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Thornography » Knee Jerk Reactions: Super Bowl XLIX, Patriots vs. Seahawks
Doesn’t get much better than a Super Bowl edition of KJR from Jerry Thornton. It was a privilege to meet Jerry this year at the Broncos game and do some tailgating with him and Nick Stevens (aka Fitzy). I don’t want to speculate, but the three-way joining of our combined Pats powers seemed to spark something in that Denver game and going forward.
Hopefully we’ll get to do it again someday.
Tom Brady’s historic performance led the Patriots to Super Bowl 49 win | The MMQB with Peter King
Nice recap from Bedard, keying on Brady’s epic performance at the end.
“What Bill said was, ‘This game is no different than any other one. It’s a 60-minute football game, and whatever issues we have, let’s make sure we correct them, coach them, and fix them. That’s our job.’ “And it’s just a reminder to me … I think our staff did a phenomenal job of adjusting, or correcting problems. We had some issues. Michael Bennett—he’s one of the best defensive linemen we’ve faced—created some problems for us in the first half. He’s as good a down player as we’ve played all year. And so we had to do a couple things, try to get two bodies to him. We had Tom send the protection that way and I thought Bryan Stork did a great job of trying to go over that way and help when he had the opportunity to do so, and then the guards just kept fighting. That’s just the way Bill coaches. Have poise. Fix things. It’s never a perfect game.”
Josh McDaniels on BB’s message of “Adjust” and “Correct Problems and get them fixed” before the game to the coaches.
Super Bowl 49: Patriots beat Seahawks on Malcolm Butler interception | The MMQB with Peter King
https://www.patspropaganda.com/what-bill-said-was-this-game-is-no-different/
One thing we know about the Patriots, they won’t suddenly give a huge contract to someone based on one play. Just look at Jonas Gray, who disappeared after running wild all over the Colts.
There’s no doubt that Butler has a knack for making plays on the ball and he made remarkable progress in his first year considering where he started and where he ended up. But he needs to take advantage of this offseason and really take that next step.
I expect Revis will be retained, so he and Browner should return as the starting outside corners. We saw Logan Ryan targeted plenty last year and he was up and down (and did have some good plays in the Super Bowl as well), so it’s not unreasonable to think Butler could overtake him. Can Butler play the slot? Or is he most effective outside? We saw a little of both out of him this year.
Could he even overtake Arrington in the slot? He certainly seems to have made Alfonzo Dennard expendable, and I like Dennard. Butler does have better size and length than both.
Ultimately we don’t really have to figure it out now. Butler is under contract and will now have a full offseason in the program to improve. I’m excited to see how he develops. He is a ballhawk, and that is not something you can teach.
