Patriots will win their 7th Super Bowl because of Mike Vrabel's leadership and an underrated offense

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — As the New England Patriots continued to rack up wins late in the regular season, coach Mike Vrabel shied away from mentioning the idea of a Super Bowl run when he spoke to his team after games.

But there were hints of where he felt this team could go.

“We’ve got to keep going because they keep getting bigger and bigger. They get bigger and bigger," he reminded them after wins late in the season.

Now, those words have manifested themselves into a chance for Vrabel to lead his first Patriots team to the franchise’s seventh Super Bowl title when they meet the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday.

While the players have certainly been the engine — a fact the coach has pointed out on virtually every occasion he’s asked about the team’s success — Vrabel’s leadership can’t be discounted.

And after moderate expectations for this group coming off New England’s back-to-back 4-13 finishes over the past two seasons, the Patriots suddenly have an opportunity to become the sixth team to win a Super Bowl after finishing with a losing record the previous season.

Vrabel has also instilled a sense of urgency into a team that entered the postseason with only 18 players who’d even appeared in a playoff game.

“We’re all just locked in because we know what’s at stake,” cornerback Carlton Davis III said. “We know we don’t get too many chances at this. Making a playoff run just being able to advance in the playoffs and get to this point. We’re just giving it our all. ... It’s paying off right now.”

It begins with quarterback Drake Maye, who in just his second season finished second in MVP voting after posting a league-best 72% completion percentage, to go along with 4,394 passing yards and 31 touchdowns.

He is the fourth quarterback since 2000 to win each of his first three career playoff starts, joining Tom Brady (won first 10), Joe Burrow (three) and Jake Delhomme (three). Maye is also the first quarterback in history to win three games against top five defenses in a single playoffs — the Chargers (No. 5), Texans (No. 1) and Broncos (No. 2).

But it’s the trust he’s built among his offensive teammates that stands out.

“His maturation process is second to none," wide receiver Stefon Diggs said. "One of the best I’ve ever seen from a quarterback position. He’s still super young, which is crazy. He’s had a lot of success, but as I have grown closer to him, I’m a huge fan of him. He’s like a mini inspiration. To be that young, be that mature and be able to play at a high level is something that I always wanted when I was a young player. I’m just happy to be a part of this thing.”

But it’s more than that. Maye is supported by a capable group of wide receivers, led by Diggs, who posted his seventh 1,000-yard season coming off knee surgery.

The group also features big-play threats like Kayshon Boutte and playmakers like DeMario Douglas. That combined with the production from running backs Rhamondre Stevenson and TreVeyon Henderson (four TD runs of 50 or more yards), gives the Patriots the kind of threats that will challenge the Seahawks.

Things could have gone south for his unit after defensive coordinator Terrell Williams took a leave of absence following a cancer diagnosis just before the start of the season.

Instead, linebackers coach Zak Kuhr has stepped into the de factor coordinator role and thrived.

The Patriots were top 10 in total defense, rush defense, pass defense and points allowed. New England’s defense has allowed just two touchdowns this postseason.

“I feel like we’ve always had this under our sleeves,” cornerback Carlton Davis III said. “It’s just coming out now. Everybody’s healthy. And we’re playing for our season. We’re just putting it together. We’re just trying to be the best defense on the field every game and that’s what’s been happening. It’s not some secret to our success. It’s us being ourselves and us playing for one another.”

Davis and fellow cornerback Christian Gonzalez have also played lights out during the playoffs. Davis has allowed no touchdowns and just eight completions (7.5 yards per) the 16 times he’s been targeted this postseason. Gonzalez is allowing completions on only 40.7% of the passes thrown his way (11 of 27) and only 11.6 yards per completion with no touchdowns.

Look no further than punt returner Marcus Jones. He had punt returns of 94 and 87 yards this season, giving the Patriots another way to score at any moment.

Rookie kicker Anthony Borregales has been mostly unflappable, connecting on 27 of his 32 field goal attempts, including all four of 50-plus yards .

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New England Patriots running back Rhamondre Stevenson talks to the media during a news conference Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026, in Santa Clara, Calif., ahead of the Super Bowl 60 NFL football game between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

New England Patriots cornerback Carlton Davis III and cornerback Christian Gonzalez celebrate their win after the AFC Championship NFL football game against the Denver Broncos, Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026, in Denver. (AP Photo/Garrett W. Ellwood)

New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye watches a drill during practice ahead of the Super Bowl 60 NFL football game against the Seattle Seahawks, Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026, in Stanford, Calif. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel talks to the media during a news conference Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026, in Santa Clara, Calif., ahead of the Super Bowl 60 NFL football game between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — A Colorado funeral home owner who stashed 189 decomposing bodies in a building over four years and gave grieving families fake ashes was sentenced to 40 years in state prison Friday.

During the sentencing hearing, family members told Judge Eric Bentley they have had recurring nightmares about decomposing flesh and maggots since learning what happened to their loved ones.

They called defendant Jon Hallford a “monster” and urged the judge to give him the maximum sentence of 50 years.

