Patriots Lend Navy Their Custom Plane for Liberty Bowl

Thanks to the ever-generous Robert Kraft, the Navy Midshipmen football team got a taste of what it's like to win six rings ahead of New Year's Eve's Liberty Bowl.

Just a taste, though.

Kraft sanctioned the transport of Navy's squad (likely at the behest of Bill Belichick) in New England's amazing custom aircraft, which made the trip to Memphis on Thursday morning for this year's contest. Navy, in kind, dropped the Pats organization a shoutout.

Though Pats long-snapper Joe Cardona is a graduate/lieutenant, that's not the only reason America's new team and the Navy are intertwined.

Bill Belichick, of course, has deep ties to the US Naval Academy. His father, Steve, began a coaching and scouting career in Annapolis when Bill was only four years old. Since he's gotten his own opportunity to carve out a career for himself, Belichick has often attempted to blend the Patriots' values with those of the Academy, inviting Navy's coaches for a mind-melding session back in 2017.

Steve Belichick spent his later years... well, attending Navy football games, of course, and voicing his opinions postgame on what went right and wrong. After a game against Temple in 2005, the elder Belichick's heart gave out; the last experience he had in full was a Navy football game.

With years of an intertwined legacy at their coach's disposal, the least the Patriots could do was lend a hand here. Anchors Aweigh, boys.