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Turnaround title: How Patriots went from AFC basement to Super Bowl 60
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- Turnaround title: How Patriots went from AFC basement to Super Bowl 60
DENVER – As Will Campbell answered questions amid a victorious celebration in the visitor's locker room, where the New England Patriots toasted their 10-7 victory over the Denver Broncos in the AFC championship game with cans of Miller Lite, Garrett Bradbury had to interject.
"He doesn't even know what (expletive) means," Bradbury shouted.
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How could a rookie left tackle put this into perspective? Bradbury, a seven-year veteran who was part of a high-impact free-agent class signed last offseason, could hardly describe the "absolute dogfight" that led to the Patriots becoming kings of the AFC – for a league-leading 12th time.
"You can't put into words what this means," Bradbury said. "It doesn't feel real. It's like a simulation, like, 'What's going on?'
"The vibes in this locker room, the celebration with this team, it means everything."
The Patriots have heard from every corner of the football ecosystem how undeserving the pennant is. The easy regular-season schedule , the turnover luck, the fact that the Denver Broncos had to start Jarrett Stidham at quarterback in place of the injured Bo Nix . The Pats will be underdogs in Super Bowl 60 regardless of opponent.
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The 53 guys in the locker, the coaching staff, the front office – to put it mildly – do not care. How else do you go from 4-13 to 14-3, AFC East champions and now bound for the Super Bowl for the first time since the 2018 season?
"You have to believe things, sometimes," head coach Mike Vrabel said, "before you can see them."
Welcome to the Church of Vrabes, Pats Nation.
"You get everybody to believe in something and buy in, and that doesn't come without adversity," said Vrabel, who repeated his popular refrain that his coaching calling is rooted in supporting the players.
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As a 14-year NFL linebacker, he's been in their position. As someone who won three Super Bowls as part of the first era of the New England Patriots ' dynasty of the early 2000s, he's been to the game's mountaintop on multiple occasions and wants others to feel the sense of accomplishment that comes with that. He wants it for their families who make sacrifices. For the players themselves. For the fans.
"They're fun to coach. They're entertaining," Vrabel said of his team. "They've been resilient. They've been very coachable. There's a lot of connectivity in them. I appreciate what they do."
Having a second-year quarterback who is an MVP candidate in Drake Maye also helps when it comes to establishing winning ways. Now Maye and Vrabel did something not even Tom Brady and Bill Belichick could manage during their dynastic domination – win a playoff game at Mile High.
"I respect and appreciate what the Patriots dynasty did, and unfortunately, they didn't come out with some wins here, but we changed that narrative and look forward to bringing our best football to Santa Clara," Maye said. "That'll be pretty special."
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Patriots turnaround engineered in offseason roster overhaul
Patriots executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf said that the offseason priority, working with Vrabel, was finding players who "would fit our culture, that happened to be available, that were good players," Wolf told USA TODAY Sports. "We were able to hit on some of those guys."
The key was that those signings, in most cases, outplayed the league-wide expectation of them.
"Which is, really, a testament to their work ethic," Wolf said. "It's been fun to watch. It's really cool to work with Mike and understand what he's looking for in players.
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"It's one of the coolest things about Mike – it's all genuine. It's all 'This is what the expectation is.' And if you're not going to be up to it, you're probably not going to be here too long. But it's really cool to see guys come in here and trust the guy next to him and work for each other. It's not a selfish group at all."
For defensive lineman Milton Williams , one of those coveted free agents, the postseason was a chance to stand out in the locker room. As of the divisional round, he was the only player who was still going at that point a year prior (as a member of the eventual Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles ).
"Crazy. It's crazy. I didn't expect it this fast," said Williams, who started believing this team could be special following a Week 5 win on the road against the Buffalo Bills on "Sunday Night Football." "But we got a bunch of dogs that's hungry. A lot of guys that have been counted out … nobody really believing in us all year, picking everybody else all year, all this noise. None of that matters when you go out on that field and do what you're supposed to do."
Right tackle Morgan Moses , who was emotional coming off the field, called his sons upon entering the locker room. They were crying. He started crying more. He thought about how the Patriots went 9-0 on the road. In Moses' view, it was the road less-traveled.
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"It took me 12 years to get here," he said. "But I didn't get here by myself."
That's what a football team is, Moses said. And when it all works out, this is the outcome.
"Just the brotherhood that we built," Moses said. "All the guys that we bought in in free agency, hats off to our front office, the guys we drafted."
One example of the brotherhood is the bond Moses formed with Campbell, whose locker is adjacent to Moses' at the team facility.
"Will came to me and was like 'Yo, I appreciate everything that you do. A lot of guys your age wouldn't play through some of the things that you play through,'" Moses said.
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To hear that from the rookie he took under his wing from day one meant a lot.
"I feel like I've learned more from him than he's learned from me," Moses said. "I feel like that's the nature of the game."
'We've been through so much.' Pats point to Vrabel as team's consistent
Campbell remembered telling Wolf and Vrabel during the pre-draft process that he wanted to be part of the organization "for reasons like this." The years of losing at the end of Belichick's tenure and the one season of 4-13 Jerod Mayo-led futility didn't scare him.
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"Any time you walk through a place of work that's the only goal in mind," Campbell said. "We don't show up to lose.
"I'm just super-grateful to be here."
Another rookie, running back TreVeyon Henderson , acknowledged the "rough seasons" before 2025.
"Just being able to have Coach Vrabes come in and help turn this organization to be where we are now, it's amazing," he said. "But it took a lot of hard work. Yeah, it took a lot, man. We've been through so much this year."
The one constant in each player's postgame message revolved around one person – Vrabel. After the Tennessee Titans made the mistake of firing him following the 2023 season, Vrabel went from being shown the door to opening new ones for a new group of players.
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"He's meant everything," tight end Hunter Henry said. "Just his mentality, his balance of being a player but also coaching in this league. Demanding a lot but also understanding us in a way has been huge."
Wide receiver Stefon Diggs , who had five receptions for 17 yards, said he realized leadership in the NFL flows from the top down. Holding everyone accountable becomes a self-policing standard in the locker room among the players themselves.
"The camaraderie and the team chemistry that he's built from the head coaching position," Diggs said, "I hope he wins Coach of the Year."
Bradbury said the term player-friendly is thrown around a lot but it often takes form in different ways – few with as much impact as Vrabel's had in roughly one year.
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"He's hard on us when he needs to be but he's also fun a lot of time," Bradbury said. "I think this whole locker room will ride with that guy.
"He's absolutely unbelievable. To share the vision that he wanted in April, and to see it come to fruition – and you're never arrived, you're constantly trying to show who you are and put it on film."
Bradbury called the 2025 season the most rewarding year of his football career.
A journey that includes a flight back to New England , eventually, as a massive snowstorm blanketed the northeast United States and delayed the Pats' homecoming. As of Vrabel's postgame meeting with the team, the buses for the airport were leaving the hotel at 8 a.m.
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To that end, he instituted no curfew for his players Sunday night in Denver. If they missed the bus the next morning, however, they would not play in the Super Bowl. Nobody in their right mind would want to miss out on the ride, figuratively or literally, at this point.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Patriots' Super Bowl turnaround starts, ends with Mike Vrabel
