Beyond the Philadelphia Eagles winning their first Super Bowl in franchise history last month by topping the New England Patriots, one of the biggest storylines was Patriots head coach Bill Belichick's decision to sit former Pro Bowl cornerback Malcolm Butler for the contest.

There has been a lot of push back toward Belichick for deciding to bench arguably the team's best defensive back in the biggest game of the year. According to Zach Cox of NESN, Butler recently voiced that he believes that the Patriots could have won Super Bowl LII had he been put into the game.

“I never missed a game,” Butler said. “Never missed practice or anything like that. Would we have won if I played? Probably. Maybe. I’m not sure. But I would say we were short about one or two plays, and I saw a couple plays out there I could have made.”

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Butler could have made a significant difference for a Patriots secondary that Eagles quarterback Nick Foles lit up by completing 28 of 43 passes for 373 yards and three touchdowns. He also held a 106.1 passer rating and recorded a receiving touchdown in the process of becoming the first player in NFL history to throw and catch a touchdown in the Super Bowl.

Outside of cornerback Stephon Gilmore, New England lacked stability against the pass throughout the playoffs, especially in the Super Bowl against Philadelphia. In fact, Gilmore allowed just four catches on 15 targets for 55 yards while breaking ups six passes in the three playoff games. The presence of Butler, who has past experience making big plays in the Super Bowl, could have made it harder for Foles and the Eagles offense to move the ball down the field time and time again.

That said, it's hard to simply state that Foles wouldn't have been able to put up another strong outing, as he was coming off a masterful performance in the NFC Championship game against the Vikings that saw him throw for 352 passing yards and three touchdowns in a blowout 38-7 win. At this point, it is simply revisionist history and should simply be categorized as what could have been for the Patriots.