'I was like, what did I just do?' Butler said. When asked when he knew that play changed his life, he said it was before he even got back to the locker room. The clip of the play on the NFL's YouTube channel has 4.4 million views. He said his son, who is 7 years old, asks him about the play and will look it up on YouTube. Someone will thank him or remind him that Brady wouldn't have seven rings without him, he said. Butler said that he usually keeps to himself, but even when he's in the house he'll see something on social media about his big play. The play that put Butler 'on the map'īutler said he is reminded of his big play almost every day.

'That was one of the greatest defensive plays in the history of the NFL,' Brady told 'The Dan Patrick Show' last year. Tom Brady gave Butler the truck he won for being Super Bowl MVP. The 87 percent win probability shift almost doubles the swing of any other single play in Super Bowl history. It jumped to 100 percent after the interception. 'I don't understand how I held onto the ball.'Īccording to Football Outsiders' win probability, the Patriots had a 12.6 percent chance to win before that second-and-goal play. He goes through what happened on the play, like it has just occurred to him he might have dropped the interception that made him famous.

'I don't know how I caught it, but I caught it,' Butler said. If he would have dropped it, it would have been understandable, and his phone probably wouldn't be blowing up as much these last two weeks. Butler cut off Lockette, who was listed at 211 pounds, and they collided at full speed. It was meant to be for Butler.īutler diagnosed it but then he had to actually make the play. The Seahawks were passing when everyone thought they would run, against a cornerback who didn't think he'd play, and was in the game at that moment only because New England decided to use a goal-line grouping it hadn't used all season. 'I guess they saw a loaded box and thought they could pick on old No. He said he would get in trouble in high school for looking in the backfield too often. planted and I just broke.'īutler laughed. 'Russell just give me this sign he was throwing the ball. I told myself, if this guy plants hard, I knew he was coming back to the middle. 'I knew they couldn't run it that far over. 'Russell was just looking at me,' Butler said.īutler started to consider what might happen next. Then Butler noticed something before the second-and-goal play. It's a personnel grouping New England hadn't used all season. In the final seconds he was put in the game in the Patriots' three-cornerback goal-line set as the Seahawks were on the verge of taking the lead. 'I was like the last cornerback on the team,' Butler said.Ĭornerback Kyle Arrington was struggling against the Seahawks. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens, File) (ASSOCIATED PRESS) Russell Wilson tipped off Malcolm Butlerīutler didn't even expect to play at cornerback in Super Bowl XLIX. Patriots cornerback Malcolm Butler made the most high-impact play in Super Bowl history, one that we're revisiting as the big game returns to Glendale, Arizona, for the first time since. 'They're going to talk about this forever.' We'll remember Butler forever, as long as NFL history is discussed. Most one-time Pro Bowl cornerbacks who played 100 NFL games wouldn't be invited. He'll be on radio row in Phoenix this week talking about his big play. With the Super Bowl back in Arizona, there is renewed interest in Butler sharing the stories again. It happened with 114.4 million people watching, which is still a Super Bowl record.

It's the single most impactful play, in terms of a win probability swing, in Super Bowl history. That play clinched a Super Bowl championship. Less than two seconds elapsed between the Seahawks snapping the ball and the moment Butler stepped in front of receiver Ricardo Lockette and picked off Russell Wilson's pass. 'No, I'm just messing with you,' he said with a laugh. 'I was totally expecting them to pass it there,' Butler told Yahoo Sports. People still debate why the Seahawks passed it on second-and-goal instead of handing to Marshawn Lynch at the 1-yard line. The last time the Super Bowl was in Arizona, Butler's New England Patriots beat the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIX.

Malcolm butler