Bill Belichick is notoriously curt at press conferences. His catchphrase is "We're on to [insert city of next opponent]."
On Friday morning, Belichick stalled talking about the Patriots' Sunday opponent, the Bengals, to address a more serious issue. Belichick directed attention to two Boston Police Department officers, Richard Cintolo and Matthew Morris, who were shot and hospitalized Wednesday night after responding to a call of domestic disturbance.
"Before we get into Cincinnati, just on behalf of the team, we just want to send our - express our appreciation and support for the Boston Police Department," Belichick said. "Kind of what they've been going through here the last couple of days, the injured officers, their families, just I can imagine -- I can't imagine but I can imagine -- the amount of stress that that department has to deal with and their challenges every day and the difficulty of the situation that they've been put in.
"I just want to let them know we're behind them, we appreciate them, we appreciate what they do for us and how they protect us and we're there for them."
Bill Belichick opened his Friday press conference by expressing the Patriots appreciation and support for @bostonpolice: pic.twitter.com/ICNzRiCH9R
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) October 14, 2016
Cintolo and Morris are still in critical, but stable condition, per Boston PD.
Commissioner Evans visited with Officers Cintolo and Morris earlier today. Both continue to be listed in critical but stable condition.
— Boston Police Dept. (@bostonpolice) October 14, 2016
This is some genuine sincerity from Belichick, who has been the Patriots' head coach since 2000, and also had a one-year stint in New England as assistant head coach in 1996. He still spied on the Jets and probably knew about those deflated footballs, but it is nice to see Belichick taking a moment to lend support to heroes wounded in the line of duty.
-- Follow Jeffrey Eisenband on Twitter @JeffEisenband.
