Get Me the Butler

Congratulations to rookie CB Devin McCourty on intercepting his first pro pass. It was a great recovery and he perfectly caught the ball at the highest point in front of the receiver. Unfortunately you are the first corner back on the team with an interception.

New England lost their best corner when Leigh Bodden was placed on injured reserve. Without a proven corner, play at the position suffered. In time someone would emerge as the leader in Bodden’s absence. Most thought it would be Darius Butler, but freelancing and doing his own thang led to Butler being benched while Ivy Leaguer Kyle Arrington worked his way from rookie free agent to starter.

After five weeks in the starting lineup, Arrington has one play of note – tight coverage in the end zone that prevented a touchdown. Otherwise he hasn’t shown to be an upgrade over Butler.

Butler showed a lot of promise in his rookie season when he finished with eight passes defended and three interceptions, one returned 91 yards for a touchdown. It was that introduction to the league that got Butler a little full of himself, believing he could do things his way and grow as a player.

That’s unacceptable in head coach Bill Belichick’s book. He didn’t like watching Butler ignoring the coaching and not playing within the team. That earned him an extended stay on the bench.

To Butler’s credit, he accepted his faults and said all the right things in his blog about what he needed to do to get back in the coaches’ good graces and earn playing time again.

I respect Belichick’s demands that players play his way, but I’ve had enough of no results. Arrington might be doing everything by the book but he has just one pass defended against San Diego.

This looks very much like the over-extended tryout Jonathan Wilhite had last year. Wilhite started seven of the first eleven games opposite of Bodden. During that span, Wilhite defended four passes and had just one interception. The only explanation why Wilhite wasn’t benched earlier is that Jonathan did what he was told, even though the results weren’t there.

Arrington seems to be getting the same benefit of the doubt this year. Kyle is using proper technique, knows the plays, executes them, and is tackling well. But receivers are beating Arrington, and the Hofstra product is showing little signs of winning his one-on-one match ups.

Butler said he would put his nose into his playbook and rededicate himself to proper technique and doing what the coaches tell him. If Butler is a man of his word and is doing everything he said he would, then put him on the field. Enough of this dog house treatment.

No one else can capably step in for Arrington. Wilhite had his chance and Terrence Wheatley has been fragile through his two-plus season. Butler showed the most talent of the active corners on the team not named McCourty. The pass defense still struggles at times. Let’s see if that’s still the case with the best players on the field.