Matt Light Gets Elected to the Patriots Hall of Fame
My first reaction to this is that Matt Light getting voted in over Richard Seymour and Mike Vrabel is a bit of a surprise. Not that he doesn’t deserve to get in. He does. It’s just that if I’m being honest, I’d put the other two guys in first. Seymour is the Socratic Ideal of the 5-technique defensive end in Bill Belichick and Romeo Crennel’s old 3-4 defense and is in a photo finish with Ty Law as the best non-Tom Brady player on those 2001-2004 3-time champions. Vrabel played a more high-profile position, made season-changing plays like pressuring Kurt Warner to force a pick-6 to Law in Super Bowl XXXVI. Plus added 8 receptions for 8 touchdowns, making him literally the only man ever who was a threat to score every time he touched the ball.
So yes, Light getting voted in over them is a minor upset. But I suspect we’ll see a lot of this as the class of guys with three rings continues to create a log jam every year. Too many worthy candidates is a Champagne Problem.
And you can’t shoot holes in Light’s candidacy. Yes, he lived the thankless life of an NFL tackle. The 8th inning reliever of pro football. Where if you do your job 100 time in a row, fans don’t notice and no one congratulates you. But get beat once and it’s all forgotten. You lose all trust. You become the crack in the hull that’s assuredly going to sink the ship.
But Light was a great LT. You don’t play 11 years, start five Super Bowls and anchor the line of some of the most prolific offenses in NFL history without being at least that. In those 11 seasons, the Pats’ offense finished in the top 10 seven times. It’s no coincidence that they won the Super Bowl in his rookie season, after he was drafted in the second round out of Purdue to replace the best LT in franchise history, Bruce Armstrong. Though it should not be lost on anyone that Ron “Ctrl+C” Borges said of him “Matt Light is not going to help any time soon.”
I’ve always believed that line play in football is just like pitchers vs. hitters in baseball in that it’s a game of matchups. Some guys just seem to have their best games against certain other guys. So while Light was haunted by the monster under his bed that was Jason Taylor, he dominated Pro Bowl/DPOTY-caliber talents like Dwight Freeney and peak steroidal Shawne Merriman.
Not to mention, personality counts. To me, Light always seemed to be to the Patriots what Kevin Millar was to the Red Sox. Only with more talent. That loose, hilarious glue guy who relieved the tension by making hamburger out of the sacred cows. He was the one who printed off the Tom Brady baby goat picture and stuck to the back of the O-line’s jerseys so the real GOAT had to look at five copies of it all practice. He was as likely to give you a usable locker room quote as he was to tear the helmet off Channing Crowder for being a punk. And his charitable foundation that raises money through competitive shooting events and putting on comedy shows with every single Boston comic not named Jerry Thornton (not that I’m bitter; I mean, what do I have to do with stand up or the Patriots? Nothing) has kept him part of the landscape around here a full six seasons after he retired.
So again, while he wouldn’t have been my first choice, Matt Light is exactly where he belongs. And the embarrassment of riches that is the Pats Hall of Fame just got richer.