Malcolm Butler was a total unknown to most football fans until that magic moment when he clinched the Patriots' Super Bowl win over the Seahawks.
But Jets receiver Brandon Marshall knew all about Butler. Three months before Butler intercepted that Russell Wilson pass in the final seconds of the Super Bowl, Marshall said he was "shocked" by Butler's play in an Oct. 26 game between the Pats and Marshall's old team, the Bears.
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"He came in and did a great job vs. Alshon on a couple of plays in that game," Marshall told ESPN Friday. "I was a little shocked. I was like, 'This kid can play a little bit.' I overlooked him when he was standing in front of me. He made a few plays and I'm like, 'This kid can be special.'"
The young cornerback came in for 15 plays late in the Patriots 51-23 blowout victory, but broke up a couple of passes and smothered Bears receiver Alshon Jeffery.
Marshall will now get his chance to go up against Butler, as the Patriots host the Jets at 1 p.m. ET Sunday. It will have been 364 days since Marshall first saw Butler, and what a difference a year makes — Marshall joined the Jets via a trade earlier this year, and the Super Bowl hero Butler is now the Pats' No. 1 corner following the offseason departures of Darrelle Revis and Brandon Browner.
"He's feisty," Marshall told ESPN. "He reminds me a lot of Buster (Skrine, Jets cornerback). It's going to be tough to make plays on him. He has tremendous makeup speed, and he competes. He's tough."