Pats' HoF Matt Light and current Pats' LB Jahlani Tavai joins the show!
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00:00a very good friend of this program, former New England patriot, Matt Light.
00:04Matt, good morning.
00:05Good morning, back in the saddle, baby.
00:07It feels so good.
00:08Welcome back.
00:09Thank you very much.
00:10How is Mrs. Light, a everyday listener of this program?
00:15Yeah. Suzy Light.
00:16Yeah, she she's she tunes in, man.
00:18She's she she stays current with all the things I hear from her all the time
00:22with feedback on what we're talking about.
00:24And you guys cover a lot.
00:25And she you know, she's she's a woman in the know.
00:27And and and I'll say this.
00:30We made a transition down to Rhode Island, left Foxborough
00:34and bought a beautiful farm down there.
00:36A farm.
00:37Mrs. Light is is now like, you know, she's out there doing a lot of gardening.
00:41She's digging up stuff.
00:42She's weeding.
00:43She wears overalls.
00:45She does. She bakes.
00:46And I'm not just saying this.
00:48Probably the greatest sourdough bread in the world.
00:52Oh, she's a trad wife.
00:54A what? Yeah, a traditional wife.
00:56That's that's trending right now on social media.
00:58I I want. Could you send me her starter for the sourdough?
01:02Oh, you know about this. You know, yes.
01:04Yes. I want to get into it.
01:06What is the first of all?
01:08Matt's here to talk sports and football.
01:10What is the trad wife?
01:11Trad wife is like like ballerina.
01:13Farms is the number one trad wifer right now.
01:15And she she went to Juilliard.
01:17She used to be a ballerina.
01:19And her she and her husband own a farm.
01:22And she like she gets her coffee in the morning.
01:24She goes out to the farm, milks the cow into the coffee.
01:27Like everything is really farm to table, farm to table.
01:31She hasn't gotten there yet.
01:32I mean, we have chickens.
01:34Would you like her to milk the cow into your coffee?
01:38At this point right now, she'd have to milk a chicken or a duck.
01:40OK, that's what we have.
01:41All right. And I don't know.
01:43According to Mr. Fokker, you can milk anything.
01:45Yeah, I can. I got nipples.
01:48Can you milk me?
01:50Oh, all right.
01:52Well, the trad wife, you have one.
01:56And congratulations on that.
01:57I appreciate it.
01:58Listen, on the way in here, I was so fired up.
02:01I got to listen to one of the greatest songs.
02:04So by the way, when when you become a Rhode Islander driving to Massachusetts,
02:07even though it's like like eight minutes to the border is almost like too much.
02:12You know what I'm saying?
02:13I used to hear this, too.
02:14Like, oh, I got to go all the way to North Attleboro.
02:16I'm like, dude, you live in Smithfield.
02:17That's literally seven and a half miles.
02:20But pretty easy commute this morning.
02:23So I don't know what you guys report on the roadways.
02:24It's pretty, pretty smooth out there.
02:26And I listen to the great Philip Bailey and Phil Collins.
02:29Oh, easy lover. Yeah, that is a great song.
02:32She's amazing.
02:34She'll get a hold on you.
02:36I love Phil Collins.
02:38Yeah, baby.
02:39Speaking of getting a hold on things,
02:43is there any way to fix this offensive line
02:46when it comes to the New England Patriots?
02:48By the way, at this point, who cares?
02:49I mean, I know I'm dead serious.
02:51OK, and I guess a little context on that one.
02:56What are you learning?
02:57Like, like what are your what are your listeners learning?
03:00Like I'm going to say this much as a guy in.
03:02And again, I know that you can't take this tack
03:05because you guys have to talk about things and you got to do stuff.
03:08I could care less about the preseason.
03:09I could care less about the preseason more today than ever before.
03:13There's nothing you're going to learn.
03:14Look into the Bulls fly for real week one. Why even?
03:18I mean, look, I know I know it's fun to see who they're rotating
03:22and how they're mixing people in.
03:23I know it's fun to see what a Drake May is going to do versus,
03:26you know, Jacoby Perced.
03:28And I know there's all this controversy and in a new coach.
03:30That's great, man.
03:31But none of this matters.
03:33None of it matters.
03:33This is like you and Wiggy
03:37and maybe Tom Brady and others are.
03:41It's a it's a completely different thing
03:44than it was when you guys played preseason wise. Yeah. Yeah.
03:47And but but I think fundamentally, like the problem is and I feel like the
03:52the guy that's always preaching this message, but there is no
03:56possible opportunity there and that's terrible English.
