Your posts in this thread have all been great, including this one. If the blowup happened as rumored, it came, at least in part, from a place of wanting to compete. That should have factored into the decision making. A hefty fine would have been more appropriate discipline.IMO, that's the time you, as the head coach, pull people aside, let cooler heads prevail, and then sit the player down and tell him you need him, it's the biggest game of his life, and while he may not be starting, he's going to matter...You don't just fucking bench him, and then let the rest of your defense, and by extension, everyone in the organization that worked their asses off all year, suffer because of an emotional blow up. Just no. They're adults, they're not children. And when you add in the fact that the guy is gone after the game, what are you hoping to gain by disciplining him to that extent? I don't know. I just don't get it, unless it was a really, really, really bad confrontation with broken teeth, blood and foreign objects.
Another thing that hasn't been discussed so much in this thread is that the Pats defense was lacking in playmakers this year. But among the players they had, Butler was the leading one, with 2 interceptions and 3 forced fumbles (the Pats team as a whole only had 25 INT+FF). Also led the team with 12 passes defensed and chipped in a sack. And 4th on the team in solo tackles. Some of that is a function of playing time (Butler playing nearly every snap), but the comparison with McCourty who also played that much (1 INT, 0 FF) is notable.
In the end, to not even give him a limited opportunity was indefensible.
I think the coaching staff was done with Butler and had been for months, and that - along with a "straw that broke the camel's back" incident - led to some "motivated reasoning" around what the best defensive plan was and whether Butler should get a shot when the "best defensive plan" crapped the bed.
It is also worth noting that, for all his defensive and coaching genius, Belichick himself had one of hos career-worst coaching games. For those who subscribe to BSJ, cceck out Bedard's lastest column highlighting non-Butler problems.