Ex-Pat Gilmore eyes revenge
Former Patriots cornerback Stephon Gilmore wanted two things before he was traded last month.
A fair market value contract, and to stay in New England.
Now with the Panthers, Gilmore can settle for the next best thing Sunday: revenge against his former team.
The Patriots will travel to Carolina for 1 p.m. kickoff, a critical game for two teams at 4-4. After the Panthers’ win in Atlanta over the weekend, Gilmore was asked if playing the Pats will mean “a little extra.” He took it up a notch.
“A lot extra,” Gilmore said via the team’s website.
The 31-year-old corner grabbed a game-clinching interception in his team debut Sunday. Carolina ended a four-game losing streak with one of its finest defensive efforts of the season that held the Falcons to 13 points. Coming off just two weeks of practice, Gilmore played only 17 defensive snaps, but quickly lived up to his reputation as a reigning Defensive Player of the Year.
“It felt great,” he told reporters post-game. “You always want to make plays when you go out there, and you’re coming home. And making a play in my first game and helping the team win, that was a great feeling.”
During his weekly appearance on WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show,” Patriots head coach Bill Belichick was asked about going up against Gilmore on Sunday.
“We’ll have to do a good job against everybody,” said Belichick. “But again, playing against players or coaches that have been on this team before, or are coming from the other team is pretty much every week. It is what it is.”
The Patriots traded Gilmore for a 2023 sixth-round pick on Oct. 6, ending a months-long contract dispute. Gilmore is in the final year of his contract with a $7 million base salary, roughly half of
what other elite corners make around the league. His base salary pales in comparison to his peers because New England’s front office begrudgingly agreed to a salary advance once the cornerback market skyrocketed in Sept. 2020.
However, before and after spending an NFL record $163 million guaranteed in free agency, the Pats never gave Gilmore a raise. He skipped mandatory minicamp in June, then was placed on the team’s Physically Unable Perform list in July, where he remained throughout training camp and the first four-plus weeks of the regular season. In New England, Gilmore made three straight Pro Bowls, two All-Pro teams and was named the 2019 Defensive Player of the Year.
Trade deadline looms
The NFL trade deadline hits at 4 p.m. today. Will the Patriots be active in the market?
Belichick, on a video call with reporters Monday, said the Patriots have had the “normal” amount of communication with other teams.
Whether it’s fielding calls from another team wanting to exchange a player, or having interest in one of the Patriots, or if the right opportunity presented for a trade, Belichick indicated there had been the usual deadline discussions.
He wouldn’t tip his hand, however, if the Patriots, who are in better shape to make a run toward the playoffs after evening their record, would be buyers this time out.
“We’ll just see what happens,” said Belichick. “Honestly I’m not too worried about that. I think (director of player personnel) Dave Ziegler and his staff, they have most of the communications on that. They keep me informed if there’s something that looks like it might be moving, or moving slowly in a direction.”
The Patriots don’t have much cap room at the moment, so they’d have to find ways to adjust to make a significant trade.
Belichick said he planned on focusing his time on Carolina, the Pats next opponent. The trade deadline would take care of itself.
“If something comes up, it comes up,” he said. “If it doesn’t, it doesn’t.”
Blown challenge
Belichick typically doesn’t admit to making mistakes, but following Sunday’s 27-24 win over the Chargers, the Patriots head coach said he messed up throwing a challenge flag in the second half.
Belichick tossed the red flag arguing a Chargers holding penalty occurred in the end zone, which would have been a safety. But, the penalty that was called actually didn’t occur near the end zone. Belichick explained his error. “I saw the hold on Kyle (Van Noy). I thought it happened in the end zone. I think it did happen in the end zone on Norton,” Belichick said of Storm Norton‘s hold on the Patriots linebacker. “The foul was called on the guard (Matt Feiler). I didn’t really hear who the foul was on.
“I saw it on Norton, I thought it was on Norton, so obviously that was a mistake I made . . . it’s my fault, I blew it.”
The end result was a wasted challenge, and lost timeout.
Jones not great at practice
Mac Jones played probably his worst game of the season during the Patriots win over the Chargers.
While the rookie finished 18for-35 with 218 yards, with no touchdowns or interceptions, the Chargers had him out of sorts, particularly in the second quarter.
After starting the game 6-for-9, Jones went cold, hitting on just two of his next 13 attempts.
During his appearance on the “Merloni & Fauria” show on WEEI Monday afternoon, Jones acknowledged he didn’t have his best week of practice.
He also went into detail about what he needs to improve, starting with his footwork.
“There’s a lot (I need to work on),” he said. “I think improving my feet, just the timing in the passing game. I just need to improve that and know what I am supposed to do with the ball on certain plays. I just need to be more consistent and there will be drills and things I can do to improve that, but at the end of the day we won and that’s great and all, but you have to look at what actually happened and how we can improve.
“I don’t think there’s anything dramatic or anything like that, but there just has to be a lot for us to improve to keep winning. We didn’t have our best day, or I didn’t have my best day, so it’s just going out there and practicing well. I didn’t have a great week of practice last week and that just translates to the game. You have to bring it every day.”