04:00There's not a there's no way in hell any of these guys are getting the reps
04:05they need. That's number one.
04:07You have to understand that. And that's so foundational.
04:09Now, listen, if you're a wide receiver, if you're a DB, if you're a skilled player
04:14where most of your time is running around on a field,
04:17you can get yourself in pretty good shape, right?
04:20But if you are anywhere near the trenches, if you're a tight end,
04:24if you're an outside linebacker, if you're a down lineman, both sides of the ball,
04:28there's not the ability to get yourself in football condition at all.
04:32Period. End of story.
04:34So what you see year in and year out are a lot of injuries,
04:38a lot of injuries.
04:39Think about it.
04:40Go back over the last just say three seasons and look at the number of guys.
04:44And not just Aaron Rodgers.
04:45I mean, obviously there's big names, but this happens on every single team
04:49all season long. Major injuries.
04:51Why? Because they're not in shape.
04:53Why? Because they can't practice.
04:54Why? Because the rules literally prohibit them
04:57from doing the one thing to get them in shape.
04:59And oh, by the way, they also can't line up right.
05:02They also can't just do the fundamental things from a from a, you know,
05:06mental aspect because they don't practice.
05:09It's a big problem. Yeah.
05:11And we've talked about that a lot as far as, you know,
05:14the physical part of the game changing and the mental part of the game.
05:18Guys don't prepare.
05:19I was saying this the other day that there are a lot of guys
05:22that are playing in today's football because this was all over the about
05:26the tour thing that could not play in our era before our era
05:31because of coaches.
05:33When I thought it was Bill Parcells, like mentally,
05:35they're not strong enough to handle the stress.
05:38By the way, Jelani Tavai is probably listening to this right now, saying old,
05:43old man's screaming at clouds.
05:45I have two of you guys. Yeah, I am.
05:48He's going to join us in a minute.
05:49And he's probably saying, yes, here's.
05:51Oh, great. Light and Wiggins.
05:54When did they play in the 70s? Yeah.
05:57Yeah. But, you know, here's the thing, right?
05:58So on one hand, if you're a listener, you could be saying, OK, well,
06:02these guys are doing something like that,
06:04or they're saying that these guys aren't tough. That's not at all, man.
06:06I mean, look, if you walk in these locker rooms today,
06:08you're going to see a lot of tough guys.
06:10These guys, you know,
06:12there's there's nothing that would prevent them from playing back in our time
06:15other than the fact that they literally cannot do it.
06:18The league created rules that don't allow them.
06:21So if the league were to go back and say, hey, you know what?
06:24We did make a we made a mistake.
06:25OK, the reason we did all this is so we could get our 17th game.
06:28We all know that. Right.
06:29And the reason that we by the way, dead serious end of story.
06:33The only reason that coming out of the 2011 CBA,
06:36that they made the change that they did was because of player
06:39safety, health and wellness.
06:40Well, obviously, that's not true.
06:42The game's less safe today than it's ever been.
06:44So it was clearly all about the 17th game and probably getting the 18th game.
06:48And hey, by the way, free market society guy, go out there,
06:50make as much money as you can because everybody wins.
06:52The players getting paid more now.
06:54But the game is terrible.
06:56I'm in favor to real two days.
06:59I'm in favor of the 18th game
07:01because we get the Monday after the Super Bowl as a holiday.
07:05That's why I'm in favor of it.
07:07It wouldn't change for us, so it doesn't really matter.
07:10Matt Light is here and you can hang around for a while, right?
07:14I'm in it to win it, my friend.
07:15All right.
07:16Right now, because it is a Patriots preseason Friday,
07:21we are joined by Patriots linebacker Jelani Tavai.
07:25And he is brought to you by Shaw's in Star Market.
07:28Perfecting the art of fresh and by find mass money dot gov.
07:32Hey, Jelani.
07:35Hey, what's up, man?
07:36How are you doing?
07:37Well, we got a couple old guys in here.
07:41They're talking about how you guys, you're not mentally tough
07:44and you're not physically tough.
07:46I think is what I don't take the bait, man.
07:51Yeah, I think that's what I was.
07:53I think that's what I heard.
07:58Well, you've been I can't agree to disagree.
08:01You know, I don't know. Yeah.
08:03Well, I mean, listen, you've been doing this for a while now, so
08:06what's that?
08:09I can only speak for myself and I don't know.
