ATLANTA (AP) — In two years Ryan Allen Jersey , Patriots linebacker Dont'a Hightower still has never heard Stephon Gilmore yell.Not in practice. Not in a game. Not ever."He's stays quiet, it's not just because y'all are in here," Hightower said with a chuckle this week. "He doesn't talk. He's a mute." Gilmore's also — silently — assumed the role of lockdown cornerback for New England as it prepares to face two of the NFL's top two receivers in its Super Bowl matchup with the Los Angeles Rams.Being tasked to guard an opponents' top receiver won't be anything new for Gilmore, who is in his second season with the Patriots after leaving Buffalo and signing a five-year, $65 million free agent deal in 2017.There were some shortcomings this season. Notably when New England's secondary struggled in the second half of its narrow regular-season victory over Kansas City, allowing Tyreek Hill to catch three touchdown passes.But more times than not, Gilmore has lived up to the challenge. He combined with J.C. Jackson and Keion Crossen to limit Hill to one catch and no touchdowns in the Patriots' AFC championship game win over the Chiefs. And he's only allowed two catches on the 10 passes thrown in his direction during the postseason.Gilmore had a career-high 20 passes defensed during the regular season, the second most in the NFL behind Chicago's Kyle Fuller (21). His previous high was 18 with Buffalo in 2015. He's also had two or more passes defensed in four of his past five playoff games, including his first career playoff interception against the Chargers in the divisional round."I kind of let my game do the talking," Gilmore said. "I try to play my game regardless of who I'm going against. Some people can handle it, some people can't."It helped the 28-year-old earn All-Pro honors for the first time in his career, becoming just the fourth Patriots cornerback to be named to the first team. He joins Ty Law (1998, 2003), Asante Samuel (2007) and Darrelle Revis (2014).But for a guy who tries to maintain a low profile, it's not something he's trying to put a lot of stock in right now."That's a big accomplishment. But the one thing I wanted was a Super Bowl ring and I'm gonna try to do whatever it takes to get that done," he said.Last season Gilmore's contract was a conversation topic in New England with Malcolm Butler — star of the Patriots' Super Bowl win over Seattle in the 2014 season — not being offered the contract extension he was looking for from the Patriots.Gilmore started slowly in 2017 and appeared in only 13 games, missing two starts because of a concussion. He finished with two interceptions, but had only nine passes defensed.Butler signed with Tennessee in free agency in the offseason, making Gilmore the top cornerback in the Patriots secondary.Gilmore said he entered training camp focused on improvement."To me it doesn't really matter what happened in the past. You just gotta learn from it and get better," he said.The Patriots will need someone to step up on Sunday, with the Rams trotting out two 1,200-yard receivers in Robert Woods and Brandin Cooks, who was traded by New England to Los Angeles last summer.Gilmore's practice battles with Cooks are fresh in his mind and he's also played with Woods in Buffalo.The practice field has been Gilmore's sanctuary this season, teammate and fellow cornerback Jason McCourty said."He doesn't even let guys catch the ball in walkthroughs. That's kind of his mindset and his demeanor Danny Shelton Color Rush Jersey ," McCourty said. "He goes out there, he takes the field and his one job is to shut whoever he's guarding down and that's something that he's done on a week-in, week-out basis for us this season."Hightower said Gilmore's work ethic is contagious across the defense."There will be days when you want to be lackadaisical and you might not want to push yourself. Then you see Steph running from one hash to the other hash guarding a guy on a route, pushing his leverage," Hightower said. "When you see a guy work like that day in and day out, you can't help but push yourself with whatever you're going through."With a second consecutive shot at a Super Bowl ring, Gilmore said he'll be drawing on everything he's learned over the past two seasons."I've learned a lot about myself just trying to be consistent," Gilmore said. "Just really trusting my teammates. I've learned a lot of football. I'm smarter than I was last year, just from coaches putting me in the best position to make plays."Now I'm the Super Bowl in position to finish everything off." The New England Patriots had a nice bounce back win against the New York Jets this weekend. Here are my quick hit thoughts from the game:Good job on the first defensive drive. Wasn’t perfect, but they got off the field and that’s important for this defense. Great second effort by Sony Michel to pick up the first down. Can’t go three-and-out on the first drive. The series stalls after a long catch by Julian Edelman. Notably, a third down incompletion to Rob Gronkowski. Tom Brady’s throw was inside and late, which never gave him a chance to catch the ball.Elandon Roberts shook by Isaiah Crowell, which leads to a big play for the Jets into Pats territory.Then Deatrich Wise Jr. with a downright stupid penalty on third down to extend the drive.Zero pass rush leads to an easy touchdown from Josh McCown to Jermaine Kearse. Not what you’re looking for from the defense.The combination of penalties and mistakes from the defense on that drive could lead to disaster today if they don’t clean it up.After a bogus call on James White on third down, the Jets decide to give the Pats another chance on third down instead of making it fourth down, and they make them pay. A long touchdown from Brady to Gronk is the result. It was everything you want to see: Gronkowski makes a great catch while getting hit, Brady stands in the pocket to deliver a great throw. Gronk makes this offense dominant if he can keep making plays like that.Right after the