New England Patriots: Bill Belichick we need to talk

The New England Patriots lost Super Bowl LII with Malcolm Butler on the bench and fans are demanding answers.

It was a rough night for New England Patriots fans last night. We all thought there was no chance we could lose to the Philadelphia Eagles. Philly isn’t really known to win a lot of things, but that is exactly what happened.

Now football is a team sport, but the blame rests solely on one man, Bill Belichick.

This is already being well talked about on this site and across the entire sports world, but why on Earth was Malcolm Butler not playing. I’m not gonna lie, seeing Butler cry during ‘America the Beautiful’ was weird at the moment but it all makes sense now.

Apparently, Eric Rowe didn’t even know he was starting until just before game time.

Now, instead of having Butler covering Alshon Jeffrey, you have Rowe. This makes zero sense especially when Jeffrey torched Rowe in the first half. Butler has played in almost 98% of the teams snaps this season. I know Butler had the flu, but why isn’t he playing? Michael Jordan had a hell of a game with the flu.

Rowe isn’t a terrible corner, but Butler is clearly better than Jordan Richards and Johnson Bademosi. The offense came out firing and performed well. Tom Brady had the game of his life, Danny Amendola, and Rob Gronkowski played fantastically, but the defense fell short. If they had Butler, he could have made the difference.

In Bill we trust?

I don’t know about you but this is the first decision Bill Belichick has made that I really was confused by. After the game, Belichick spoke about the benching and said it was for “football reasons.”

Can you believe this? I don’t care how sick Butler was he couldn’t have been worse than Eric Rowe. Something is up and former Patriot Brandon Browner went off on Instagram saying there is a rift in the locker room.

"“That dude done started every game for that team, you feel me, since he picked the [expletive] ball off,” Browner said. “You play every game of the season but the Super Bowl. You feel me? I can’t rock with that. That was a [expletive] call. That was a [expletive] decision. That was a power trip. You divide the locker room when you do that. .. They deserve that [loss] for not playing Malcolm.”"

Honestly, I fell really bad for Butler. I know he was looking to get paid early this offseason, but he doesn’t deserve this. He was emotional after the game and seemed like a man who was just mentally distraught.

Patriots fans are not pleased

Then today in a conference call with the media Bill Belichick continued to not give any answers.

There is no way on Earth the decision to not play Malcolm Butler was the best decision for the team. Hey Bill we aren’t celebrating another Super Bowl championship so we have all the time in the world to listen to why he didn’t play.

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This is really starting to make me think Belichick wants out or is really fed up with the organization. There is no way this decision was made strictly because of an on the field issue. Something went down.  Did he miss a curfew or something? That’s not worth a benching for the entire game. Is it something more serious? I don’t think we will know for awhile.

I’m starting to doubt Bill Belichick. He is one of the best coaches in NFL history, but that is not the right call. Something is going on in that locker room.

What does the future hold?

This is going to be a very interesting offseason for the Patriots. It is pretty much guaranteed Butler won’t be coming back, and I don’t blame him. After all he has done for this team he didn’t deserve what happened on Sunday night.

Next: Time to turn to the Boston Bruins

I think for the first time Bill Belichick is feeling the heat. Fans aren’t happy, and there may now be a locker room rift. Could this be the powder keg that starts the chain reaction of the Belichick era coming to an end? I lost some trust in Bill after this crazy call, and I’m sure some in the organization have as well.

This team is still great and will probably be back in the Super Bowl next season, but the greatest coach of all time made a big mistake. One that cost his team the Super Bowl.