Robert Kraft: 2014 Patriots’ Team Bond Is Unlike Anything I’ve Seen

FOXBORO, Mass. — Robert Kraft saw something Friday afternoon that he’s never experienced in his 21 seasons of ownership.

Kraft has been around plenty of great New England Patriots squads since buying the team in 1994, so it means something when he calls the 2014 group special.

“I was leaving here Friday night, and as I was going out — it was interesting, I had never seen this,” Kraft said Sunday after the Patriots beat the Indianapolis Colts 45-7 in the AFC Championship Game. “The Polynesian guys on the team drink a drink Kava or something, and there were 18 (Patriots players) in the corner (of the locker room). And it was late afternoon, and they were just joshing around and having fun. It was really special.

“I even said to (head coach Bill Belichick), ‘I don’t remember guys just hanging and doing that on a Friday afternoon,’ which is nice. They enjoy each other’s company, and they trust each other. These are great guys. This is my 21st year in the league, and I’ve been privileged to go to a few AFC Championship Games, and this team is special.”

The Patriots will play the Seattle Seahawks on Feb. 1 in Super Bowl XLIV in Glendale, Ariz. Kraft fired current Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll in 2000 prior to hiring Belichick.

Thumbnail photo via Charles Krupa/Associated Press