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Seattle was 1 yard from a Super Bowl win, then ‘Scrap’ happened

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The Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles will meet in the 59th Super Bowl on Sunday. Counting down to the NFL title game, AL.com is spotlighting a Super Bowl hero with Alabama football roots daily through Sunday. The series started Monday with Bart Starr, looked at Joe Namath on Tuesday, John Stallworth on Wednesday and Justin Tuck on Thursday, and continues with West Alabama alumnus Malcolm Butler:

Has there ever been a more improbable Super Bowl hero than New England Patriots cornerback Malcolm Butler?

Butler flashed into the national consciousness on Feb. 1, 2015. With the Seattle Seahawks on New England’s 1-yard line, Butler intercepted a pass with 20 seconds to play to preserve the Patriots’ 28-24 victory in Super Bowl XLIX.

Butler had been working at a Popeye’s when he returned to football in 2011 at Hinds Community College in Mississippi before playing two seasons at West Alabama.

Butler got his foot in the door in the NFL when he was invited to New England’s rookie minicamp as a tryout player in 2014. The coaching staff liked Butler enough to keep him for the offseason program and training camp. Then he made the team coming out of the preseason.

As a rookie, Butler had played 184 defensive snaps in 11 regular-season games and 15 defensive snaps in two postseason games when the Patriots put him on the field in the second half of the NFL championship game. Butler played only 18 defensive snaps in Super Bowl XLIX, but they were an action-packed set.

New England turned to Butler with third corner Kyle Arrington struggling.

Butler got busy as soon as entered the game, and not just because Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson targeted him as an unseasoned rookie. On the Seahawks’ final possession of the third quarter, Butler stopped running back Marshawn Lynch after a 2-yard gain, tackled wide receiver Jermaine Kearse after a 6-yard completion and broke up a deep pass to Kearse on consecutive snaps to force a punt from the New England 47-yard line.

On the first play after the two-minute warning, Butler broke up another deep pass to Kearse from the Patriots 49-yard line. After Seattle moved to a first down at the New England 38, Wilson tried another deep throw to Kearse. Butler broke it up again. But this time, Kearse caught the falling football sitting on his rear end at the Patriots 5-yard line with 66 seconds to play.

After Lynch was stopped 1 yard from the goal line, Wilson tried to throw to wide receiver Ricardo Lockette from a stack formation. But Butler jumped the route to make his first NFL interception.

During the celebration of its centennial season, the NFL picked Butler’s pick as the fifth-greatest play in league history.

What made it even more improbable was it came from a defensive call that New England had installed that week – Goal Line Three Corner – and the Patriots coaches ran Butler out on the field just in time to make the play.

Matt Patricia, New England’s defensive coordinator at the time, detailed what happened after he called “Goal Line Three Corner” during an appearance on the “Games With Names” podcast last week.

“I have, like, 6,000 pounds of flesh sitting there,” Patricia said. “I have Chandler Jones, Dont’a Hightower, Jamie Collins, (Alan) Branch, Vince (Wilfork). This is like an 18-wheeler out there. I understand: Just give the ball to Lynch. But we had just stopped them. These are some of the best players in the NFL right there, so I was like, ‘They’re going to panic. They’re going to throw it.’ I was worried about the Snag 7 Flat (a pass to the running back coming out of the backfield). …

“We’re good on the rub. They’re going to go to the Snag 7 Flat — the got-to-have-it-play to the other side. They’re going to pick the linebacker. So I’m on with High. I go, ‘Hey, make sure you don’t get picked here.’ I’m like, ‘This is going to be to be Snag 7 Flat to your side.’ So I’m watching the left side of the offense, the right side of the defense, and the ball is snapped, and I look and it’s Snag 7 Flat, and we get picked. Chandler (Jones) is peeling late because he had the peel call. … But if it was good throw, I was like, ‘This is going to be a touchdown.’ …

“I didn’t even see the play on the other side. I was so worried because the guy’s open in the flat. So everyone’s going crazy. And I’m like, ‘What?’ I don’t even know. I’m like, ‘What happened?’ …

“But when they built the stack, (Brandon) Browner looks at Malcolm and goes, ‘Listen, I’m going to choke the (expletive) out of them. You just go.’ And if you watch the play, Browner, he’s literally got his hands around his neck. And then Malcolm just goes. So I didn’t see any of that. I’m like, ‘We got picked.’ Everyone’s like, ‘No, he picked it!’ I’m like, ‘I didn’t even know we had the ball.’”

For the next three seasons, Butler was a starter in the New England secondary before leaving in free agency for the Tennessee Titans. In 2015, he was a Pro Bowl selection, and in 2016, he made second-team All-Pro. Butler added 17 regular-season interceptions to his famous postseason one.

The player called “Scrap” went to two more Super Bowls with the Patriots, and Butler played every defensive snap in New England’s 34-28 overtime victory against the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl LI on Feb. 5, 2017.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.