Family matters: by putting individual attention aside from the start of the season to the finish of Super Bowl 36, the Patriots came together as a team--and as champions. (NFL).

It started at the beginning, this we-are-family philosophy of the Patriots. There was a miscommunication during the pregame introductions before their season opener in Cincinnati on September 9, and the public address announcer did not introduce the Patriots individually. So, they ran onto the field collectively. As a team.

They repeated the concept in successive weeks. When the offense was introduced, the entire unit ran out instead of one player at a time. Same with the defense.

Before Super Bowl 36 last Sunday at the Louisiana Superdome, the Patriots took it to an extreme. After the Rams' offensive unit was introduced individually, the entire Patriots team took the field en masse, much to the dismay of the Fox TV folks.

"Somebody hollered it out in the locker room, and we did it," Patriots guard Joe Andruzzi said. (It was rumored to be defensive end Anthony Pleasant's idea). "We called out the whole team because we've been a team since Day One."

Proving the adage that the whole often is greater than the sum of its individual parts, New England then went out and stunned the heavily favored Rams--a collection of stars who are known as "The Greatest Show on Turf"--in the biggest Super Bowl upset since Joe Namath guaranteed his Jets would beat the Colts in Super Bowl 3.

"Most people want to come out as individuals and get all the recognition and attention," cornerback Ty Law said. "That's not how we act. We act as a family. It took a whole family to win this game."

It started with Law, who picked off an off-target pass by Kurt Warner and returned it 47 yards for a touchdown that gave the Patriots a 7-3 lead in the second quarter. It ended with Adam Vinatieri, whose 48-yard field goal as time expired provided the decisive margin in a 20-17 victory.