With long-time Patriots left tackle Matt Light -- a member of the franchise's 50th Anniversary team -- out with a knee injury and rookie Sebastian Vollmer doing a nice job in Light's absence, coach Bill Belichick did not dismiss on Monday the possibility that Light won't be automatically reinserted into the lineup once he's healthy.
"We'll deal with the situation when he comes back," Belichick told Ian Rapoport of the Boston Herald after a press conference. "I don't know when that's going to be. In all honestly, too many good players, not a problem. Not enough, that's the problem. Both guys have showed they can play that position very competitively, and we'll deal with it when it's an option. The last couple weeks, it's hasn't been option."
Rapoport compares the situation to the final days of the Drew Bledsoe era. After Bledsoe suffered internal injuries on a wicked sideline hit during the 2001 regular season, Tom Brady took over. Belichick faced a tough decision once Bledsoe became healthy during the playoffs -- but history tells us that Belichick nailed it by sticking with Brady for Super Bowl XXXVI and beyond.
Though Light doesn't have the same name recognition, the position of left tackle is nearly as important. The Pats hold Light's rights through the 2010 season, at a base salary of $4.25 million this year and $4.5 million next season.
Vollmer, a second-round pick in 2009, is under contract through 2012, with league-minimum base salaries following the slotted guaranteed money he received.
Belichick hints Light might not get his job back
Posted by Mike Florio on November 10, 2009 6:42 AM ET
Permalink
31 Comments 
Latest stories in: Injuries, Latest News and Rumors, NFL Mobile Exclusives - Injuries, New England Patriots, Top Stories
Latest stories in: Injuries, Latest News and Rumors, NFL Mobile Exclusives - Injuries, New England Patriots, Top Stories
Another one bites the dust.
It's all about the money, nothing else.
Imagine having a viable backup to replace your starting tackle ? Hell, Green Bay can't find one good one.
This shows how classy Belichick is. If it was ME, I wouldn't talk to anyone at that rag of a newspaper ever again after the lies they published the day of the Super Bowl.
Vollmer is a beast. Not a bad problem to have to make a decision.Can always slide him to RT.
I bet the Green Bay Packers wish they had this situation.
We'll see how Vollmer does against Freeney this week. God knows Light can't handle him.
So a rarity may come up. A good left tackle available for trade this spring.
Headline could have as easily read: "Belichick hints Light might get his job back"
Vollmer has been a really nice surprise.. no question. As a Pats fan, I was pretty nervous about a rookie coming in and playing the "blindside." I thought for sure they would shift Kaczur but the kid has good feet, plays at a solid level and has an unbelievable punch.
Hopefully, Light heals quickly because you can never have enough OL'men as the season wears on.
Light will get his job back but could be shopped for a nice pick now that Vollmer has emerged so soon.
It just goes to show....Belichick made another excellent draft pick. That position is one of the most difficult to play yet a rookie is doing a better job of it than a 10 year veteran because they did their homework and made a good pick. It's not about the money because, if the guy couldn't get it done, it wouldn't matter how much money he made, he wouldn't play. Belichick plays the players that will best help him win, whether the guy is making $5.00 or $5 million.
Why would they trade Light? Two starting caliber LTs with a combined salary of $5 mill. Injuries are the norm, and the Pats are covered with great depth.
The real question: Why did the draft experts at ESPN label Vollmer as a 4th round project while the Patriots saw a guy who could step in as a rookie, hence the 2nd round selection. I see alot of Walter Jones in the SeaBass
@Another one bites the dust.
"It's all about the money, nothing else."
________________________________________
You're wrong. It's also about talent and protecting your franchise QB's blind-side. Belichick has always shown that he will play whichever player will help the team. Florio just wrote a post about BB last week illustrating his management style and this was one of the points. Anybody can move up or down his depth chart. If the Raiders (as an example) embraced a similar philospohy they wouldn't be playing that dog of a QB and they would cut their losses by getting someone off the wire who could help them win.
No surprise, they lose a left tackle, one of the most important positions - - No problem, we got another guy whose just as good and costs less.
By the way, BB also said it depends on Light’s level of play when he does come back.
“Sometimes when players come back, they’re not really ready to play a whole game, from a conditioning or physical standpoint or whatever,” Belichick told the Herald. “If that’s what it is, maybe you work him in slowly. If that’s not the case, maybe you don’t. Depends on the level of play of the person they’re coming in for.”
I would say that is common sense thinking seeing Light is coming off a significant injury that more than a "ding", and seeing that he plays the most important position (with the Center) on the O-line.
Joe, you just don't get it do you? Typical Toronto Maple Leaf thinking (the reason TML haven't won a cup in 42 years). ForBB, it's not about loyalty, it's about having the best damn team on the field. Why do you think Milloy, Vrabel, Seymour, etc. were released/traded? Wake up buddy and smell the Tim Horton's.
Another one bites the dust.
It's all about the money, nothing else.
^^^^^^^
No, it's about performance. Matt Light was badly overmatched early this season. Good DE's usually dominate Light, blowing him back 5 yards off the line every play. God forbid he faced off against Freeney this week...it would not be pretty.
Light being replaced is long overdue, in my opinion. Love what I've seen out of Vollmer so far.
blackglass says:
November 10, 2009 6:52 AM
This shows how classy Belichick is. If it was ME, I wouldn't talk to anyone at that rag of a newspaper ever again after the lies they published the day of the Super Bowl.
________
CLASS??? Certainly something that Belicheat has NONE of. Only you Pats fan MORONS would think otherwise...oh, excuse me, you Pats morons don't "think", you only follow whatever the lame ass sportswriters for the Globe tell you to "think"...just like the sheep that you all are.
hayward giablommi says:
November 10, 2009 9:01 AM
Another one bites the dust.
