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          Cut sleeves and holes: Patriots' Bill Belichick wears a familiar hoodie

          • Mike Reiss, ESPN Staff WriterSep 23, 2020, 03:00 PM
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              Mike Reiss is an NFL reporter at ESPN and covers the New England Patriots. Reiss has covered the Patriots since 1997 and joined ESPN in 2009. In 2019, he was named Massachusetts Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. You can follow Reiss on Twitter at @MikeReiss.
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          FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- With a desire for comfort over fashion, New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick has made the hooded sweatshirt a top-selling item over the past two decades.

          Sometimes the sweatshirts are fresh out of the box. And other times they look like what Belichick wore Wednesday morning in his regularly scheduled video conference for media members covering the Patriots in advance of their Week 3 game against the Las Vegas Raiders (1 p.m. ET, CBS).

          Cut sleeves. Countless holes. Ripped neck.

          It was classic Belichick, who looked like he had been grinding on work all night and whose "style" was most recently spoofed as part of a humorous Subway commercial.

          When it comes to Belichick and his hoodie, Mike Dussault of Patriots.com and "Pats Propaganda" is the official source.

          Dussault keeps a running database of Belichick's hoodie of choice on game days and he reports this version that the Patriots coach was wearing Wednesday was last seen when Belichick wore it in Super Bowl LII (a loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in February 2018).

          Because Dussault's database goes back to 2000, Belichick's first year as Patriots coach, he was quickly able to identify that the sweatshirt Belichick wore Wednesday first surfaced in the 2013 season opener against the Buffalo Bills.

          "Looks like it took a lot of punishment since then," Dussault said.

          Here's a look at what others on social media are saying about Belichick's midweek fashion statement:

          Matt Chatham, who played with the Patriots from 2000 to 2005, tries to explain what he believes is Belichick's reasoning for wearing this particular sweatshirt.