Bentley told Hallford he caused “unspeakable and incomprehensible” harm.

“It is my personal belief that every one of us, every human being, is basically good at the core, but we live in a world that tests that belief every day, and Mr. Hallford your crimes are testing that belief,” Bentley said.

Hallford apologized before his sentencing and said he would regret his actions for the rest of his life.

“I had so many chances to put a stop to everything and walk away, but I did not,” he said. “My mistakes will echo for a generation. Everything I did was wrong.”

Hallford’s attorney unsuccessfully sought a 30 year sentence, arguing that it was not a crime of violence and he had no prior criminal record.

His former wife, Carie Hallford, who co-owned the Return to Nature Funeral Home, is due to be sentenced April 24. She faces 25 to 35 years in prison.

Both pleaded guilty in December to nearly 200 counts of corpse abuse under an agreement with prosecutors.

During the years they were stashing bodies, the Hallfords spent lavishly, according to court documents. That included purchasing a GMC Yukon and an Infiniti worth over $120,000 combined, along with $31,000 in cryptocurrency, pricey goods from stores like Gucci and Tiffany & Co. and laser body sculpting.

“Clearly this is a crime motivated by greed,” prosecutor Shelby Crow said. The Hallfords charged more than $1,200 per customer, and the money the couple spent on luxury items would have covered the cost to cremate all of the bodies many times over, Crow said.

The Hallfords also pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges after prosecutors said they cheated the government out of nearly $900,000 in pandemic-era small business aid. Jon Hallford was sentenced to 20 years in prison in that case, and Carie Hallford’s sentencing is pending.

A plea agreement in the corpse abuse case calls for the state prison sentence to be served concurrently with the federal sentence.

One of the family members who spoke at the hearing was Kelly Mackeen, whose mother's remains were handled by Return to Nature.

“I’m a daughter whose mother was treated like yesterday’s trash and dumped in a site left to rot with hundreds of others,” Mackeen said. “I’m heartbroken, and I ask God every day for grace.”

As she and others spoke of their grief, Jon Hallford sat at a table to their right, wearing orange jail attire and looking directly ahead. The courtroom’s wooden benches were full of relatives of the deceased and also journalists.

The Hallfords stored the bodies in a building in the small town of Penrose, south of Colorado Springs, from 2019 until 2023, when investigators responding to reports of a stench from the building.

Bodies were found throughout the building, some stacked on top of each other, with swarms of bugs and decomposition fluid covering the floors, investigators said. The remains — including adults, infants and fetuses — were stored at room temperature.

The bodies were identified over months with fingerprints, DNA and other methods.

Investigators believe the Hallfords gave families dry concrete that resembled ashes.

After families learned that what they received and then spread or kept at home were not actually their loved ones' remains, many said it undid their grieving process, while others had nightmares and struggled with guilt.

One of the recovered bodies was that of a former Army sergeant first class who was thought to have been buried at a veterans’ cemetery, FBI agent Andrew Cohen said.

When investigators exhumed the wooden casket at the cemetery, they found the remains of a person of a different gender inside, he said. The veteran, who was not identified in court, was later given a funeral with full military honors at Pikes Peak National Cemetery.

The corpse abuse revelations spurred changes to Colorado's lax funeral home regulations.

The AP previously reported that the Hallfords missed tax payments, were evicted from one of their properties and were sued for unpaid bills, according to public records and interviews with people who worked with them.

In a rare decision last year, Judge Bentley rejected previous plea agreements between the Hallfords and prosecutors that called for up to 20 years in prison. Family members of the deceased said the agreements were too lenient.

Brown reported from Billings, Montana.

Angelika Stedman, who hired Return to Nature funeral home to cremate her daughter, speaks to a reporter outside of the El Paso County Courthouse in Colorado Springs, Colo., Friday, Feb. 6, 2026, ahead of the sentencing owner Jon Hallford. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)

Derrick Johnson, whose mother's body was one of 189 left to decay in the Return to Nature Funeral Home in Penrose, Colo., walks toward the El Paso County Courthouse for owner Jon Hallford's sentencing in Colorado Springs, Colo., Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)

Crystina Page, left, hugs Angelika Stedman outside of the El Paso County Courthouse in Colorado Springs, Colo., Friday, Feb. 6, 2026, ahead of the sentencing of Return to Nature funeral home owner Jon Hallford. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)

FILE - Fremont County coroner Randy Keller, center, and other authorities survey the area where they plan to put up tents at the Return to Nature Funeral Home where over 100 bodies have been improperly stored, Oct. 7, 2023, in Penrose, Colo. (Parker Seibold/The Gazette via AP, File)

FILE - Chrystina Page, right, holds back Heather De Wolf, as she yells at Jon Hallford, left, the owner of Back to Nature Funeral Home, as he leaves with his lawyers following a preliminary hearing, Feb. 8, 2024, outside the El Paso County Judicial Building, in Colorado Springs, Colo. (Christian Murdock/The Gazette via AP, File)