FOXBOROUGH — For Sunday’s game against the Browns at Gillette Stadium, New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick isn’t wearing the camouflage gear most NFL coaches wear as part of the league’s Salute to Service promotion.
Belichick, who is not a member of the NFL Coaches Association, annually doesn’t participate in wearing the camouflage or other initiatives. Other New England players (during pregame) and staff wore camo gear.
The Patriots hung banners through the Patriots place complex this week honoring 30 active duty service members from New England. A group of Army and Navy servicemen and servicewomen took their oaths to join or extend their service to those branches before the game.
Belichick, who wore a blue pullover, and each member of the Patriots coaching staff are each wearing a button honoring a Gold Star Family, the immediate family of an American soldier or sailor killed in action. Belichick had Northport, New York’s James Patrick Darcy, a U.S. Navy Intelligence Specialist. 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.”
After the game, Belichick said he was honored to wear the button.
“The relationship that our team, our organization has with the TAPS Foundation has been very meaningful for all of us for a number of years, and proud to work with James Patrick Darcy’s pin here today,” Belichick said. “All of our players and coaches have been involved in that and all week, and I know they had Mr. (Robert) Kraft and the organization had some events for them and things like that. But it was awesome to see that, to recognize the military, to have Admiral (Michael) Gilday here. Always like to see a lot of those gold bars on those any of the uniforms. Always sends chills down my spine. Just the whole week, the Veterans week, the Salute to Service Day and all that that brought. And you know, thankfully we did our part and I thought the team really played well today.”
The back of the endzones at Gillette said “Salute to Service” at one end and “It takes all of us” at the other.
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.
In 2018, instead of camo, Belichick wore a patch honoring Andrew Bibbo, a sailor from Massachusetts in the Navy, who was killed in action. He opened his press conference after that game discussing the Bibbo patch:
“I’ll start with just – I just want to give my appreciation and respect to all of the TAPS families that were here and the Salute to Service from the organization for this game. I was proud to wear Bibbo’s button here for the game, from Clinton, from Milford,” he said. “I actually spent a lot of time in Milford. I had several friends there from college and I spent a lot of time in that town. It’s a great town. Of course, he was in the Navy so I’m proud of that. I’m really just proud for all of us – all of our players, coaches – that we recognized that and what they’ve done, the sacrifices they’ve made and their families have made for our behalf.”
Belichick was asked the following day about not wearing the 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 its military-themed 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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