SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- With steak and seafood spread across tables at Mastro's, members of the Patriots' offensive line shared one final meal Wednesday night before the biggest game of their lives.
The portions may have been of Biblical proportions, but this was no Last Supper. Instead, their dinner -- generously funded by the Patriots' in-house media team -- merely served as their last get-together in a season stuffed with time shared.
It's the foundation of this Patriots team and the connective tissue that binds the entire organization as it returns to football's greatest stage on Sunday in Super Bowl LX against the Seahawks. It's also the product of a culture change initiated by coach Mike Vrabel as soon as he arrived to the same club with which he won three Super Bowls as a player.
After all, how else can a team collectively work toward the same goal that adorns every NFL team's annual wish list if they aren't playing for the man next to them?
"I've been on a lot of football teams in my career, but I would have to say this might be the most," Patriots offensive line coach Doug Marrone said Wednesday of the team's togetherness. "The closest team that I've been a part of where I think people truly care about each other. They're genuinely concerned about how others are doing in the building, how others are playing on the field. I think that whenever you're playing for something greater than yourself and you're playing for more of a team and the people next to you, you're playing for a greater cause, I think that gives you an opportunity to be better.
"I think that started with coach Vrabel coming in and really everyone opening up, talking about things that are important to them, learning about other players on the other side of the ball and then really create that communication and create that team, I would say this is probably one of the closest, if not the closest team I've ever been a part of."
Vrabel and his staff cultivated a culture of closeness in their first season in New England by ensuring each player gained a better understanding of who his teammates are, where they came from and why they're suiting up on Sundays. It's about much more than the money, and Vrabel knew if the Patriots -- now known as his Patriots -- were going to return to prominence, they'd only get there with interlocked arms.
The same couldn't be more true for New England's offensive line, a unit that endured significant problems in 2024 and was a priority for the Patriots' front office entering 2025. If they were going to maximize the potential of promising quarterback Drake Maye and climb out of the AFC East cellar, it would only be possible if the Patriots strengthened their trenches.
A frontline makeover ensued. The Patriots signed veteran tackle Morgan Moses, added center Garrett Bradbury and spent two draft picks (including their first-round selection) on LSU tackle Will Campbell and Georgia center Jared Wilson. In one offseason, the Patriots replaced four of their five starters, bringing in new blood to surround returning right guard Mike Onwenu.
Talent accrual was the first step. Assembling and developing was the next, a much more important part of the process, which is where Marrone entered the equation.
The task was no small matter. In one offseason, Marrone would need to coach up an almost entirely new starting five in time for them to perform effectively amid the fire of an NFL season.
"I was always a little bit concerned as a position coach," Marrone said. "How are the young guys, how are they going to implement into the veteran play? I think everyone in the league, most offensive lines, the culture is pretty good. But we had a bunch of guys coming in that were new. You bring in Mo (Moses), you bring in Bradbury, we're drafting players. How are these guys all going to fit in? Do they really know each other or not?"
Fortunately, Vrabel's culture shift had already started to take root.
"I think it starts with opening yourself up, respecting the players that have been in the league and done it," Marrone continued. "Out of our veteran players, Mo has the most career starts, and then we have Mike and Bradbury, our center. So now, you have two young guys.
"I've always felt that when I played, I learned a lot from players. I don't want to say I learned more from players than I learned from coaches, but I learned a lot from players. I think that when you have that type of relationship where they truly care about each other and they want each other to be successful, and they can communicate and rely on each other, and you see that early on and throughout the year -- Mo may be spending a lot of time with Will, Mike and Bradbury are spending time with Jared -- I know for me as a coach, it definitely helps me in what we're trying to get done. Because we're not around them as much. They're around each other all the time. They're in the locker room together, they're eating together, doing all those things together. I think that's a benefit."
New England's offseason transformation required more than just buy-in from all four new arrivals. Wilson, a standout center at Georgia, would also have to learn a new position: left guard.
That change made his acclimation even more challenging, but would have been exponentially harder if he didn't join this specific group, one that Onwenu said grows by sharing wisdom that "trickles along" the entire line and includes veterans who "pour back into the younger guys."
"Coming in, making the switch over to left guard from center in college, it was tough," Wilson said this week, letting a sheepish smile peek through. "It was a lot tougher than I thought. If you're an interior offensive lineman, you've got to be able to play all three. But it's not very easy. So I just thank those guys tremendously for helping me get to this point."
