Matt Light: Goodell Is Not A Leader, Could Have Prevented DeflateGate From Day 1
BOSTON (CBS) - Former Patriots left tackle Matt Light had some strong words for the critics last night at Rob Ninkovich's charity event, expressing his frustration with the DeflateGate investigation and punishment handed down to the defending Super Bowl champions.
On Tuesday, Light joined 98.5 The Sports Hub's Scott Zolak and Marc Bertrand in studio to vent even more at the whole situation and help provide some context that only a former player could bring.
"My overall take on this is if you get led down a path by a group, right, and we'll call it the media. The media was force-fed the only thing that they could possibly digest, and that was directed and orchestrated by the very guy that should have been thinking about what's in the best interest of the National Football League," Light said of the commissioner.
"If Roger Goodell would have done any number of things at the very beginning of this, we wouldn't be having this conversation. We can talk about a lot of things that led up to this, but first and foremost you have to go back to ground zero."
Light believes, and others have said this as well, that Roger Goodell had the power to squash this from the very beginning, but instead let one insignificant act turn into a full blown circus.
"I've got a lot of issues about how [Goodell] has handled a lot of things. He comes from the camp of, 'Let's make sure that the court of public opinion is what we consider first.' He's worried about what the media is going to say, what the colleagues are going to say, what the other owners [are going to say]," Light said. "He's worried about all that instead of saying, 'This is how we do business.' There's a very big difference in those two things. You're either a leader or you're not."
Matt Light: No Doubt In My Mind That Tom Brady Is '100 Percent Innocent'
Light was in studio with the midday show for over an hour, and towards the end of the first segment he shares a unique story that illustrates the lack of leadership Roger Goodell has.
In 2008, Matt Light was fined for a fight with Dolphins linebacker Channing Crowder, which you can watch below:
Light explains that there was a lot of trash talking leading up to that outburst, and that the officials could have prevented it way ahead of time. So he gets a call from Goodell after the game, and rather than placing the most importance on the incident itself, Goodell was more concerned about how it would be received in the media, so he offered Light an ultimatum.
"When it's all said and done [Goodell] calls me and says, 'Hey look, this can go one of two ways: you either tell everybody what was said and how it all went down, or I'll fine you guys the same amount of money.' He's basically saying that if I don't fine you, then they're going to have a field day with this in the media. Again, he's worried about not leading, but perception."
Listen below to the first segment:
Light is also promoting his raffle, which gives fans the chance to win a trip to Indianapolis to see the Patriots take on the Colts in the upcoming regular season. Check out his raffle by clicking here.
Matt Light explains how the NFL completely mismanaged DeflateGate from the start in the second segment.
Listen below:
In the third segment, Matt Light explains the text messages between Jim McNally and John Jastremski and how the science doesn't add up.
Listen below:
