Before Patriots defensive back Malcolm Butler became the hero of Super Bowl XLIX, he was the goat of the identical play.
The New England scout team, working its job description to perfection, tried the same thing. And Butler was beaten.
“I was at practice, and the scout team ran the same exact play,” Butler told Dan Patrick on Wednesday. “And I got beat on it at practice because I gave ground. . . . Bill Belichick, he came and said to me, ‘Malcolm, you’ve gotta be on that.’”
On Sunday, Butler was on it. Backed up to the end zone, there was no reason to give ground because there was no danger of letting the receiver get very far behind him.
The full interview with Butler appears below. Congrats to Dan’s 35 producers for lining it up.