The reason for Malcolm Butler’s Super Bowl benching remains a mystery. There has been no explanation beyond Bill Belichick’s initial assessment: football reasons. Some have speculated. Players have explained it away.
The real answer — if there is one beyond the fact that Butler fell behind on the game plan due to illness early in the week — has yet to come to light. Even a former member of the Patriots organization finds himself getting a different story every time he asks players from the 2017 team.
“No, I have actually asked quite a few guys who were on the team at the time and I have not got the same answer twice,” former NFL running back Shane Vereen said on WEEI’s “Ordway, Merloni and Fauria” in a recent interview. “The grassy knoll still exists.”
Perhaps Patriots fans will find it comforting that even the players that played in New England are in the dark on the situation.
