Matt Light shared his thoughts on the Patriots dynasty, the Belichick-Brady debate, and the reports of internal turmoil
MINNEAPOLIS — Matt Light says he won’t be heading out to Minnesota, but the former Patriots offensive tackle wants to send a pair of fans to Super Bowl LII.
Light is raffling off a trip to Minneapolis that includes airfare from Boston, a two-night hotel stay, and most importantly, two tickets to Sunday’s big game. Raffle tickets are one dollar each and all proceeds will benefit the Light Foundation — a nonprofit dedicated to providing at-risk children with tools and experiences to become leaders in their communities.
Although he won’t be at U.S. Bank Stadium to watch New England take on Philadelphia, Light said he’s looking forward to catching the game from the comfort of his own home — and enjoying some free drinks. The 39-year-old has been retired from the game for seven seasons now, but still keeps close tabs on the Patriots.
“I think it’s going to be an incredible game, I really do,” he said of the upcoming contest. “But it is the Super Bowl, right? It should be an incredible game. I think the matchup is going to be interesting.”
Light was in Houston for last year’s Super Bowl, but ended up watching the entirety of the Patriots’ thrilling comeback while on a plane back to Boston.
“I couldn’t get an earlier flight, so we ended up being in the air for the whole game,” he told Boston.com. “It was actually one of the best ways to watch a game. You had no distractions. A little tiny seat-back screen, but it was adequate. What a game.”
Calling New England’s improbable 28-3 comeback “one of the coolest things anybody in sports has ever seen,” Light is impressed by the team’s resiliency — a defining characteristic of his 11-year tenure with the Patriots, too. He notes, however, the consistent come-from-behind victories have certainly impacted how spectators watch the team compete.
“I think fans are in the mindset that, regardless of the situation, they’re going to have a chance to win it,” he said.
Light — who was at Gillette Stadium for the AFC Championship game against the Jaguars — said when Jacksonville was up 20-10 in the fourth quarter, nobody in his suite even batted an eye.
“It was just amazing,” he recalled. “People were like, ‘No, we got it. We’re good.’ I’m not sure that’s a scenario you could recreate in the NFL, or really, anywhere in sports. Most fans freak out at the first sign of a little hiccup in the team’s performance.”
So what is he expecting come Sunday? If history indicates anything, the game will be close. The Patriots’ largest margin of victory in past title games is six points. Light said it’s hard to identify who the key players will be, but if he had to pick one, it’s undeniably No. 12.
“Obviously, Tommy is the biggest X-factor in the game for the Pats, in terms of what he’s going to get done and how he’s going to do in this game,” Light said. “Whatever he’s done in the past is probably going to be a lot of what you’ll see out there.”
At 40 years old, Brady will be competing for his sixth Super Bowl ring — three of which he won with Light on the offensive line. The pair won three titles in four seasons, including back-to-back victories in ’03 and ’04.
Despite the added pomp and hype for the league’s final game of the season, Light said he never thought of his feelings headed into the Super Bowl as “nervousness.”
“I never looked at it as nervousness,” he explained. “I think you combat the idea of nerves with preparation. When you’ve gone out and you’ve prepared and done everything you can do during the week, then you can at least go into any game feeling, ‘Why be nervous, so to speak, when I’ve done everything I can do?'”
“I’m going to go out there, and if it’s not good enough, that’s one thing. But if I go in there, and I don’t feel good about my preparations, well, then I can only blame myself,” he continued. “More than anything, there’s a sense of anticipation, and a sense of having to do it better than anything you’ve ever done before and be spot on. You’re trying to process things at a very high level.”
Outside of keeping up with the team, Light enjoys re-claiming old barns. A self-proclaimed lover of history, Light says the activity checks all the boxes in terms of his interests in creativity and architecture. The Foxborough resident also founded and developed KEEL vodka, the first premium light spirit to hit the market.
So would he rather enjoy a drink with Brady or coach Bill Belichick?
“I would definitely pour Bill a nice KEEL on the rocks with a squeeze of a lemon, just because, and I think it’d be fun to sit down with him,” Light said. “I’ll always enjoy my time with Tommy, but now that I’m not under the player tag, it’d be kind of nice to have a little more time with Bill and get to know him.”
“He’s always so focused on winning games, which is the reason why he’s there, so as a player, the time you do get to celebrate with him after big moments and championships, they’re very few and far between,” he continued. “It would be good to sit down with coach.”
As for which part of the Brady-Belichick duo reigns supreme when debating their respective importance to the franchise?
“I don’t think you can have that conversation without considering both of them,” Light said. “They’re the only two things that have been there for all of it. I don’t think there’s any other people that can come into that equation. They’re the only two things that have a direct impact on the winning that have been constant from the beginning until now.”
“There are times as a player when you want to say, ‘Hey, we’re the one out there making the plays. If it’s all about coaching, why aren’t they out there playing the game?'” he continued. “But that’s a little silly. It’s a silly conversation. We got the best coaching staff in the history of the game. I don’t think that’s even arguable. The weight that has on winning, the dynasty, and everything else, it’s huge.”
Light said he heard about ESPN report that claimed Belichick, Kraft, and Brady have had disagreements over which member of the organization has been the most influential figure on the team’s success. He didn’t comment on the specifics of the story, but “one thing [he knows] for sure is those guys have all argued.”
“That’s the culture,” he said. “If you don’t think that football’s abrasive, whether that’s on the field or off the field, then you just haven’t paid attention enough or you haven’t played any sports. It’s very awkward to think that you could be dog-cussing each other and then the next minute be hugging after a big win. It’s a foreign concept to a lot of people, but I don’t think it’s affected anything at any point — at least up until now — and they’re still winning.”
