Robert Kraft didn’t hedge when asked about the Malcolm Butler mystery, and the cornerback’s curious benching during the loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LII.
During ‘The Dynasty’ docuseries, he put that loss squarely in the lap of his head coach, Bill Belichick.
“Tommy threw for over 500 yards, but Bill made a tremendous error. I credited Bill with that loss. To be honest, my head coach is a pain in the tush, but I was willing to put up with it as long as we won. So for the next Super Bowl, I wanted to keep an eye on him.”
The Patriots owner doesn’t buy the notion Belichick was doing what was best for the team in benching Butler for all but one special teams play in that Super Bowl.
“I always felt every decision Bill had made had been to put what was in the best interests of the team first and put emotion aside,” Kraft said. “But with Malcolm, he did just the opposite.”
During Episode 9, Kraft shed some light on the benching, which remains a mystery to this day.
Said Kraft: “What has been told to me was there was something personal going on between Bill and Malcolm that was not football related.”
Added wide receiver Danny Amendola: “I remember walking off the field that night, just really confused. That was the biggest game of our lives at the moment, and Malcolm’s not on the field? That (expletive) p---es me off still to this day … to not get an explanation? I felt we got cheated a little bit, honestly, and I don’t feel bad saying that.”