Funny story: Light in Hall
Pats honor prankster left tackle
FOXBORO — Matt Light’s legacy as one of the greatest offensive linemen in Patriots history is unquestioned, but his reputation as a jokester throughout his career was also legendary.
Light, as it turns out, certainly knew how to keep things light.
So as Light was inducted into the Patriots Hall of Fame yesterday outside of Gillette Stadium, not only was it a celebration of his 11-year career, in which the three-time Pro Bowl left tackle helped win three Super Bowls, but also of a true prankster who never held back.
When Scott Zolak asked Light on stage about his infamous prank of Bill Belichick, the man of the hour appeared flummoxed.
“Which one?” Light joked.
There were plenty of stories told yesterday, but one stuck out above the rest. It was during training camp early in Light’s career, and his teammates convinced him it would be a good idea to try a prank on Belichick. As Light told it, he ordered a device that looked like a computer mouse, snuck into the coach’s office one day and replaced the mouse on his laptop with it.
Light claims he forgot about it, but he was reminded. The next day, Light walked in, and Berj Najarian, Belichick’s righthand man, was there.
“He says, ‘Not a good idea what you did yesterday,’ to which I obviously deny ’til you die, right?” Light recalled. “What’s going on? What’s going on, Berj?”
“Well, Bill’s not happy,” Najarian said.
“That’s not my problem,” Light replied.
Turns out, Belichick was shocked not once, but twice by the device. The second time, Belichick pressed something on his keyboard and lost everything he had worked on. Robert Kraft believed it was “hours of work” Belichick had gathered. Light wasn’t sorry.
“I say if you’re going to be an error repeater, what happens the second time you get shocked isn’t my fault,” Light joked.
It was all in good fun, and years later, even Belichick could appreciate Light’s joking ways.
“Matt always kept it loose. Loved to make fun and take advantage of everybody,” Belichick said in a video message. The head coach certainly wasn’t exempt.
“But I always appreciated your attitude to keeping things loose at the right times, and when it’s time to get serious and get down to work, you were always the first one to roll up your sleeves and do it.”
Light was one of the game’s best tackles and a prankster at heart, and he was also the consummate teammate.
That was on display when the Patriots played the Lions on Thanksgiving in 2010, when at the end of a blowout win, Logan Mankins got into it with Ndamukong Suh.
“I just look over to Matt and say, ‘Get ready,’” Mankins recalled. “We snap the ball, I pull (Suh) by the helmet, pull him to the ground and I’m going after him, and I look up and see Matt just punching the hell out of him, and I was like, ‘That’s my teammate right there.’ ”
Light remembered it fondly.
“I remember you were throwing guys off and I remember coming out of the pile with Suh’s helmet, and chucking it all the way across the field, and then I thought, ‘Wow, that’s gonna get expensive,’” Light recalled.
For more than a decade, Light exemplified it all — from exhibiting that toughness as Tom Brady’s blindside protector to keeping things loose in the midst of the team’s long-running success — and that’s why he’s the latest to don the Patriots’ red Hall of Fame jacket.
“Matt Light was fearless,” Kraft said. “He had the most important job on this team, in my opinion, because he had to protect Tom Brady’s tush. Matt took fearless to a new level. Dare I say, he might have been one of the game’s most fearless players ever . ...
“For Light, pranking Bill even one time, it wasn’t very bright. But there’s a fine line between fearlessness and foolishness. Luckily, Matt typically found just the right balance.”