For the first time since the 2014 season, Malcolm Butler on Sunday began a game on the bench.
Butler was the New England Patriots’ third cornerback in their 36-20 win over the New Orleans Saints, playing just 49 of his team’s 65 defensive snaps (75 percent) behind starters Stephon Gilmore and Eric Rowe.
It was the first time since becoming a full-time starter in 2015 that Butler had played less than 87 percent of New England’s snaps in a game, and his snap count likely would have been lower had Rowe not left the game with a groin injury.
One of the Patriots’ top defenders ever since Super Bowl XLIX, Butler hasn’t looked like himself so far this season. He was in coverage on one of Drew Brees’ two touchdown passes Sunday, getting picked at the line of scrimmage and failing to stay with Brandon Coleman on a fade route.
Patriots coach Bill Belichick was asked about Butler’s performance thus far in a conference call Tuesday morning.
“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,” Belichick said. “We all need to do a better job — players, coaches, all of us, across the board. So hopefully, we’ll all continue to get better during the course of the year. That’s why we practice and meet and come in here and work hard, so hopefully, we’ll all be able to improve.”
(It’s also worth noting Belichick mentioned the pick play problems, too, on Monday.)
While that might not read like a harsh criticism of Butler — a second-team All-Pro in 2016 who was involved in trade rumors throughout the offseason — the juxtaposition between that response and ones Belichick gave about other players on the same conference call was stark and telling. His other responses have been transcribed below (emphasis ours).
On Rowe:
“Well, Eric was in a tough situation last year. He came in during the season, didn’t have the benefit of training camp, and the foundation of the system was a lot of catching up on the (fly), 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. Much better understanding of what he’s doing, what our opponents are doing, some of the techniques and so forth that we use that are a little different from what they had in Philadelphia. He’s definitely gaining with the experience that he’s received and earned.”
On reserve corner Jonathan Jones, who broke up two passes against the Saints, including one in the end zone:
“I saw on both those plays, the technique that he used to finish the play, the final reception point, was excellent. Perfect. It was textbook technique — what we teach all of our players to do. But it was a great illustration of Jonathan doing it and having two big plays, two very productive plays. Those are good examples for us to show not only him but all the other players in terms of playing those type of passes and finishing in the situation that he was in.”
On veteran defensive lineman Lawrence Guy, a first-year Patriot who played well as a run defender:
“Lawrence works hard. Very willing to do everything we ask him to do. Really tries to get things right and is very professional. He’s really a pleasure to coach and a guy that wants to do everything that he can to help the team. Whether it’s the same or different from the way he’s done it in the past, he’s very willing to try to do whatever he can possibly do to do whatever the team needs.”
On linebacker Elandon Roberts, who saw a significant uptick in snaps Sunday after playing sparingly in Week 1:
“Elandon always plays well, always performs hard. He’s a productive player for us. He gives a very consistent effort and level of performance in the roles that he’s asked to perform. I thought he did that again in New Orleans.”
On linebacker David Harris, who’s played a grand total of three snaps this season after spending the past decade with the New York Jets:
“Well, we’ll see how it goes going forward. Each game’s different. Each game has different matchups and different requirements in the game. David is a very experienced player, and I think he brings a lot of positives to our team. We’ll see when those opportunities come, but I’m sure that they’ll be there.“
Also, Belichick’s take on defensive tackle Alan Branch’s conditioning was similar to his Butler review. Branch was one of the Patriots’ best defensive players in 2016, but he struggled against the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 1 and played just six defensive snaps against the Saints.
“Well, we’ve only had two regular-season games,” Belichick said. “I don’t think any of the players are where they are going to be from that (conditioning) standpoint. We all have work to do there. I wouldn’t say that anybody’s there. Maybe our specialists, I don’t know. But we all have a lot of work to do in terms of our techniques, our conditioning, our awareness, our reactions and so forth.
“There’s a lot of work for all of us to do there.”
Thumbnail photo via Chuck Cook/USA TODAY Sports Images
