Patriots offensive line coach Doug Marrone explains his coaching philosophy on Thursday. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – He fits the definition of a football lifer to a ‘N’, an ‘F’ and an ‘L’.

He played the game professionally for eighte years, and has coached it for the last 34. That’s over 40 years in the game, both college and professional, the bulk of it the latter. But until this year, one thing had eluded New England Patriots offensive line coach Doug Marrone.

A Super Bowl.

Well now he can cross that off his professional bucket list.

“When you’re on other teams, and New England has a great history of getting to this game, but it’s a tough year to get to the end game,” the 61-year-old Marrone said. “But there are a lot of people I’ve been associated with in my career that have coached for a long time that have never really gotten to it.

“It’s something that you think about as a little kid, as a player you think about playing in it, when you’re coaching, that’s the whole goal, to get to this game and win this game. So yeah, it’ a first and it’ happening at the latter part of my career. So again, it’ a great experience.”

Marrone just has kept at it. He’s tried to keep the Super Bowl out of his mind during the season, focusing instead on how to teach his offensive linemen to keep Drake Maye upright.

“All I think about is how am I going to get these players better each week and really focus on the task at hand, whether it be for that day, or for the week, or the performance on Sunday,” Marrone said. “It’ a lot. People keep saying make sure you enjoy this, but I’ve always had a hard time because I’ve always been trying to make sure we’re prepared.

“Right now I’m still in that prepare mode.”

Marrone said he’ll appreciate the whole experience when it’s over.

“I think it’s one of those things in life which a lot of people do, when you look back, you’ll say ‘Oh that was great, that was good.’ But while you’re doing it, that’s not where your focus is.”

Has this week, as Marrone has watched other Super Bowl weeks in the past, what he felt it would be like?

“I think what’s been great is we have people with a lot of experience in going to these games,” Marrone said. “And it’s just not the coaches going here before. It’s more of like what a great job our people in operations have done. What a great job the organization has done for the players’ families, the coaches families, they’ve done it for awhile, they’ve done a great job. I think that’s the point that you see there.

“And then you see Coach Vrabel, he’s been to a couple of these as a player; Coach McDaniels, he’s been to this quite a bit as a coach in this organization, then I think that experience kind of helps you out, you kind of get ahead of a lot of things, so now you know what to expect and you know how to handle yourelf.”

Marrone has been a head coach in the NFL twice – two years with the Buffalo Bills (2013-14) and four year with the Jacksonville Jaguars (2017-20), plus part of 2016 as the Jags’ interim. He’s been a head coach at Syracuse University as well (2009-2012). Doe he ever think he’d want to be a head coach again?

“Not really, no, I love what I do now,” he said. “There’s a lot of other challenges that take place with a head coach. I just enjoy what I do now. To jump back into that seat and all the things of that nature (he semi-grimaces). I’ve done it for nine years, 10 years. That part of (his career) was great, all the ups and downs, but I’m very, very happy. I want to make sure I’m doing what I love to do. And what I love to do is coach the offensive line and be around the offensive linemen.”

Marrone is getting kudos for helping the offensive line become a somewhat cohesive unit when the coaches and players were all new to each other.

“Doug is awesome,” Patriots center Garrett Bradbury said. “He didn’t really know anyone in the room, I didn’t know him. It wa s a very new, fresh start for everyone in April. It’ been awesome, I think we’ve grown together as players but with the coaches as well. It’s been great to work with him.”

Marrone enjoyed it when they first all got together and introduced things about themselves.

“It was awesome,” he said. “I think it all started with the head coach. Coach (Mike) Vrabel did a good job while we were getting up to tell the team and really talk about our journey, whether it be the people important in our life, our hopes, the people that we looked up to in life, our heroes.

“I think it opened up a lot of communication. You’d see it like holy cow, there’s a lot in common, whether it was what some adversity some of us went through growing up, our experiences playing the sport, who are heroes were. I know they’re different individually, but mothers, grandmothers fathers, whatever it may be, brothers, sisters; tragedy people went through, etc.”

A lot of that, Marrone said, is why the Patriots are so sucessful.

“Of all the teams I’ve been on, this is probably the closest football team as far as how the players interact with each other, the coaches interact with each other,” Marrone said. “I know Coach Vrabel won’t take the credit but it starts with him. He’s just so genuine at what he does. I think that’s a big reason why we’ve been so successful. These players love being with each other, they love playing with each other, and they pull for each other. There’ no selfishness going on, which in this day, you see quite a bit.”

Marrone knew Vrabel for awhile and also knew people who had been on his staff; plus the chance to work with Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniel who he’s known for a long period of time, helped attract him to the Patriots OL job.

Was there a favorite of some of his past jobs? Marrone is a believer of looking back at his roots when he started coaching at Cortland State, or the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. Or Northeastern.

“For me I’ve been very, very fortunate,” he said. “I’ve had great experiences everywhere I’ve been as a coach. It’s very difficult to rank them.”

Marrone said there will be a time in his life when he can look back and evaluate all of that.

“Right now I’m focused on helping the players go out and win a game,” he said.

But he knows one thing:

“I’ve always felt,” he said, “like I’ve never worked a day in my life. Because when you do something that you love, the rest of it doesn’t matter. … You have a chance to be the best of what you do.”