Three days after the Super Bowl, almost everyone is still very confused as to why Malcolm Butler didn't play a single defensive snap, especially after his statement on Tuesday, which said he did not break any team rules during the week leading up to the game.
Appearing on Kirk & Callahan with Gary Tanguay on Wednesday, ESPN's Adam Schefter believes it was strictly a performance-based decision.
"Having spoken to a couple of different people about the situation, maybe I am missing something and maybe they are missing something and didn't know something, but the way it was explained to me was, this was strictly a performance-based decision," he said. "Now, again, I am just telling you I understand he played over 97 percent of the snaps. He made one of the two greatest defensive plays in Super Bowl history. He has been somebody they've counted on. It defies logic to think that somebody you have counted on that much in the past all of a sudden is not important, but I am just telling you what was told to me. You can believe it or not.
"I was told, [he] hasn't practiced well, hasn't played well, hasn't practiced well this season, hasn't played well this season and they decided to go in a different direction."
Schefter went on to say despite people being upset with the decision, Bill Belichick has been far more right than wrong in the past.
"Well, again, they felt he hadn't been playing well and they did not trust him in that particular spot," he said. "Again, it is hard to think they couldn't have gotten some improved play somewhere along the way, but that is the route they [went]. I think they made that decision. Do I think there were people upset? Yeah. Again, the decisions that that organization, that coach have made, they have been right far, far more often than they have been wrong. You have a situation there where again, the way it was told to me, that was a strictly performance-based issue."
