It's been more than a week since the Patriots lost to the Eagles in Super Bowl LII and we still have no idea why Malcolm Butler was benched.
According to multiple reports, Butler got sick during Super Bowl week, showed up a day late to Minnesota and may have missed curfew. However, it should be noted that Butler denied all of that in an Instagram post that he shared a few days after the game.
Although benching Butler might have been the weirdest decision that Bill Belichick made in Super Bowl LII, it might not have been his worst. In a recent piece for the Boston Sports Journal, Greg Bedard wrote that the defensive role designed for linebacker Marquis Flowers might have been Belichick's biggest gaffe of the game.
Apparently, Flowers saw the piece that Bedard wrote, and let's just say that he didn't take kindly to the insinuation that Belichick might have designed a bad gameplan. First, Flowers responded by telling Bedard that "Belichick has been to more SuperBowls than you have been with Women!"
🤦🏾♂️ so you got all the answers? More than coach Belichick that has been to more SuperBowls than you have been with Women! https://t.co/N8RdeL6Hph
— Marquis Flowers (@MFlowers59) February 12, 2018
Y’all gonna critique arguably the best coach in NFL History? Not on My Watch!! #NotOnDuty!
— Marquis Flowers (@MFlowers59) February 12, 2018
Flowers then pointed out that Belichick's gameplan wasn't the problem, the problem was the Flowers didn't properly execute the gameplan.
Don’t blame coaches! Blame me, they put me in a spot to succeed and I didn’t execute my assignments well enough to win 🤷🏾♂️!!! https://t.co/CAolm6v9l8
— Marquis Flowers (@MFlowers59) February 12, 2018
Of course, that kind of goes both ways. If there was any question that Flowers might struggle in the game, then maybe Belichick should have kept him on the bench with Butler. Either way, it's interesting to hear what a player has to say about a failed game plan after the fact.
Anyway, Flowers seemed to blame the Patriots' 41-33 loss on the team's defense and not anything that had to do with Belichick or the Patriots' offense.
Coach Belichick and Tommy Ice Brady, is The Phil Jackson and Kobe Bryant Duo of The NFL #SorryBoston🤷🏾♂️
— Marquis Flowers (@MFlowers59) February 12, 2018
During his Twitter tirade on Monday, Flowers also took a shot at Lane Johnson for saying that the Patriots don't have any "fun" while they win. The "he" in the tweet below is Johnson.
Yea he’s clearly 😴😴😴, a lot of hot air! 5 Super Bowl wins is 5x more fun than 1 https://t.co/aEo8M0gTzz
— Marquis Flowers (@MFlowers59) February 12, 2018
The irony there is that Flowers didn't actually get to experience any of those "fun" Super Bowl wins. The Patriots linebacker spent his first three seasons with the Bengals before being traded to New England in late August.
The 2014 sixth-round pick could be playing for the third team of his career by the time the 2018 season starts. Flowers' rookie contract expired at the end of the 2017 season and unless the Patriots re-sign him before March 14, he'll become a free agent this year.