Matt Light: Going To Super Bowl 'Never Gets Old'
BOSTON (CBS) – The New England Patriots are heading back to the Super Bowl, and for Matt Light it will be his fifth trip to the big game in 11 years.
"It's awesome. It's something that never gets old," Light told 98.5 The Sports Hub's Damon Amendolara on Thursday night. "There are things in life that are great, but you have them too much and they get old. This never gets old."
Like a fine wine, heading to the Super Bowl only gets better over the years.
"It does get better, because ever since the very first we went to the Super Bowl and got to experience all that, the number-one line I heard was 'what's your favorite ring.' This was asked to, I believe, our strength coach who had been down in Dallas and had several rings to choose from, but he said 'the next one. The next one is my favorite one.' And that's true, this is definitely going to be the best of the best when I think of all the things we've done, this will be the best if we can pull it off."
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The Patriots will face the New York Giants, a rematch of the Super Bowl XLII when New York stunned the previously perfect Patriots with a 17-14 upset.
"We don't talk about it. That was then, this is now," Light said of the Championship loss. "We've only got a handful of guys that were around for that. This is a totally, drastically different team than we had back then. I doubt that will play into anything that we have going on for the next 8 or 9 days or so."
The Patriots also squared off against the Giants in the regular season, a 24-20 New York victory at Gillette that saw three lead changes in the final three minutes. The Super Bowl will be the third time the Pats and Giants meet this season, with a yearly preseason finale also on the docket, and while New England can learn some things from those previous matchups, they need to focus on what the Giants have done recently.
"You do have some familiarity with them, and that takes you only so far," said Light. "The fact that we played them during the regular season will give us a little something more to look at, but really you look at how they've played the last four or five games. It's just been incredible and they've definitely improved during the most critical point of the year when you need to improve."
"Hopefully some of that stuff we've learned from the previous two meeting will serve us well, but we're going to have to do a lot more work than that."
What Light and the rest of the offensive line will have to worry about is the New York defensive front, which features one of the league's best pass-rush. In the past the Giants have been able to get the pressure on Tom Brady, and Light knows he and the rest of the line will have to step up to keep their quarterback standing.
"I don't think you get to this point without having a really good, solid team in general. But obviously these guys have always been known for what they do up front," Light said of the Giants D. "They're all really good at what they do, and they have multiple different moves and things that they do as individuals and a group. They're really good at stunts and getting up the field and pressuring the quarterback."
"It's one of the best groups in the league."
Listen to the full interview with Matt Light:
