Cursed To First - Sox and Pats forever.

The 5 Things I Think Of When I Think of Matt Light

Is Matt Light the greatest left tackle ever? Nope. Will he be enshrined in Canton? Doubtful. But he'll always be one of the more memorable Patriots, just based on sheer personality -- a personality I hope we haven't seen the last of around here, given all the opportunities he probably has open to him in broadcasting and similar endeavors. 

In the meantime, as Light remains on the fence about what the future will hold, here are my favorite memories of his antics while in uniform:

The "Snow Viking" Picture -- It's a desktop-sized photo of Light standing on the sideline in the snow. HIs red hair is standing out every which way, his beard thick and glorious, lip curled in a snarl, and his posture aggressive. At the time and since, this image summed up the raw, gritty talent of the 2003-04 Super Bowl squad for me, and is the first image that springs to mind when I think of Matt Light.  I hope it never leaves Boston.com's servers. The Internet would be lesser without it. 

Cutting Brady Down to Size -- Matt Light's most defining feature has always been his wit, which is probably not the first thing people associate with a 6' 4", 305-lb. guy who shoves around other huge guys for a living. But Matt Light has also always been the first example I could point to that puts the lie to the idea that football players, and especially linemen, are little more than barely-upright apes who couldn't spell "cat" if you gave them the "c" and the "a". 

Nowhere has this wit been more publicly evident than in the way Light has delighted in brutally dethroning his most idolized teammate whenever possible. Two specific things spring to mind when I think of this: 1) Light and the rest of the line taping Brady's goat picture to their backs in practice; and 2) an appearance on WAAF's Hillman Morning Show in which he was asked, "How's Brady look?" and responded drily, "Oh, you mean the hair...?"

The Bathrobe -- The year: 2004. The time: evening. The occasion: the Patriots' arrival as victors in Super Bowl XXXVIII at Gillette Stadium. And who should emerge holding the trophy but Matt Light, sporting an impish grin, another truly glorious beard, and a fuzzy bathrobe. 

It was a triumphant time for all of us. 

The Punt -- I got to talk to Bill Belichick once. True story. He was a guest speaker at a conference I was attending, and as part of his motivational speech (yes, really), he played the footage of Matt Light catching a punt in a high-stakes bid to get out of practice early.

Light had asked for the night off in training camp after a blisteringly hot day, and Belichick made him a deal—catch a punt and you get the night off; fail to field it cleanly and the whole team runs double the wind sprints at the end of practice.

As the story goes, and as Belichick relayed it, Light suddenly had more coaching than he knew what to do with, from Troy Brown to Tom Brady, everyone around him babbling urgent instructions. Light eventually did field the punt, and was immediately mobbed by his overjoyed teammates.

I'd heard that story before. But I hadn't seen the video until Belichick showed it that day. It's still footage that, as far as I know, has never seen the light of day elsewhere, so you'll just have to take my word for it: it was awesome. 

The Mustache Song -- This is something that I'm happy to say you can still experience, at least while it remains up in the WAAF archives. If you haven't heard it, don't wait another minute to enter Matt Light's mustache realm. 

Probing the mind of Belichick, cont'd

I wasn't disappointed by last night's PAA, whether it was the Belichick mic'd up stuff or all the other behind-the-scenes moments...

...like this shot of four out of the seven Patriots Pro Bowlers. A handsome bunch, eh? Now that Brett Keisel has announced he will be shearing his mighty face-mane for charity, Matt Light, especially, may be poised to take over the league's Most Viking-Like Appearance title. But, uh, Logan? We Need To Talk about that mustache...

Meanwhile, what I wouldn't give to have had THIS conversation mic'd up...

...and then there was The Big Man and the Sea - Vince Wilfork pondering the mysteries of life while deep-sea fishing off Honolulu.

But the main attraction, as previewed, was Belichick.

Monday Morning Patriots: Tom Brady's still the best, and talk turns to playoffs

originally uploaded by Gezlarge, on Flickr

It wasn't just the ability to create turnovers that helped the Patriots steamroll to a near-shutout victory yesterday over the Buffalo Bills -- it was also the ability to avoid turnovers of their own, and to capitalize (mostly early on in the game) on the turnovers committed by their opponents.

Here, the headline for most of the beat writers has been Tom Brady, his three touchdown passes, and his record-setting 319 attempts without an interception, not to mention his 26 touchdown passes without an INT since Oct. 17. There will also be plenty of talk around the ol' broadcast studio desk this week about Brady as a league MVP candidate.

It should also be acknowledged that the Patriots offensive line played yesterday, to borrow a phrase from one of my favorite movies, like warrior-poets. Particularly the left side of the line, which featured unbelievable blocking by Logan Mankins, Matt Light, and especially Alge Crumpler, and it was that blocking which opened holes for Danny Woodhead and Benjarvus Green-Ellis on runs.

