NORTH PLATTE, Neb. -- The place where Danny Woodhead comes from is not for wusses. The temperature hovers around 15 degrees below zero at dawn Wednesday, causing a frozen fog to settle over the Platte River and prompting a news piece on how to keep the cows warm. Breakfasts at the local diner are served with a blob of gray gravy, a giant sausage and a stern cardiologist's warning.

They still buy the newspaper in North Platte. They still have flip phones, too, which are tucked away in heavy work overalls so as not to distract from the morning conversation. Most mornings, the talk starts with the weather -- wind chills are for suckers -- and ends with football.

This is Cornhuskers territory, which means Saturdays are for the Big Red and Sundays are for washing the car, doing chores and waiting another six days for a game. But not this season. Woodhead is playing in the NFL. And in this western Nebraska town of about 25,000, the New England Patriots have about 25,000 new fans.

"Danny has kind of picked up our spirits," Mark Jolliffe said as he waited at the counter for a hot plate at Roger's Fine Foods on Wednesday. "He took our minds off the Huskers' losses."

At first, it seemed like such an odd match. Tom Brady, superstar quarterback, husband to a supermodel, meets Danny Woodhead, son of North Platte. One man makes women swoon over his long tresses; the other comes from former fur-trading country.

It's not so odd anymore. In the months since the Patriots picked Woodhead up in September, the 5-foot-7 running back has become a cult hero and an integral piece of Bill Belichick's offense, collecting nearly 1,000 combined rushing and receiving yards and six touchdowns. New England is the No. 1 seed in the AFC playoffs and faces the New York Jets -- the team that cut Woodhead this past fall -- on Sunday.

The people here have no doubt thought about it, how an overachieving football player embodies their community. There's a railyard that runs through town, and it's the largest in the country. At night, thousands of people drive past the Bailey Yard lights, whizzing along I-80 to somewhere bigger.

A man sitting at the end of the breakfast counter says western Nebraska is about hard work, about toiling away 60 hours a week just to survive. Just like Danny. The man won't give his name. He doesn't want to take away from Woodhead's spotlight.

But it's their spotlight, too.

"We're a long ways from nowhere," the man said.

"I think we're just glad he's getting a chance."

Visiting the Woodheads

The Woodhead home is 115 years old. It smells of cranberry potpourri and freshly baked cookies. There are no football photos or trophies to be found, no hints that Annette and Mark Woodhead's middle son plays in the NFL.

Woodhead as a boy. Courtesy the Woodhead Family

"He's one of five [kids]," Annette said.

"Each one of them is special."

Her cell phone rings twice early Tuesday night, and when Mark calls from school -- he's an elementary school teacher and the girls' basketball coach at North Platte High -- her BlackBerry plays "Brown-Eyed Girl." That's their song. A little while later, the phone goes off again in another room.

Even though we ain't got money,

I'm so in love with ya honey

That ringtone means a call is coming from New England. It's "Danny's Song."

The family is best-friend tight. Danny and his older brother Ben played football together at Chadron State and were roomies; at their weddings, they served as each other's best men, with their younger brother Joel standing right next to them.

They chased each other around the house as kids, roughhousing until a piece of furniture broke or a body part started to bleed. The joke, back then, was that it was no biggie if a chair or table was sacrificed in the melee.