What the Hoch was going on?

Offensive lineman. Fullback. Master of secrecy.

You need it? Russ Hochstein can do it. He'll block on the line of scrimmage; he'll block out of the backfield in front of Sammy Morris or LaMont Jordan. And if someone -- say, a reporter from your local daily newspaper out of Manchester -- wants to know about how long he's been practicing at fullback, he'll keep his team's secrets under wraps.

"I can't give away strategic details like that," Hochstein said with a straight face. "I'll just say that we work on it."

With the way things went on Sunday against Arizona, it's clear they've been working on it quite a bit. Hochstein lined up at tight end or fullback -- checking in as an eligible receiver -- on more than a few occasions and had a huge role in the Patriots' 183 rushing yards in Sunday's 47-7 rout.

"We wouldn't have had half as many yards if Russ wasn't back there," guard Logan Mankins said -- though Hochstein was sitting right next to him, so maybe he had to say that.

Hochstein said he's not going to catch any passes anytime soon; he said he'd have to hit the JUGS machine and show he can catch the ball in practice before they throw it to him in a game. But the chance to hit a defensive player on the move rather than right out of his defensive stance is reward enough.

"When you're 300 pounds, trying to get running and moving, it's always a better thing for a fat guy," he said.

(He's not just a fat guy, though; when Mankins was asked why Hochstein got to play fullback and the rest of the offensive line didn't get that chance, Hochstein chimed in, "Because I'm so athletic.")

True to the company line -- and his new Master of Mystery persona -- Hochstein professed ignorance when asked why he lined up in the backfield so often on Sunday. It might have been the weather; it might have been the matchup. Who knows?

"We had it in our mind, but that's something you'd have to ask the coaches, whether it's weather-related or the Arizona Cardinals or what it was," he said. "But they asked me to do it and we prepared, and we went out and did it."