Malcolm Butler needed a strong bounce-back performance Sunday after losing his starting spot a week earlier, and he delivered exactly that in a win over the Houston Texans.
The New England Patriots cornerback played every defensive snap in his return to the starting lineup, hounding Houston’s receivers throughout the Patriots’ 36-33 victory.
“I think Malcolm did a good job,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said Tuesday in a conference call with reporters. “All of our defensive backs, I thought, were pretty competitive. We had some scramble yardage and loose plays and things like that, but the normal passing game, we were pretty competitive on. But like anything else, there’s certainly a lot of things we can do better.”
Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson threw Butler’s way just twice in the game, completing two passes for 10 yards. Butler allowed zero yards after the catch on both of those plays, stopping wideout DeAndre Hopkins short of the first-down marker on each.
“I thought Malcolm played really well,” defensive coordinator Matt Patricia said after noting that everyone on the team still needs to improve. “We certainly didn’t play great at all as a defense, I’m not saying that. But I think the guy really tried to go out and play extremely hard. This is a very competitive guy. Malcolm steps up to the challenges that you place in front of him. He goes out, competes. He works hard. He tries to do it the right way, and he really tries to get better every week.
“We had a productive week for him and working through, but it’s a new week, and we’re going to try to get the same consistency every single week.”
Butler, a full-time starter since the start of the 2015 season, was demoted to nickel cornerback last week after struggling in the preseason and again in a Week 1 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. Sunday’s game easily was his best of the season.
“I think I let loose a little bit,” he said after the game.
Butler, who has been critical of his own play of late, appears to be regaining his confidence following his rough start to the season.
“I think (confidence) goes a long way,” Belichick said. “We all do things in our normal lives — things that we’re confident in, we do more aggressively, we do quicker, we do with probably better overall execution than things we’re not confident in, where we maybe have to wait and have that little bit of hesitation to make sure something’s right or make sure you’re doing the right thing.
“That’s a fine line there between confidence and overconfidence and taking it for granted as opposed to just being right in a sweet spot of having an edge, having confidence, being alert and aggressive, but not too far that way that if something happens, you’re caught off guard. We just try to find that sweet spot.”
Thumbnail photo via Bob DeChiara/USA TODAY Sports Images
