Bill Belichick is a student of history, and Friday — as his New England Patriots finished up their week of practice for the AFC Championship Game — he referenced General Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Asked whether Belichick was ever satisfied with his level of preparation for an opponent, he said, “At some point, you get as far as you can go, and you want to get your team to that point and then you let the game unfold. No matter how much preparation you do, it’s still going to be different in the game.

“Going back to Dwight Eisenhower’s quote: ‘Preparation is everything until the battle starts.’ Then it doesn’t mean anything. Then you’re reacting to what happens in the game, or in his case, what happens in the battle.”

Eisenhower’s actual words — said as he led Allied forces in preparation for D-Day during World War II — were: “In preparing for battle I always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.”

The point of both men, as Belichick said Friday, “I think you can only prepare to a point. Once it starts, then it’s going to change to some degree. It’s going to change.”

Patriots players said historical references are part of Belichick’s coaching style.

“Coach Belichick is real big on history,” linebacker Dont’a Hightower said. “There are times throughout the year — Veterans Day, Memorial Day, just different historic events that happened throughout the year — that occasionally he’ll bring to our attention. I guess sometimes throughout the year, it’s kind of like a history lesson somewhat.”

Cornerback Devin McCourty said, “He’s into that. For us in the offseason, Memorial Day, we could come in and we’ll have 20 minutes on whatever topic of Memorial Day he wants to go on. I think it helps. It relates to the game we play in a way. I think it’s a lot of useful information.”

McCourty understood the message Belichick was trying to impart Friday: “You can put as much work and study in and trying to prepare, but I think we all know as football players sometimes we get in the game and the first five plays could be plays we’ve never seen before. I think that’s when you’ve got to count on your preparation to understand that we prepared and we wanted to know what was coming, but we also prepared our fundamentals and what we do no matter what happens.

“It’s not the exact same as battle — those guys’ lives are at stake — but it has that element that you just don’t know what will happen once the kickoff happens.”