Devin McCourty Clears Up Rumors On Malcolm Butler’s Super Bowl Benching

Pretty much every New England Patriots fan remembers Malcolm Butler’s goal line interception. This was to lift the Pats over the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIX. There was also the time when head coach Bill Belichick benched Butler three years later.

No one really knows why Belichick decided to sideline Butler though. Butler revealed that Belichick never provided him with an explanation.

“I never got a reason,” Butler said. “I feel like this was the reason. I got kind of sick. I went to the hospital. They probably thought I was kind of late on the game plan; I wasn’t as locked in as I should be and could have been a matchup deal. It could have been anything.”

It doesn’t sound like Butler is holding any hard feelings, though. He pointed to Belichick’s out of nowhere decision to play him back in Super Bowl XLIX as a reason why he “could never question his decision.”

McCourty Tried To Explain The Mystery

With Super Bowl LIV set to kick off Sunday between the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs, the infamous Belichick-Butler mystery reappeared. Veteran safety Devin McCourty wasn’t quite able to explain why Butler was benched, but he did help clear up some of the rumors during a recent interview.

“I hated when all of this came out,” McCourty said in Miami. “Because everybody was like, ‘They found out a day before or in the locker room.’ Nah everyone knew that (Butler wasn’t going to play) going into the game. That wasn’t the way we practiced…

“For anybody that’s been in the New England area, do they really think we took the field and didn’t prepare like that wasn’t already the plan?”

So exactly when did the team find out Butler wouldn’t play? McCourty knew “the whole Bowl prep.”

Considering how talkative Belichick is with the media, we might never find out the reason behing Malcolm Butler’s benching. Oh well, that’s something we’ll have to make peace with.