New England Patriots: Stephon Gilmore named to Pro Football Focus Team of the Week
New England Patriots cornerback, Stephon Gilmore, was named to Pro Football Focus’ Team of the Week for Week 12.
The New England Patriots pick up a dominating victory over the New York Jets in Week 12. After the teams were tied at 10 at halftime, the Patriots took over in the second half.
New England outscored New York 17-3 in the second half, as they got things going on both sides of the ball. After an uneven first half, New England got their footing in the second half and put away their AFC East rivals.
The Jets do not have many weapons offensively. There isn’t really any player that you would scheme against singularly, and they were using their backup quarterback, Josh McCown.
It was a strong bounce-back performance for the Patriots defense. In their last game prior to the bye week, the Patriots were blown out by the Tennessee Titans, 34-10. They certainly made up for that performance against the Jets, with Stephon Gilmore leading the way.
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Gilmore was the Patriots marquee free agent acquisition last offseason. After a slow start to his Patriots tenure, he showed why he is one of the top cornerbacks in the game.
Gilmore had a great game for a coverage corner. He recorded only one tackle but also had one interception and two passes defended. That was good enough to land him on Pro Football Focus’ Week 12 Team of the Week.
Gilmore was the second cornerback on the team, along with Xavien Howard of the Miami Dolphins, who received a grade of 93.4 for his performance against the Indianapolis Colts.
Gilmore received a grade of 88.4. Here is what they had to say about his performance.
"The Jets went after Gilmore on five occasions in Sunday’s win for the Patriots, and they didn’t find much success when they did. Gilmore surrendered just one reception, had an interception and pass breakup, and allowed an NFL passer rating of just 1.7 on throws into his coverage."
Those are lockdown numbers by Gilmore. The Jets probably attacked him five times too many, as nothing positive came from attacking the Patriots No. 1 cornerback.
McCown didn’t even have too bad of a game, completing 26-of-45 pass attempts for 276 yards, one touchdown and the interception by Gilmore. If you remove the five pass attempts at Gilmore, McCown completed 62.5 percent of his passes with no interceptions.
Gilmore is a legitimate weapon for the Patriots defense. You can stick him on the opposing team’s best receiver and he’ll frustrate them throughout the game. The Patriots will need that in the coming weeks.
Next week, the Patriots welcome the Minnesota Vikings to town with the dynamic duo of Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs at receiver. Not too long after that, he will do battle with Antonio Brown and JuJu Smith-Schuster of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
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The Patriots will need Gilmore on top of his game for those two opponents, otherwise, they will struggle to keep them off the board.