Brady protected the ball flawlessly and sealed off three series with touchdown passes, but it was the running game, particularly from the Law Firm, that once again served as the core engine for the Patriots offense. After another 100-yard game, Beni is on pace to become the first Patriot to rush for 1000+ yards in a season since 2004. And to come back to Brady again: calling the play-action effective yesterday would be a vast understatement.

(Woodhead didn't do quite as well in the blocking game as he would running the ball. At one point, Bills safety Jairus Byrd jumped clear OVER him to get at Brady -- a priceless image, though it might not have been so funny to me if the the play hadn't still worked out for the Patriots on the other side of the field.)

***

Looking at the bigger picture, there is the question of who, among the Patriots starters, will play, and for how long, next week vs. Miami, now that the Patriots have clinched top seed in the AFC. But I find that conversation stultifyingly boring.

Then there is the more interesting question of how the Patriots might fare in the playoffs, against teams with more discipline, where they probably won't be fortunate enough to capitalize on as many turnovers as they have vs. the Packers and Bills these last two weeks.

But I love how much this team is reminding me of the early days of the Bill Belichick era, particularly on defense. Pepper Johnson is still a defensive coach, and he's still throwing high-speed passes at the defensemen in practice. I have to think that this year's quality of coaching, which had even a special teams DB looking for an opportunity to recover a fumble on a kickoff in garbage time, had everything to do with a game like yesterday's. 

It will be particularly interesting if the Patriots wind up making a playoff appearance against the Kansas City Chiefs, who also kicked ass today under the leadership of a number of former Patriots staffers, including Charlie Weis and Romeo Crennel. Those with Patriots heritage out in Kansas City also include former backup QB Matt Cassel, who threw a career-long TD pass in today's victory as a starter for the Chiefs that was named the CBS Play of the Day.

But for right now, the weather outside is frightful, and most of New England is cozily snowed in (the team even stayed in Buffalo an extra day before flying back because of the storm), recovering from last week's rush of holiday activity. And thanks to what happened yesterday, we won't have to worry about playoff matchups, with the Chiefs or anyone else, until well into next month.

Patriots to Jets: How do ya like us now?

Sweet, lemony-fresh victory is ours.

Hearts. Puppies. Kittens. Unicorns. 

True, unadulterated happiness.

If a genie had popped out of a bottle before tonight and given me one wish on behalf of the New England Patriots, I would probably have said, "I would like for the Patriots to beat the everloving piss out of the New York Jets on national television in the biggest game of the regular season, after the Jets, their loudmouthed coach included, talk shit all damn week as usual."

That wish was tonight's command.

It may not exactly be healthy to be this emotionally affected by a sporting event. But tonight, at least it's in a positive direction.

There were so many memorable things about this game. Too many to make a full catalog, but it will be a pleasure to try. Feel free to add any I may forget, it being late and all...

Luckier than good in San Diego: a rant of sorts on yesterday's Patriots game

It has now been well over 24 hours. I got a pretty good night's sleep on it, too. And I'm still feeling a painfully strong cognitive dissonance over what happened in the Patriots-Chargers game yesterday.

First of all, the Chargers were awful. It was not possible to play the sport of American football worse than they did yesterday, at pretty much any level.They are just lucky it is not a game in which they could have accidentally shot at their own goal. Because if it was that kind of football, they would have. They were that bad.

And I won't pretend I took no joy in that. I find the Chargers the trash-talkingest, whiniest, take-no-responsibility team in the league. Most of this probably stems from LaDanian Tomlinson's boo-hooing over the years in the direction of Bill Belichick, but even with Tomlinson gone, this team's personality still gets on my nerves. After utterly embarrassing themselves on the field throughout the game, some of the receivers who'd committed the most egregious errors were still popping up in the faces of Patriots defenders after plays, flapping their gums.

Pathetic.

My personal favorite example of how undisciplined and undeserving of respect the Chargers can be (and probably my favorite moment of the game, really) was when they began the second quarter with a 25-yard completed pass from Philip Rivers to rookie Rich Goodman, who forgot he wasn't playing in college, hadn't been touched down, and let go of the ball. The better to start his clapping and celebrating, of course.

That's when James Sanders fell on the ball. The ball was then ruled live. The Patriots offense took over at their own 41.

Having watched Brady & Co. slug it out with the Ravens the week before, having watched them make a 1-yard touchdown toss look like a casual trip to the laundromat following this game's previous Chargers fumble, and given that the offense has been the source of most of the Patriots' success so far this season, I was rubbing my hands together with glee, anticipating the start of a good, old-fashioned, confidence-boosting beatdown.

Running game leads Pats over 49ers

News flash: Matt Cassel is an inexperienced quarterback.

News flash: Bill Belichick is a smart coach.

News flash: The Patriots are capable of improving from week to week, and learning from their mistakes.

Today the Patriots adjusted not only to the mistakes they made last time out against Miami, but also to some miscues that had them trailing San Francisco early in this game.

