New England Patriots cornerback Carlton Davis III (7) during an NFL football game, Sunday, Nov. 2, 2025 in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Vera Nieuwenhuis) AP
FOXBOROUGH — As he thought back about that day before the season, New England cornerback Carlton Davis admitted he was skeptical.
The Patriots coaches were asking him to put on a blindfold, while teammate Pop Douglas talked him through an obstacle course.
“We were matched up with a partner who was somebody who wasn’t in our position group,” Davis said. “So it was somebody who we probably wouldn’t talk to that much.”
Davis smiled at the memory.
“We’re wearing a blindfold and we’re kind of just going through this obstacle course,” Davis said. “And the guy is just coaching you up like ‘Take two steps forward. Hop over this object. Take two steps to the side.’ And he has to literally lead you through this obstacle course. So, it’s like a trust kind of game.”
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The team-building activity was one of those devices that sports movies like to use to illustrate a team coming together. But here was an NFL team using it in real life.
Davis has been in the NFL for eight seasons and played for five teams that made the playoffs. But he hadn’t seen this approach before.
“At the moment I’m like, ‘What are we doing?’ But through those drills, you started to see guys come together and guys create camaraderie and it worked,” Davis said. “You start to see a change.”
At the end, he and Douglas were a little closer and the Patriots were a little closer.
Brotherhood and chemistry can sometimes be a clichéd concept in sports. Teams decide they’re going to have it before it actually occurs.
Getting along and caring about each other is an ingredient that contributes to some teams being successful, but they aren’t essential. History is loaded with teams that have won despite a lack of closeness.
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New England Patriots cornerback Carlton Davis III (7) leaves the field after an NFL football game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Sunday, Nov. 9, 2025, in Tampa, Fla. Patriots defeated the Buccaneers 28-23. (AP Photo/Gary McCullough)AP
But for this Patriots team, it has been indispensable. They’re not that deep and they’re not so talented that they can win on talent differential alone. Their culture has given them a boost. That’s been the hard-to-quantify but still hard-to-ignore part of the difference Vrabel has provided.
The impact of culture was apparent when the team gathered to FaceTime with Jahlani Tavai after Sunday’s win. Tavai missed the game while dealing with a family concern.
“That game was so important to us for a number of reasons. One of the reasons being our teammate Jahlani had had a rough week and he was heavy on our hearts,” Davis said. “Before the game we wanted to play for him and make it about our family within this facility.
“It was one of those moments where we felt like a family, like a real family. And that’s what football’s all about,” he continued. “It’s about creating that brotherhood, having each other’s back on and off the field. To be able to FaceTime him after a tough win and to see his smile, and to see him in better spirits was everything for us.”
On a Patriots roster filled with new players, many of them didn’t know Tavai before this year. But three months into the season, they’re invested in him, in his life and well-being.
Davis believes this team is wired differently than most, and his perspective is a valuable one. He won a Super Bowl in Tampa and was part of the upstart Lions team that went 15-2 last year. He wasn’t here for the miserable days in recent years. He knows what success looks like and feels like.
“The best teams are the teams that play for one another. Not just talk about it or make it like a gimmick. But actually you feel it and there’s action behind it,” he said. “We are here for football but it’s transpired into something bigger than that off the field. Like a brotherhood.
“The way coach has structured this and made us close and kind of like got us in this brotherhood relationship. It’s easy to do it. It’s not even like it’s forced.”
Davis said the camaraderie feeds the team’s play and the success enhances the camaraderie.
“Playing games in the NFL is hard, but also winning games in the NFL is hard. And when you’re able to do that, you create a bond because you’ve accomplished something that you’ve put so much work into,” he said. “And I think when you start to win more, you start to bond more and you start to just have more love for each other because you know the guy next to you isn’t just talk. He really wants to play for you.”