LII :::: the super bowl of hate :::: philadelphia eagles vs new england patritos

eliminate the PAT do 2pt conversions only

my only qualm is that football taught me how to multiply by seven and going six/eight only would retroactively ruin my childhood

from now on, touchdowns worth 0 points, but merely get you the opportunity to kick the XP, which is now worth 7 points. so if you score a TD and miss the kick, 0 points.

still think Cooks trying and failing to hurdle McLeod was my favorite play, that was some real WWE shit

this got kinda lost but Eagles missing that XP early on kind of had a big ripple effect the rest of the game

Yep - attempting to jump over the head of someone six feet tall, who was more or less fully standing, while not using your arms for leverage was wonderfully ambitious.

he mighta gotten the first down if he hadn't left his feet too

so what's the real story re: malcolm butler

no one knows! but here's my nutty theory - belichick liked that rowe used to be on the eagles and thought that might give him an edge covering their receivers? (tho he never played w/ jeffrey who burned him for that early td). maybe combined w/ butler going to the hospital twice the week before w/ flu symptoms? (tho he was apparently totally healthy on wed so who really knows.)

i almost never listen to bill simmons but it's quite fun listening to his sadsack post-game podcast

seems to me it's probably that Bill is lying about it not being punitive. if it were to use different packages like he clumsily explained, he probably would have reinserted Butler in after he saw his alternate plan wasn't working. If it were due to illness, as some have suggested, Butler himself might not be so angry, but it seems pretty clear he felt fine enough to play even if he was violently sick in the lead-up.

unless Bill had a serious fear of him blowing coverage due to passing out on the field, I can't imagine that there wasn't some other reason, maybe something Butler did to infuriate Bill shortly before gametime. But Bill is used to players hating him by now so idk what that thing would be.

i kinda do believe that belichick is telling the truth and it was a football decision. maybe not a well thought out football decision but i gotta think he saw something he liked w/ rowe and something he didn't like w/ butler and got too clever by half

this should be taken with a huge grain of salt, but one theory...

https://www.barstoolsports.com/boston/a-writer-at-pff-is-saying-malcolm-butler-missed-curfew-got-caught-with-weed-then-had-a-meltdown-on-the-coaches/?_branch_match_id=456984123554125233

i can buy thinking that rowe on jeffrey and gilmore on smith was how they wanted to play the top 2 guys - altho it backfired horribly as jeffrey beat rowe multiple times on the first couple drives inc both the 3rd and 13 and the td - but with the eagles playing nearly the whole game with 3 wrs butler doesn't even get a snap? jonathan jones and jordan richards are trailing after agholor instead? whatever the reason it was v costly.

butler crying during the anthem biases me towards thinking he fucked up somehow. his head hasn't quite been there all season, altho i have sympathy with him given the contract stuff/gilmore.

i thought i read butler was on the field for a special teams play or two?

he was

one st snap recorded. that's like rubbing it in

i think i saw no st snaps all regular season, 1 vs jax, 1 vs phl

meanwhile on the field for 98% of reg season def snaps

anyway, i hear folks here are keeping their cool and the 2nd call to weei this morning was someone demaning belichick be replaced with mcdaniels

its gets missed in all the glory but belichick has lost a bunch of playoff games via being stubborn

Punishment also makes more sense as to why he never saw any snaps - have to think if it was purely strategic, BB would realize his experiment was going bad at halftime and he'd have gone back to Butler or at least began using him on 3 WR sets. BB isn't going to go back on a full-game punitive benching decision simply because the game isn't going well. Though that would imply others knew of the real reason.

going to guess he thought they had enough to win without him. and they almost did!

i think the gashing runs that the pats didn't have the linebackers to stop were the biggest single reason that philly kept being able to keep drives going, in the first half especially, but agholor became a really important 1st down target as those runs went away later so that plus rowe on jeffrey early which probably doesn't happen if butler plays add up to a significant factor

simmons' butler theory: belichick's gameplan is to start rowe on jeffrey. butler reacts poorly to the decision so belichick punishes him by sitting him the entire game.

that would line up with what we know but must've been a real ott meltdown from butler if so

he said "maaan fuck Donald Trump"

so, congratulations to the detroit lions for the official hire of their new head coach, the def coordinator whose team lost the super bowl despite the qb putting up 500y and 3tds/0ints

auspicious

https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/UMass-Amherst-Students-Riot-After-Patriots-Loss-472680563.html

good work kids

belichick's losing his entire brain trust this offseason right?

he wouldn't have it any other way

he's losing his coordinators but the shadow cabal will remain intact otherwise

brady is being traded to cleveland i heard

https://i.imgur.com/fphJioN.png

the pats will keep winning as long as ernie is still around

Why haven’t I seen this video lmfaooo REALEST MF ALIVE now I know why we won pic.twitter.com/qnQITcmYtr

— EAGLES ARE WORLD CHAMPS (@DPWEarl) February 5, 2018

lol were playing indoors

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DVTTFL4XcAAZmf-.jpg

https://deadspin.com/jeff-fisher-must-be-arrested-and-tried-for-his-crimes-a-1822733338

so is hiring ex-Fisher guys gonna be the new Moneyball

normally questions of how coaches impact individual player positions seem pretty speculative but this particular one is undeniable

wonder if anyone will hire dick lebeau. he's only 80

mordy I won't be at the parade, I'm already going to have missed a couple of days this week, but enjoy! hopefully it'll be less than 58 years til we win our next one

Ertz takes 17 steps and Collinsworth says he thinks they have to overturn it 😂😂😂😂

— Chris Long (@JOEL9ONE) February 6, 2018

He also thought it’s my job to run with Tom Brady w QB wheel route on a reverse pass. Lmao.

— Chris Long (@JOEL9ONE) February 6, 2018

when will the nfl wise up and play with a felt ball while wearing velcro onesies?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNfBftMWNTo

President Nixon continues to monitor the situation in Philadelphia. - RZ pic.twitter.com/FajWFVmQFo

— Richard M. Nixon (@dick_nixon) February 6, 2018

lol who did this

You Have Been Yellow Carded By a Moderator: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DVPcMZkXcAEDcqI.jpg

brutal. who knew ilnfl even had a mod?

lmao

lol

Malcolm Butler: "During Super Bowl week, I never attended any concert, missed curfew, or participated any of the ridiculous activities being reported. They are not only false, but hurtful, to me and my family." https://t.co/XBTwXp6g2B

— Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) February 6, 2018