Matt Light: Frustrating Lack Of Attack From Patriots' Offensive Line Vs. Broncos
BOSTON (CBS) -- After protecting Tom Brady's blindside for 11 years, Matt Light knows a thing or two about playing on the Patriots' offensive line.
He still gets emotional about the games when watching at home, and said he's never been more frustrated than he was during New England's 20-18 loss to the Denver Broncos in the AFC Championship Game.
Brady was sacked four times in the loss, and was harassed for much of the afternoon as the Broncos recorded 20 QB hits. Light joined 98.5 The Sports Hub's Toucher & Rich on Friday morning to discuss the struggles along the line, and said it was clear very early in the game they didn't have a very good handle on the silent snap count in a tough road environment.
"In the middle, they didn't uphold the depth of the pocket. That's critical, especially when [the Broncos] were only rushing three, maybe four guys. But for me, the No. 1 thing I took away from that game is, had the snap count been practiced throughout the week and perfected like we used to do, when you went in with five different ways to snap on a silent count, we wouldn't have had half the issues they ended up having," said Light.
Light also said he didn't see the offensive line set the tone early during Sunday's loss, so the Denver pass rushers had nothing to fear when gunning for Brady.
"I would have fought hard in that game, knowing their pass rush is going to make the difference," he said. "That whole defense played extremely well, but I would have had to try and cut their legs out from those guys early. I didn't see that. I would have fought for two or three plays where I would line up and just go for their legs and make them think about it early. Then I would have brought [Rob] Gronkowski in and had him crack one of those guys. Give them something to think about, because I didn't see a lot of that in that game. I didn't see any of it to be honest.
"I didn't think the attack was where it needed to be to level the playing field for those guys up front," he added. "They were playing with their hands behind their back with the snap count and not giving those guys up front something to think about."
Light also touched on one unnamed Broncos defender who said he tried to put a certain part of his body on Brady during Sunday's game. He also gave out some info on his Boston Marathon team, Speed Of Light, including an event at the Harpoon Brewery on March 9. For more information and tickets, click here.
