During Sunday’s game vs. Washington Commanders at Gillette Stadium. Patriots coach Bill Belichick isn’t wearing the brown gear most NFL coaches wear as part of the league’s annual Salute to Service month.
Belichick, who is not a member of the NFL Coaches Association, annually hasn’t participated in wearing khaki, camouflage or other initiatives. Belichick wore a blue short-sleeve shirt. Some other New England staff members wore the official gear.
Each member of the Patriots coaching staff wore pins and the players wore helmet stickers honoring a Gold Star Family. It’s part of the team’s ties to the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), which describes its mission as “caring for the families of America’s fallen heroes.”
Every year in conjunction with TAPS, the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, the Patriots pick one game, whichever home game is closest to Veterans Day, to honor military personnel who’ve been killed while on active duty.
The West Point Band performed the national anthem while colors were presented by the USS Constitution Honor Guard. There was a flyover with four helicopters from the 10th Combat Aviation Brigade based at Fort Drum, New York.
The halftime ceremony will include an Army and National Guard enlistment ceremony and another performance West Point Band, which will be back at Foxborough next month for the Army-Navy game.
Belichick, who grew up in Annapolis, Maryland, where his father Steve Belichick held many roles with the Navy football program, has spoken reverently about the Navy and military in the past. He opened his press conference in 2021 last year discussing the pin he wore.
In 2018, Belichick was asked about not wearing a camouflage sweatshirt:
“I don’t know. I mean, I usually wear the same thing for every game – I mean, not the same thing, but depending on the weather and so forth, I just wear the same thing for every game. So, I don’t change what I wear weekly based on whatever the theme of the week is,” he said. “But, Salute to Service is – look, the military and the job that our servicemen and women do and the sacrifices that they make are very important to me and my family, always has been, always will be, and I always want to recognize those and I do it. So, I don’t have any objection to what anybody else does, but I just choose to – honestly, I don’t think what sweatshirt I wear is that important. What’s important to me is what your actions are, what you do, so I try to make those count.”
NFL sells the military gear. According to NFLShop.com the league “does not profit from the sale of Salute to Service products. Charitable contributions are donated to the NFL’s military nonprofit partners. For more information, please visit www.NFL.com/Salute.”
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