Alumni News
Veteran Fauria thriving in his supporting role
By Nancy Marrapese-Burrell, Globe Staff
Feb 5, 2005, 9:13am

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Last year, when Christian Fauria showed up to Media Day at the Super Bowl, the Patriots tight end brought a sophisticated video camera to chronicle his adventures. This year, he left it behind, replacing it with a compact digital camera no larger than a deck of cards.

"Last year was my first time so I wanted to kind of enjoy it and get into it," said Fauria. "This year, I'm just going to do my thing and hang out."

Like his camera, his role on the Patriots this season has been less visible than in the previous couple of seasons. Although he played in all 16 regular-season contests and was a valuable contributor in those and the first two postseason games, he was relegated to a backup role behind Daniel Graham, who was promoted because of his superior blocking. Fauria finished with 16 catches -- his lowest total in seven seasons -- for 195 yards and two touchdowns.

At 33, Fauria said he understands roles change. He said he's trying to make the most of his chances to be part of another Super Bowl winner.

"You've got to get the hay in while the sun is out," said Fauria, who is in the last year of his contract. "When you get older, you see that sun kind of setting and you figure you want to get in as much as you possibly can before you're not going to be able to do it anymore. Being a ripe 33 years old, it's important to realize it is almost over. Nobody knows when, but it definitely is a good way to ride off into the sunset."

The Patriots have done a stellar job of making adjustments all season. Tomorrow night, when they face the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl XXXIX, Fauria knows the coaching staff may start out with one game plan offensively but won't hesitate to shift if necessary.

"The ideal is to get [running back Corey Dillon] as many carries as possible," said Fauria. "But at the same time, if it isn't working, we're going to do something else. We have the skill to do it. The game plan is going to be set to win the game. Whether that's a heavy dose of Dillon or a heavy dose of [quarterback Tom Brady], we don't know."

He said the entire team feeds off the energy of Dillon, who is an emotional competitor.

"When [Dillon] gets the motor going, it's the same thing that Tom has," he said. "When [Brady] starts making some big plays and starts completing passes, it fires up the coals in everybody else. Corey is the same way. Whether you're blocking or running, you're part of a successful play. To see him go crazy and get fired up, it's a good thing."

Fauria said this year's team -- like last season's -- has been able to turn in its best work when it counts.

"We peak at the right time," said Fauria. "We kept talking all year about having our best game. We haven't put our best game together -- a complementary game -- offense, special teams, defense. When we played the Jets, after we lost to Miami, that was one of our best games all year. We played San Francisco [in the regular-season finale after they'd already clinched the division] and it didn't really mean that much. But then we played Indianapolis [in the first game of the playoffs] and we flat-out played our best second half of football I've been around. Then we played the Steelers and we had I think our best football game of the year.

"When you talk about teams peaking, I think we're at that point now where we did everything right. We put a bunch of games together and we've built on it and now it's time [to finish it off]."

No small part of what New England has accomplished stems from the character of the players and their ability to subjugate their own egos for the good of the team. When asked if that was a critical element of their season, Fauria said it was certainly a factor but not the only one.

"I think it's a lot of everything," he said. "I think it's a cornucopia of things. It's like a goulash of personalities and theories and what people think is right and wrong and everyone just buys into it. It works."

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