With an emphasis on caring for each other becoming pervasive in the building, the veteran trio of Bradbury, Moses and Onwenu didn't need to be convinced to help younger teammates acclimate. They already knew it was among their most important duties -- but understood they needed to learn each other during the process, too.
"I love the game within the game at the center position of getting everyone on the same page," Bradbury explained Thursday. "And that communication definitely early in the season looked a little different to my left than it did to my right. We have almost 20 years of experience on the right side and zero on the left. So it was fun to kind of pick the right side's brain, like 'what do y'all need? How do y'all want me to communicate with you?' Because in Minnesota I played with those guys for five-plus years pretty much across the board.
"It was a good chance to re-prove myself, reinvent myself, figuring out how I need to communicate to young guys and old guys. But it's been fun. Now that we're 21 games into it, I feel really comfortable. I would think they do, too."
Twenty-one games. It's a long season for any NFL player, regardless of experience, and especially grueling for two fresh-faced rookies who only knew the collegiate schedule prior to this year.
On Tuesday, Wilson pointed back to his time at the Georgia and credited Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart for indirectly preparing him for the marathon that is an NFL season. At this point in their journey, Wilson and Campbell might feel as though their extended first campaign has elevated them beyond rookie status.
Not so fast, rook.
"Nah, I can't say that," Campbell said, smiling. "The veterans will get on me. ... All they tell us is me and Jared in the O-line room is how spoiled we are."
If the offensive line room has gained anything from the first season under Vrabel, it's the freedom to keep each other in check.
"I think you gotta dog on them a little bit," Bradbury said of the rookies on Thursday. "We got three rookies in the room, so we like to poke at them. We've all gone through it. It's a fun experience. I've tried to explain to them like 'listen, you go through this one year and the rest of your years, you get to poke at other rookies.' So I think it starts with that, showing them where their place is but then once you get into the thick of the season, they're with us. They're not against us, we're not against them. And you try your best to bring them along and help them in any way you can."
Campbell has attracted the most attention of any Patriots lineman during the week leading up to Super Bowl LX -- for better or worse. As the fourth-overall pick and the first offensive tackle off the board in the 2025 draft, the spotlight will naturally follow him. And after he struggled against a collection of top-tier edge-rushing talent in New England's first two playoff games, he couldn't avoid it, even after he bounced back and didn't allow a sack in the Patriots' AFC Championship Game win over the Denver Broncos.
Campbell offered an insightful explanation for his challenging stretch early in the week, telling reporters he'd been fighting to feel like himself after returning from a regular-season knee injury that cost him five weeks of action.
"Last week was the first week I kind of felt like myself back out there, just moving around, kind of had everything, my timing, everything kind of down," Campbell explained. "I was just excited."
The bonds forged on the field and around the dinner table stretch beyond the starting five; sixth lineman Thayer Munford Jr. has embraced his role as the tight end in jumbo packages. As he talks about his place in the offensive line equation, Munford exudes a desire to sacrifice whatever is necessary to help his team succeed.
"It's more of us doing what we do and not letting anybody down," Munford said on Wednesday. "Doug has done a phenomenal job of coaching us, making sure we're on our P's and Q's with everything. It actually makes us come together as a unit. Yeah, it's one person doing one specific job on one side of the line, but it's everybody doing their own job, too. If somebody messes up their block, that falls on us. It doesn't just fall on that one person. Yeah, he might get criticized more, but it's on our whole offensive line."
That shared responsibility was built on the practice field in the spring. Most Patriots will note they felt the culture shift toward their prosperous future as early as April during OTAs.
April was a long time ago. At the end of a marathon season, the same group that spends each Thursday around the dinner table will take the field in Santa Clara with one final objective in front of them: Win the Super Bowl.
Such an accomplishment would cap a dream-like season that has produced an assortment of lasting impressions for this group.
Munford is having the most fun playing football since his days at Ohio State. Wilson sees the experience as a "lovely" dream he doesn't want to end. Like a proud father, Bradbury feels a sense of accomplishment while embracing the challenge ahead.
Campbell, however, summed it up best.
"This is the pinnacle of sports and to be able to do it at such a young age, when nobody expected us to be here, is pretty cool," he said. "I love this group of guys and I wouldn't want to do it with anyone else."
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