New England Patriots sent Navy to bowl game in team plane
The Navy Midshipmen got to travel in style to the Liberty Bowl, thanks to the New England Patriots lending their team plane to the college football team.
Between the Robert Kraft solicitation case, the Spygate 2.0 controversy and NFL investigation, and the New England Patriots‘ struggles this season on offense and against the league’s top competition, there’s been a lot of “bad press” surrounding this franchise and its key players in 2019.
That’s why – this year more than ever – it’s important to acknowledge and celebrate when the Patriots find themselves in the news for all the right reasons instead of the wrong ones.
According to Bleacher Report’s Scott Polacek, New England lent their team plane last Thursday to the Navy Midshipmen to use as the college team traveled to Tennessee for their upcoming bowl game.
Navy will face the Kansas State Wildcats in the Liberty Bowl on New Year’s Eve.
There are several connections between the football department at the United States Naval Academy and the Patriots, but none are more notable than the one that pertains to New England head coach Bill Belichick.
Belichick’s late father, Steve Belichick, served on the Navy football staff from 1956 to 1989, primarily as a scout, but also as an assistant football coach (backfield). Steve Belichick also wrote a book, “Football Scouting Methods,” based off his experiences working in that capacity for Navy over the course of three decades plus.
Bill Belichick has cited his father’s work with Navy as being instrumental to him as a young boy growing up, as Bill often spent time with his father and other members of the Navy coaching staff watching and learning from them on a day-to-day basis. Father and son would often watch game film together, and Bill credited his father Steve with nurturing his curiosity and passion for the game he has come to master at the highest level.
Next. Top 10 Patriots games of the 2010s decade - Nos. 6-4. dark
Additionally, the New England Patriots currently have one player on their active roster, long snapper Joe Cardona, who is a graduate of Navy. Cardona recently was promoted to lieutenant in the ranks of the military as well – an event that was celebrated by Bill Belichick, Robert Kraft, and a number of the other Patriots players and staffers.