When Patriots coach Bill Belichick or defensive line coach Pepper Johnson needs to get ahold of Wilfork, they know which number to call.
"Everybody that needs me calls her number," said Wilfork. "Bill said, 'If you want to get something done, don't talk to Vince, talk to his wife, Bianca.' I'm well-covered. Anybody that is important to me and needs to get to me has her number."
It's been this way since Wilfork was at the University of Miami, when Bianca, then his girlfriend, was the one his college instructors called to make sure Wilfork was aware of his assignments. Or when she interviewed agents for him once he decided to turn pro and quizzed them on incentive and escalator clauses.
Wilfork, 26, might dominate on the field, but Bianca, 29, dominates off of it.
"His job is to go out on the field and [play], and my job is everything else," said Bianca, who met Wilfork in 2001 through an African-American community website. "What he takes on his body, I take on my brain. We do it together.
"I don't feel he can enjoy football if he has to worry about all the other things - appearances, contracts, bills being paid - that stem from what he does. If he has to worry about that stuff, it takes away from what he does."
The truth is that if it weren't for Bianca, none of those other things would exist. Wilfork wouldn't be in Arizona today preparing to play in Super Bowl XLII. He wouldn't be a Pro Bowler. He never would have been selected in the first round of the 2004 draft (21st overall) by the Patriots. He never would have started Super Bowl XXXIX as a rookie and won a ring. He wouldn't be playing football at all. He'd probably be back in his hometown of Boynton Beach, Fla., fishing for snook, grouper, and snapper, and living in the past.
A bond with his father
Patriots practice squad wide receiver C.J. Jones remembers the big blue van that David Wilfork Sr., Vince's father, would ride around in. Jones grew up with Wilfork and the two attended the same high school, Santaluces High, in Lantana, Fla.
"He was at every practice," said Jones. "He'd take us home after practice in his big blue van, which they still have to this day. Every time I go home, I still see it parked there."