touchdown, the Patriots kick coverage problems rear their head again, as the Jets return it out to the 35. And now they are driving at the end of the first. Some good things in the first quarter: A great catch by Gronk. Big plays by Edelman and Josh Gordon. Some bad things: Kick coverage. Allowing McCown to sit in the pocket and pick apart the defense.A big third down to start the second quarter, and the pass rush forces a bad throw by McCown. And who gets in there? Trey Flowers of course.Julian Edelman hates calling fair catches, and it scares the crap out of me. Someone needs to talk to him about this.I assume Trent Brown was actually holding on the long run by Sony Michel, but I didn’t see anything, even on the replay. This crew calls a ton of penalties, and it’s no different today. Luckily, it ends up helping the Patriots with a hands to the face penalty on second down to give them an automatic first. Trent Brown does a terrible job walling off the side and is called for holding Montee Ball Color Rush Jersey , while David Andrews whiffs on his cut block and gets called for a chop block. The Patriots already have 70 yards of accepted penalties.Then two straight false start penalties push the Jets back and the Patriots force a three-and-out.Well, at least the Patriots went one play without a penalty, as a long run by Michel is once again negated by a penalty.What a throw by Brady to Edelman as LaAdrian Waddle just gets smoked off the edge. Edelman is shaken up on the next play, but he stays in the game.Michel’s stats may not show it so far because of all the penalties, but he’s been running hard in the first half.Great play by Gronk to knock a potential pick away from Jamal Adams in the end zone. The Patriots then run exactly the same play and Brady throws it out of bounds. Gronkowski was in position on both of the plays if Brady makes the right throw: a jump ball that Gronk could’ve fought for. Don’t love the play calling, though. They settle for a field goal to take a three-point lead.Good job from the kick coverage team doesn’t matter because Jason McCourty gets smoked by Quincy Enunwa on the first play of the ensuing Jets drive.A pick by Stephon Gilmore on the next play turns things around! It’s forced by a solid pass rush that led to an early and short throw by McCown. The Patriots have 98 yards to go, but, because they receive the second half kick, they have a chance at the Brady Parlay. Michel with a tough run, breaking a tackle at the line to bring up 3rd and 4. The Jets, smartly, have used both of their timeouts to try to get the ball back. And it pays off, because they stop Michel when he runs into his own blocker on third down.With no timeouts, the Jets drive down the field, thanks to a long pass against Jonathan Jones, and tie the game up with a 55-yard field goal to end the half. Once again, not what you’re looking for from the defense. A rough first half from the Patriots. This Jets team was down 31-0 last week to the Bills. Need to execute better on offense and defense, and need to stop committing penalties.The second half starts with a great run by Sony Michel. After running into his own blocker on the last offensive play of the first half, he made some nice cuts and broke a tackle to pick up 31 yards. Michel gets stuffed on 3rd and 1 at the 10, and goes down awkwardly. Hopefully it’s not serious, but he didn’t look good coming off the field.Patterson then picks up 4th and 1, thanks in part to Jacob Hollister shoving him forward, completing a solid second effort by Patterson to pick up the firstTwo terrible throws by Brady to White brings up a 3rd and goal from the 9. Then he misses Gronk in the end zone, who had a step on Darron Lee.Then yet another penalty on the Patriots negates a field goal from Ghost https://www.patriotsfanstore.com/Malcom-Brown-Jersey , luckily, he hits the second one too, and the Pats lead 13-10.The Patriots defense is once again Swiss cheese. The Jets get help on a questionable holding call against Stephon Gilmore. After the penalty, two good rushes by the linebackers, one by Kyle Van Noy where he knocks the pass down, the second by Dont’a Hightower to force a bad throw. McCown gets away and picks up 11 on 3rd and 10 but the Patriots keep bringing the heat with blitzes, and the Jets are forced to kick a 38-yard FG. The game is once again tied, now 13-13. Impressive drive by the Patriots to follow up the field goal by the Jets, driving down in just four plays: a long run by White, a long catch by Hogan, and then a touchdown catch by Edelman when Brady pumped towards Gronk to draw the defense and free up the receiver. He then did the rest by lowering his shoulder and bullying his way into the end zone.Looks like the injury to Edelman wasn’t serious. It also appears that the injury to Michel wasn’t severe, as he’s still on the sideline in full pads with his helmet on.Another tipped ball caught by Jermaine Kearse. Luckily, this one didn’t cost the Patriots too much. Then the Patriots get a sack by Wise Jr. to force a punt that ends up in the end zone for a touchback. Michel has been a beast today. He’s gained some very tough yards and made some great cuts to free himself up in space. The touchdown is another great example of that. A solid play by Gilmore on a long pass on third down forces the incompletion to Robby Anderson. But the Patriots go three-and-out on the next drive, giving the Jets the ball back at their own 40 with about five minutes leftSolid stand by the Patriots in the red zone, including good plays in the end zone by Gilmore, Jason McCourty, and J.C. Jackson.A long run by James White on second down seals the game for the Patriots, as they move to 8-3.Overall, a rough start for the Patriots was followed up by a solid second half to give the Patriots a 14 point victory. If the Patriots can run the ball as effectively as they did today, they may not lose again this year.Pat is the host of The Patriot Nation PodcastInteract with him on Twitter @plane_pats
