Image courtesy of Maddie Meyer/Getty Images

FOXBOROUGH – No one knew what Pop Douglas was going through before the game Sunday.

Not even his head coach.

As we’ve all seen and heard by now, Douglas revealed postgame in an interview with NFL Network that he was dealing with tragedy after his uncle was shot and killed on Saturday night. Pop went on to have a career day, catching four passes for 100 yards and a touchdown.

Douglas didn’t want the news to be a distraction to his team, so he kept his personal heartache to himself until after the game.

No one would have faulted Douglas for having a quiet day or maybe not even playing at all, given the situation., Instead, he turned it  into a positive, saying that his uncle “was working” on his first day in heaven, helping him to the big performance.

Many teams don’t have the camaraderie or the family atmosphere that this Patriots team has quickly developed under Vrabel. The sacrifice by Douglas to not only take the field, but carry the burden on himself just further highlights the culture shift Vrabel has pulled off in Foxborough.

On Monday morning, I asked Vrabel how much pride he took in Pop going through what they went through and still showing up for him, the staff and his teammates.

“Well, I take a lot of pride in this football team, my job, my responsibility to support them and to try to foster a bunch of connections,” he said.

“I try to give them everything that I can to help them do their job, and so when somebody goes through some pain like that – and I wish I had known. Credit to Pop, he was like, “I just didn’t want to be a distraction, Coach.” So, it kind of breaks my heart a little bit that he had to wear that on his heart and in his mind until after the game. We’ll continue to support him every chance that we get, his family and our condolences to them. Pop is just one example of many that exhibit the type of camaraderie and togetherness that we want to create. He’s always got a smile on his face. He’ll do whatever you ask him to do. And so, to have him have some success, be able to get into the end zone and have some big catches when maybe that production wasn’t there.

“Again, it’s just another example of another week, another receiver taking advantage of their opportunity. So, that was a cool opportunity and moment for Pop.”