Randy Moss has been making noise about wanting "touchdowns, not field goals," oh, and also the ball. Cassel went to Moss a couple times early on - once with a long bomb for a beautiful touchdown in the first half. But the next time he tried to go the long-bomb-to-Moss route, he got an interception for his troubles. He's not an experienced enough driver to take that particular high-octane vehicle out for a spin at will like Brady used to; that's just a fact.

By the end of the second quarter, though, the Patriots switched Cassel to a steady diet of short passes to Welker and Moss and gained traction with a balanced running game that saw contributions from Sammy Morris, Kevin Faulk, and LaMont Jordan, the latter before he went down with an injury in the second quarter.

The Patriots actually gained 233 of their 377 total net yards today on passes from Cassel, but two of the three touchdowns New England scored were rushing touchdowns. Factor in three field goals and that 111 of the total passing yards were gained by receivers--and you have a nice balance between Cassel showing improvement, and his veteran teammates and coaching staff also shouldering much of the load.

The game against Miami showed some defensive vulnerabilities, particularly against the running game, that were troubling. Give them two weeks, though, and the Patriots were not only holding San Francisco to a pathetic 3 first downs rushing, but the Patriots pass defense also showed an ability to stiffen up, holding the 9ers to an 11% third down conversion rate. Rodney Harrison in particular seemed to have shifted up a gear for this game, with a big interception in the third quarter.

It was also Harrison that delivered the final defensive coup de grace for San Francisco's QB, JT O'Sullivan, in the fourth quarter, first with a tipped pass that Deltha O'Neal caught for the third San Fran turnover of the game, and then by flying in out of nowhere to elbow the ball out of Arnaz Battle's arm in the waning seconds.

On the offensive side, the line also showed marked improvement over the previous ordeal against Miami. Matt Light was clutch, pancaking linebackers and opening holes for the backs. Most of the successful Patriots runs were off the left side today--including Kevin Faulk's touchdowns. They even took a page directly from Miami's playbook in week 3 for the second of those TDs, with a direct snap to Faulk on the 2-yard line.

Both the Patriots and 49ers entered this game in second place in their respective divisions, and both started inexperienced quarterbacks. But by the end of the game, only one of those QBs was looking rattled, while the other was holding his own, surrounded by veteran teammates.

Cassel's still wet behind the ears, and he's going to make mistakes. Gone are the days this team could be wholly focused on what to "take away" from opponents, and instead its vulnerabilities do sometimes take weapons away from them, like the long passing game today. But the all-or-nothing idea that this is a "lost season" for the Patriots without Brady is looking more foolish by the minute.

Oh captain, my captain

The Patriots announced their captains for the 2008/2009 season. The cast includes some familiar faces, Tom Brady, Tedy Bruschi, Rodney Harrison, Mike Vrabel, and Larry Izzo, who have all been captains before. Both Bruschi and Brady are serving their seventh seasons as team captains, while Izzo is entering his eighth season as a captain. However, the list has also has some first-timers. Left tackle Matt Light, nose tackle Vince Wilfork, and wide receiver Randy Moss have all been elected captains for the first time. Of course, the most intriguing name on the list is Randy Moss, who brought a less than team-first reputation when New England traded for him last offseason. However, this selection does reenforce what Coach Belichick and QB Tom Brady have said in the past about Moss being a leader in the locker room. Now, it's offical and clear his teammates feel the same way.

Here is a breakdown of the captains by team unit:

Offense: QB Tom Brady, LT Matt Light, WR Randy Moss

Defense: LB Tedy Bruschi, LB Mike Vrabel, S Rodney Harrison, NT Vince Wilfork

Special Teams: Larry Izzo

No-fun league strikes again?

SpyGate. Performance-enhancing drugs. Violent fights at strip clubs in Vegas. Spousal abuse. Domestic violence. Concussive head injuries.

Of all the 'citizenship' issues facing the NFL, which one do you think they're choosing to focus on lately?� If you guessed any of the above, you'd be wrong. Instead, a report surfaced on SI.com Wednesday that the NFL is debating new rules about hair length.

Yep.

The rule banning long hair on the field was proposed by Kansas City. It does not require players to get haircuts, but does "require them to tuck it up inside their helmets," said Atlanta president Rich McKay, chairman of the league's competition committee.

An example of the dangers of long hair given in the article was Troy Polamalu, who "had his hair grabbed by Kansas City's Larry Johnson and was thrown to the turf after an interception against the Chiefs."

So apparently the Chiefs are saying Polamalu shouldn't have been allowed to tempt Johnson with all those flowing locks just crying out to be grabbed. Maybe Johnson should find a more sportsmanlike way to stop Polamalu? Just a thought.

But really, isn't some Home for Lost Boys around the league on the verge of taking in Pacman Jones? (It could even be us!) Aren't there a few more pressing issues when it comes to player safety?

Even aside from that, it would just be a bummer for me as a fan of the offensive line of the New England Patriots to see their 'rally mullets' curtailed by the scions of decency at league headquarters. Without his fierce fiery mane, I'm afraid my boy Matty Light especially might be at a disadvantage in future playoffs.