08:13Well, do you I mean, from a preseason perspective,
08:16do you feel like you get what you need to get out of it?
08:21Oh, I would say yes or no.
08:24I think I think that over here in New England,
08:28we do a great job of making sure that the toughest days are,
08:32you know, are during practice.
08:35So I think that, you know, when I was listening in and hearing
08:38about the conditioning part, I feel like most teams don't condition like we do.
08:43And I'm sure all the guys who have played here in the past
08:47understand that and understand that they were here with Bill.
08:50They know about the hill.
08:52They know about the the the late practices where we have to condition
08:57even after a two minute drill or something.
08:59So, you know, like I love I love the way that we practice
09:03because they do, you know, somewhat get us ready for the games.
09:08And we have to prepare that way during practice and make sure that
09:12we put ourselves in the toughest situations that way,
09:14that when it comes to the game time, we know how to manage
09:19and how to make sure that we're ready for those, you know, those fast drives
09:23where some teams a little tempo or or, you know, late in the fourth quarter.
09:27So I feel like we do a great job here at practices that way,
09:31that when when game time does come, we're prepared and ready
09:36for any type of situation, whether we're dog tired or not.
09:40Hey, Jelani, Matt Light here.
09:41Listen, and as a former player rep, man, you got to be real careful
09:44talking about those late practices with Bill.
09:47I mean, clearly that doesn't happen with Gerard.
09:49I mean, you guys, you know, you're adhering to the overall time frame.
09:52And, you know, you guys are off the field when you're supposed to be
09:55not doing anything crazy. I get it. I get it.
09:58Oh, yeah, yeah.
09:59You know, with the with the wink wink. Yeah, yeah.
10:04Jelani, one of the things one of the things that I, you know,
10:08I try to look at and it's hard because, you know, yeah, we are old men
10:11who are not in the locker room no more.
10:13And one of the things that I look at is the preparation
10:17and how guys prepare on their own.
10:20Are they studying the film? Are they looking at the film?
10:23When you start to look at some of the younger players
10:25as they come in through college,
10:27do you feel like they're in a position where you see a lot of
10:33self-preparation rather than only preparation
10:37when the coaches are there telling them, hey, watch some film, do some studying?
10:43I think it's a bit of both.
10:44But we've been we've been getting the right guys so far on who who cares,
10:50you know, so a lot of the younger guys will pull us aside.
10:55And I can only speak on the defensive part because I'm right now,
10:58you know, doing training camp.
10:59We're really just with our position or with our groups because we don't
11:04you know, the offense has their own schedule.
11:07And, you know, then they meet they meet all day.
11:09So, yeah, I would assume that they're taking care of business on their side.
11:15So on the defensive aspect, though, we do have the younger guys
11:18who do care, who are asking the vets on about technique
11:23or how they see things on film.
11:26And then. You know, they need to do that,
11:30first of all, because they're already months behind us
11:35on the playbook, on how it is to be a vet and or how it is to be just a NFL player.
11:40So I would I would expect them to do that.
11:44And and luckily they have been.
11:46So I mean, so far it's been it's been good.
11:50I mean, of course, you're going to have the strength like the guys
11:52who will do their own thing, but.
11:55An overall aspect, I think that we have the right guys
11:58as we're talking about our younger guys.
12:00Yeah, listen, you hit on a good point defensively, right?
12:04When I think about training camp, you guys read and react to things, right?
12:07That's what you do, right?
12:09Whatever the offense is is showing you, you have to, you know, find a way
12:12to to read and react in real time, right?
12:15So naturally in training camp, the defense is typically ahead of the game, right?
12:19It's tougher for the offense to get on the same page.
12:22You know, you're trying to execute plays and run routes to the right depth,
12:25all that kind of stuff.
12:26And with a new offense and with new guys and a new head coach,
12:30I mean, I could I could see where in training camp
12:32you guys are definitely ahead of the game defensively
12:36when it comes to practice back and forth, right?
12:38What what I think, though, is is interesting is,
12:41you know, look, not that long ago
12:43we were able to hit back to back days, right?
12:45And I don't maybe I'm wrong.
12:47I don't think you guys can hit back to back days.
12:49And, you know, I think it takes away from your ability
12:52to really get yourself in football shape. Right.
12:56And I know you don't have to hit to be in football shape necessarily
12:59from just that standpoint.
13:01But do you feel like, you know, you can go out there and in training camp,
13:06put yourself in the in the best position possible?
13:10And maybe you can't answer this because you weren't in the era
13:13of when we did hit like that.
