Former Patriots offensive lineman Matt Light sounds off on Deflategate
Count ex-Patriots left tackle Matt Light as firmly in his former team’s camp when it comes to Deflategate.
Light, who retired following the 2011 season after an 11-year career, attended Patriots linebacker Rob Ninkovich’s “Ninko’s Ping Pong Challenge’’ — a charity event held at Blazing Paddles next to Fenway Park — on Monday, and sounded off on a variety of involved parties including NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and a couple of Boston sports talk radio hosts.
“The overall New England nation needs to heal,’’ Light said to the assembled media, as per Ryan Hannable of WEEI.com. “We’ve had crazy things happen. Aside from the fact that we’ve won another championship, you guys understand that, right? We won a world championship and we’ve had every single guy on that team called into question when it comes to this — his character, his integrity. And here’s one thing I would leave you with before we get into a really serious debate in the next few weeks. I’ll tell you what, [98.5 The Sports Hub afternoon drive hosts] Felger and Mazz, they should be ashamed of themselves. They’ll be the first that I call. I would love to just combat the idiocy of those two. If you’re a cheater, right, have you ever seen cheaters put in as much time as Bill and his staff have put in day in and day out?’’
Light also referred to Deflategate as “a ridiculous circus that Roger Goodell and the rest of his little buddies in the NFL office have put together,’’ and said of people calling quarterback Tom Brady a cheater, “You can say whatever you want in this world until you get punched in the mouth,’’ as per Mark Daniels of The Providence Journal.
The three-time Pro Bowler and first-team All-Pro in 2007 went on discuss a raffle that he’s organized to benefit The Light Foundation that he’s calling Inflation Nation.
“We’re going to turn a circus into something positive,’’ he said. “Roger, if you’re listening, we may raise enough money to have you attend one of our leadership camps.’’
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