trigger any adjustments. Still an awful decision.
It’s all hindsight, but it strikes me as really dumb to bench him when they could have activated Britt or someone else that would have provided more than ST coverage.
Hollister was a 4-unit ST guy for most of the season, until recently getting scratched, but I suppose not in the same role as Butler.
QUOTE="TheoShmeo, post: 2662372, member: 5872"]But putting that aside, it seems reasonable to believe that Butler’s teammates would be perplexed and possibly have their play adversely affected by the benching, for the first time, of a starter during the entire Super Bowl.[/QUOTE]Yes. I think this decision was so outside the realm of typical that BB and the Pats may end up paying a price for it down the line. Though it wasn't his intent, BB just shat all over a 3 year core player to the detriment of the team. If Butler had been 3rd corner playing a reduced role and the Pats lost, this would be a non-issue, but since it wasn't it is a really bad look. What Tom Jackson said all those years ago was a huge load of shit at the time, but it may not be as huge a load today.