13:14But do you feel ready to go week one physically?
13:20I think I feel ready to go week one.
13:25I mean, this past week we've had was, I think
13:28I think we went two or three days straight with full time.
13:31And it was a pretty physical day for everybody.
13:34And we were, I think
13:37definitely everybody was getting angry with each other
13:39because we were just trying to
13:41I think we were just trying to dominate the offense.
13:43So I think practices, you know,
13:47I think you have to put yourself in that situation,
13:50whether it's your impact or not.
13:52You have to you have to create the low pad level
13:56like mindset where you have to as much as you don't want to like stay low,
14:00like whether it's a block, whether it's a tackle or you chasing
14:04after the ball in open field, you have to put yourself
14:07like in kind of a game reality situation.
14:11You know, we got guys like I don't know if you guys
14:13seen the video of Pep when he was miked up.
14:16But when we weren't in pads, this guy practices the same way.
14:20He'll come over, hit the guy with his shoulders, get extension
14:24and then fall off and then tag off on the running back.
14:27But his pad level never changes.
14:30You know, so a lot of the younger like when you have a guy like Pep
14:33and you know, I hope I see myself when I when I practice, I do the same.
14:37But when you have a guy like Pep who does it repeatedly
14:40and and you have the younger guys who watch him and, you know, look up to him
14:44because he is he's a big role model for our younger guys, you know, that
14:50that, you know, that that that feeds off of everybody on the defensive side.
14:54So I think that guys just have to understand that when we don't have
14:59a ton of live periods or live practices,
15:02you have to put yourself in the situation where you can imitate
15:07like like how you would play in the game.
15:10A lot of talk last couple of days about Taekwon Thornton, how he looks.
15:13Have you seen an improvement there?
15:17Hell yeah, he's having a really great camp.
15:20I'm really excited to see how he performs Sunday, and then
15:25we'll see where everything goes after that.
15:28Jelani, I'm closer to your age than these old heads sitting with me.
15:31So I always find it interesting when people say, you know,
15:36especially when it comes to Drake May, you know, he wasn't prepared right
15:38in college, the way that the college game is played.
15:41He's not ready to go out there and play a live game in the NFL.
15:44Do you think at some point people just need to give more credit
15:47or put more respect on Drake May's name and say, wait a minute,
15:51he seems calm, cool and collected out there.
15:53Why don't you throw this kid in there and get the reps as soon as possible?
16:00Yeah, I mean, of course, I always give people their flowers, but,
16:05you know, Drake's going to have to prove himself, too.
16:07You know, it's his job to make sure that, you know,
16:11everybody was hating on him or doubting him.
16:14He's got to be the one to, you know, prove him wrong.
16:17You know, so I the way that I see him work in
16:21and the way that I see him approaching each day, I think that,
16:25you know, as the weeks go on, I think that he'll have a great opportunity
16:30to, you know, prove those people wrong.
16:33Fine. Speaking of proving people wrong, final preseason game Sunday,
16:37you guys head into the season underdogs in every single game.
16:42Is that something that you as as a vet and a leader can
16:46and this team can use going into these games?
16:51I don't mind being underdog, man, I've been we've been underdog,
16:54like I've been underdog my whole life, and I love it, you know, because
16:58when teams, you know, think that they can roll over on you,
17:03it's the best type of game to come in and just smack them in the mouth.
17:06You know, so I'm excited for the season.
17:10I'm excited for Sunday.
17:11So I don't know who's playing or not, but if we do get the opportunity,
17:15I'm going to take full advantage of each rep that I get and
17:18and just make sure that I am ready for the week one to come.
17:22You know, I've got to make sure the old heads over here listening
17:24know that we're ready.
17:26Yeah, we're we're we're we're trad players, right?
17:28We're trad players.
17:29Yes, you are, you are.
17:30Yeah, we're trad players.
17:32We are the old heads.
17:33See, Jelani knows trad.
17:34Yeah, all right.
17:36We are the old heads.
17:36Yeah, they both played with leather helmets.
17:38OK, all right, Jelani.
17:41Listen, good luck Sunday.
17:42I did too, but just a bit.
17:45I definitely got to play with a leather head, but just in a different sport.
17:51All right, listen, go get them Sunday
17:53and we'll look forward to talking to you a week from today
17:56as we get ready to start the season. All right.
18:00Perfect. We all have a wonderful day.
18:01All right. There he is, Jelani Tavai.
18:04He's the nicest guy.