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The New England Patriots are in their 12th Super Bowl in franchise history, but only a handful of players on this year’s roster have ever experienced the “Big Game” in their careers.
Good thing they have a head coach who knows a thing or two about what it takes to win it.
Mike Vrabel has had a dream first year as coach of his former team, which he helped win three Super Bowls in the early 2000s. His leadership, along with the rest of his coaching staff, has been instrumental in turning a four-win team over the past two NFL seasons into one worthy enough to reach the pinnacle of football once again.
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New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel celebrates after the AFC Championship game against the Denver Broncos at Empower Field At Mile High on January 25, 2026 in Denver, Colorado. (Cooper Neill/Getty Images)
So what exactly is the message Vrabel has for the Patriots as they prepare to face the Seattle Seahawks over the next week?
“We’re going to the Super Bowl to win the Super Bowl,” backup quarterback Tommy DeVito told Pakinomist Digital while discussing his partnership with Progressive. “That’s it. We’re not just saying, ‘Oh, we made it to the Super Bowl. Cool.’ No, we’re going there to win it.”
Going from a four-win team just a year ago to AFC champions is a big leap for any franchise, but it shocks no one that Vrabel isn’t satisfied with that particular victory. He wants to win it all and so does the rest of the team.
PATRIOTS COACH MIKE VRABEL EXTREMELY REFUSES TO SACRIFICE HE WOULD TAKE HIS MALE ANATOMY TO WIN THE SUPER BOWL
Only five players – Carlton Davis III, Christian Elliss, Mack Hollins, Austin Hooper and Milton Williams – have had any kind of Super Bowl experience in their careers. The rest of the Patriots’ roster is hungry to get their first rings, including DeVito.
“As much as everybody wants to be in that game, you want to be on the winning side of it. The other side I’m sure isn’t too fun after,” he said.
DeVito’s season began on the New York Giants’ roster, where he became a fan-favorite quarterback after having to sit out 2023 and 2024 due to Daniel Jones dealing with injuries. He joined the Patriots’ quarterbacks room after the Giants were overwhelmed with the additions of rookie Jaxson Dart, Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston.
During his time in his home state of New Jersey — the Giants’ facility sits on the same parking lot as MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford — DeVito understood the pedigree of a Super Bowl-winning franchise. But while two of those Vince Lombardi trophies in the hallway were wins over the Patriots, there’s more hardware in Foxborough.
Tommy Devito of the New England Patriots warms up prior to the game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium on November 9, 2025 in Tampa, Florida. (Mike Carlson/Getty Images)
And they didn’t come easy.
That word, “easy,” is one that has been thrown around about this year’s Patriots run back to the Super Bowl. Yes, their regular season strength was near the bottom of the league (30th), but their NFL Playoffs journey has not been. The Patriots faced three of the league’s top-five defenses, including their AFC Championship Game matchup with the No. 1-seeded Denver Broncos on the road.
DeVito admitted that the team inevitably sees talk of how people think the Patriots have had an easy road to this point, but he thinks they’re wrong.
“Everything revolves around your phone, whether you’re scrolling and looking at cars, or watches, or dogs, or whatever, you’re going to see a Patriots thing at some point. At home when we played the Texans, everybody picked the analysts, the reporters — everybody picked the Texans to win,” DeVito asked.
Tommy Devito of the New England Patriots and Drake Maye warm up before the 2025 NFL game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium on September 21, 2025 in Foxborough, Massachusetts. (Jaiden Tripi/Getty Images)
“People think it’s very easy, but not every team has to play Josh Allen twice, and it almost came down to a third team. And then to go on the road, I think they said we were 9-0 the first time on the road. Playing on the road is not easy, no matter what. No matter who the opponent is, the environment is hostile, it’s definitely not easy in the new games, especially in NFL games. The road does it as many times as we had.”
At the end of the day, no matter how tough or easy the opponents have been, the Patriots are back where the franchise expected them to be with Vrabel at the helm. Now it comes down to another game, one that Vrabel knows requires ultimate focus, effort and camaraderie.
PATRIOTS’ MIKE VRABEL DEFENDS DRAKE MAYE INJURY QUESTIONS, SAYS ‘NOBODY IS 100%’ AHEAD OF SUPER BOWL
“It doesn’t matter what happened in the game, who played or whatever. As long as that column says 1-0 after that week, that’s all that matters,” DeVito said.
The Patriots will try to go 1-0 one last time on Feb. 8 at Levi’s Stadium.
Patriots QB Tommy DeVito helps fantasy football losers meet league penalty in Boston. (Progressive)
NEED A BACKUP IN REAL LIFE
DeVito considers himself the ultimate backup for the Patriots, but he’s also one off the field.
As part of Progressive’s Backup campaign, DeVito surprised one, well, unlucky fan who had the fantasy football penalty of having to set up a lemonade stand in freezing cold Boston for a day.
DeVito showed up and surprised the fantasy football loser, and even though it was a chilly night after all the snow that fell while the Patriots beat the Broncos, they sold out the product.
“It was great,” DeVito said of the night in Boston. “We had a lot of fun and got a lot of good content out of it, as well as some spectators who maybe didn’t know what was going on. But they got some lemonade in some five degree weather. So we made it work.
“Progressive has been great up to this point. They’ve been a ton of fun to work with.”