It's all about the money, nothing else.
^^^^^^^
No, it's about performance. Matt Light was badly overmatched early this season. Good DE's usually dominate Light, blowing him back 5 yards off the line every play. God forbid he faced off against Freeney this week...it would not be pretty.
Light being replaced is long overdue, in my opinion. Love what I've seen out of Vollmer so far.
__________
Freeney is gonna just LOVE feasting on the rookie. LMFAO!!!!
As usual, haywoodjablowtheentirepatsteam is blowing Vollmer prematurely.
Yes.....Vollmer has looked good, and has a lot of potential.
But.....in case you didn't watch the game last week..... they often gave Vollmer a lot of help. They had another tackle, Mark LeVoir, line up off the ball next to Vollmer, to help out with Jason Taylor.
They essentially sacrificed a receiver in the pass route, in order to assure that Brady remained upright.
CLASS??? Certainly something that Belicheat has NONE of. Only you Pats fan MORONS would think otherwise...oh, excuse me, you Pats morons don't "think", you only follow whatever the lame ass sportswriters for the Globe tell you to "think"...just like the sheep that you all are
________
You might as well extend that "sheep" analogy to almost every Patriot players... past AND present.
Very very few of them have negative things to say about the man you hate soooo much.
Got to wonder why that is?
Hint: I've heard that BB is actually very likable outside the podium..
Cornflorio - you wouldn't know what class is if it bit you in the ass. You are a waste of oxygen. Do us all a favor and get off the planet.
Going to love seeing a rookie stopping a guy who is getting long in the tooth in a more than 20 point beat down win over the Dolts.....
Vollmer was good this week, but I'm not ready to risk Brady's safety to a one game wonder just yet. True Patriots fans have seen Matt Light screw up often enough, but when the chips are down I'd take his experience over the rook's physical attributes.
Wow... easy to see there are few people here who actually know anything about football. Light may not get his job back on the left side because Vollmer is a beast. We are talking about a huge tackle with very long arms and good technique who keeps d-linemen at bay. Joey "Foot in the Mouth" Porter was completely ineffective against him and got very frustrated... and Vollmer had little help all day.
Many of us Patriot fans want to see Vollmer develop into the blindside spot and move Light to right tackle, where he would be an upgrade over Nick Kaczur. And if Vollmer has a good game against Freeney this week, that's exactly what I think will happen.
Keep up all the Pats hating there you boneheads. Some of it is actually entertaining, and the rest just proves you to be the idiots that you are. It's really too bad that you're allowed to use the computer and visit this site between porn stops. Does your boss know?
Hey Patsfansince73... speaking as another Pats fan... just a thought for you. It doesn;t help you make your case that someone else (Florio) is classless when you show up and act classless yourself.
Yes, we will beat the Dolts, and then we are trading you for a fan to be named later.
Cornflorio, I'm hoping you have a cardiologist on retainer. If you get this upset over a BB story, what in God's name do you do to people who cut you off in traffic?
I watched the game Nuckin. I was sitting right there in section 129. Everytime they brought in LeVoir it was as a part of a 2 tight end set that they used to run the ball down Miami's throat. They passed out of that set once, on the final drive, to a wide open Randy Moss after Miami was forced to put 8 men in the box. Nuckin, don't ever let the facts stand in the way of your lame-ass argument!
"Nuckinfutz says:
November 10, 2009 9:29 AM
Yes.....Vollmer has looked good, and has a lot of potential.
But.....in case you didn't watch the game last week..... they often gave Vollmer a lot of help. They had another tackle, Mark LeVoir, line up off the ball next to Vollmer, to help out with Jason Taylor.
They essentially sacrificed a receiver in the pass route, in order to assure that Brady remained upright."
The reason Vollmer was projected as a late round pick was because he was very raw. Had all the physical tools, but lacked alot else. That's why Dante Scarnecchia is the best O-Line coach in the game and why Bill reached for Vollmer in the 2nd round. Put any guy with potential under his tutelage and you're on to a winner.
I'm not worried about handling the Colts unless the game is rigged like the AFC championship game. The PATs were hit with over 140 yards of penalties, many were horrible calls. I knew then they were rigging the game so Tony Dungy and Manning could finally get a ring. If it wasn't rigged, the Colts would never have sniffed a Superbowl.
If Vollmer continues to improve week in and week out at the LT spot, moving Light to RT would make sense as that tackle spot does more pulling.
The big guy has shown he can roll into the center of the line to stop a stunting DL as well. He didn't have that much one on one help with Porter and when Taylor lined up on his end. LeVoir was put in as part of a two tight end set as he reported his number eligible just about every time he went in.
Vollmer has been very solid, with a big test against a quick DE in Freeney.
Makes me wonder why they signed kazcur to an extension. vollmer should stay at left, with light sliding to the right
Nuckin... you aren't dealing with the facts... they only helped out Vollmer on a handful of plays against the Fins defense Most of the time he handled Miss Porter all on his own. One of the guys on WEEI counted the number of plays where he had help, and it wasn't many. I expect they will give him a bit more help against Freeney in order to give Brady the time to get the ball down the field.
And tb80, I think they signed Kaczur to the extension because they didn't have another tackle they knew they could rely on... there was no way to know that Vollmer would begin to flourish this soon. But it's going to be a nice problem to have in terms of depth.
apaulingbehaviour:
If it wasn't all about the money, your team would still have the veterans needed to win the Super Bowl, albeit with a much higher payroll.
As it is now, you have a much lower payroll, but no real chance of winning the Super Bowl.
Get it?
As for Russell, no one here has criticized Russell more than me, EVEN THOUGH I'M A DECADES LONG RAIDERS FAN.
I just call em as I see em.