The question just keeps coming Cheap Quenton Nelson Jersey , and Malcolm Butler still has the same answer.

No, the two-time Pro Bowl cornerback does not know why Patriots coach Bill Belichick benched him at the Super Bowl in February .

Butler said Sunday he never got an explanation for being benched in the Super Bowl after starting 15 games during the regular season and two playoff games. He came off the bench to seal New England’s Super Bowl victory in 2015 with an interception as a rookie, and he started the Patriots’ overtime win over Atlanta for a second Super Bowl ring a year ago.

”Coach’s decision,” Butler said.

For his part, Belichick has never really explained why Butler was benched either . Belichick dodged questions again when the Patriots opened training camp this week, focusing only on this season.

Butler didn’t hang around either. He left the Patriots in March, signing a five-year deal with more than $30 million guaranteed with the Tennessee Titans. The move allowed Butler to rejoin former New England cornerback Logan Ryan, who signed with Tennessee in March 2017. The memory of being benched is driving Butler with his new team.

”I’m on fire I can tell you that,” Butler said. ”But I’m past that. I’m a Tennessee Titan, and I’m just ready to ball for the Titans.”

When the Titans visited with Butler in free agency, new head coach Mike Vrabel told the cornerback to keep approaching his job every day like the undrafted rookie he once was.

”He’s close to doing that all the time,” Vrabel said. ”There’s a time or two that he takes a play off Cheap Harold Landry Jersey , and I’ve got to remind him, but he is just a competitive player, and I admire that about him. He fights to finish.”

Watching Butler through the first four days of training camp, it’s safe to say the man who watched the Patriots lose the Super Bowl from the sideline may be even more motivated with his newest team. Butler chased down wide receiver Corey Davis after being beaten to punch the ball loose at the 2-yard line.

Butler set the tone not only for himself but the rest of the team on the opening day of camp during 1-on-1 drills against wide receivers. Butler went up against Davis, the fifth overall pick in 2017 and the first receiver selected in that draft, and intercepted Marcus Mariota’s pass. Butler then punted the ball in the air , yelling he was showing everyone how he would earn his money.

That interception followed by the punt didn’t come at the spur of the moment either.

”I think I planned that the day I signed my contract,” Butler said. ”So just a little fired up. Get everybody going, show my attitude, my intensity, what I bring and wasn’t disrespect to the offense or anything like that. I’m just being me.”

Butler has nine career interceptions with 56 passes defended while with New England. He joins a Titans defense that ranked 22nd in the NFL last season with 12 interceptions – eight by All-Pro safety Kevin Byard. Both Ryan and Adoree Jackson, who started every game last season as a rookie Courtland Sutton Jersey , are going into their second seasons.

The Titans host the Patriots on Nov. 11, giving Butler a chance to face his old team and coach this season.

For now, the cornerback who played at West Alabama has been very visible every day at camp whether he’s pulling in interceptions or knocking balls out to break up catches. Butler said actions speak louder than words.

”Just like I tell the young guys, a play a day (will) keep the coach away,” Butler said.

Notes: Vrabel said LB Brian Orakpo, who left practice after banging his shoulder against TE Luke Stocker on Friday, likely will be out a week. Vrabel had no update on rookie LB Rashaan Evans, the No. 22 pick overall, who left early Saturday. Davis was given the day off for rest.

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NEW ORLEANS — They have a pulse, and now the New Orleans Pelicans feel they have a chance.

After routing the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors 119-100 on Friday night at the Smoothie King Center to cut their Western Conference semifinal series deficit to 2-1, the Pelicans enter Game 4 on Sunday looking to get even and make it a best-of-three series.

Everything worked to perfection for the Pelicans on Friday night.

They played suffocating defense and hounded Warriors guard Stephen Curry, perhaps a bit tired in his second game back from a five-week rehab of his strained left knee Tremaine Edmunds Jersey , into a quiet 19-point shooting night; guard Rajon Rondo dished out a franchise-playoff-record 21 assists and pushed the pace as the Pelicans built a 25-point lead; and forward Anthony Davis scored 33 points by using an array of inside and outside moves to keep the Warriors on their heels.

New Orleans coach Alvin Gentry said Davis was so confident the Pelicans would prevail that he guaranteed the victory during a second-half timeout. Fresh in Davis’ mind had to be Game 3 in the 2015 playoffs against the Warriors when teh Pelicans blew a 20-point, fourth-quarter lead and lost in overtime.

The Pelicans, then a vastly different team, were swept in four games by Golden State. Davis said that was not happening again.

“I think about that all the time,” Davis said. “We were up 20 going into the fourth and then they come back and won it in overtime. It was tough for us. That was the message — we can’t lose this game. It’s always tough to come back from 0-3. Our mindset is to go out there, play and do what we’re supposed to do from all the game planning. Whatever results happen, happen.”

Game 4 should prove to be more than a battle of game plans. Rondo and Warriors forward Draymond Green have come face-to-face several times and verbally confronted each other, but neither has crossed the line and picked up a technical foul.

Warriors coach Steve Kerr said that might be considered a minor miracle for Green, known for his quick trigger.

“It’s one of the great stats of this year’s playoffs,” Kerr said, referring to Green’s technical-free play.

During Game 3, a camera caught Rondo appearing to extend a foot and trip Green 50 feet away from the action on the other side of the court. It seemed like a case of Rondo Terrell Edmunds Steelers Jersey , a veteran point guard, trying to goad Green into retaliating.

“I’m not an idiot,” Green said. “I see what they’re trying to accomplish a mile away.”

“It’s kind of just how I am,” Rondo said, referring to his street-wise competitiveness. “I don’t know if that’s really trying to set an example. It’s just guys talking trash on the other team — it’s kind of just natural for me to respond. Not in a crazy way or anything, just let them know we’re not a pushover. We’re here to fight, and with my guys on the court, I’m going to fight as hard (as) I can for these guys — whatever it takes.”

Rondo’s aggressiveness seems to have lit a fire under the Pelicans. While Davis and guard Jrue Holiday have been the go-to performers for New Orleans, guard E’Twaun Moore, forward Nikola Mirotic and reserves Ian Clark and Solomon Hill came up big in Game 3.

The Pelicans had 36 assists, their fourth-highest total in any game this season. Rondo was the third player in NBA history — John Stockton and Magic Johnson are the others — with multiple 20-assist games.

“We need that energy,” Mirotic said of Rondo. “He was everywhere. He was on defense Billy Price Youth Jersey , offense, talking, communicating with us. He’s just huge when the playoffs start. He’s been terrific.”

The Warriors realize the Pelicans are not the 2015 team they steamrolled.

“Obviously, (Game 3) was no fun,” Warriors guard Klay Thompson said. “They did whatever they wanted. … We have to come back on Sunday and make them more uncomfortable, because they were way too comfortable.”

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