How Stephon Gilmore’s addition has already made the Carolina Panthers defense better
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When Stephon Gilmore was asked last week about playing the New England Patriots, he smiled and said he was looking forward to it.
It was a sinister-like grin, and he added that this Sunday’s game at Bank of America Stadium would mean “a lot extra” for him. After the two sides couldn’t reach an agreement last month on a new contract, the Patriots traded Gilmore to the Carolina Panthers for a sixth-round pick.
Part of how it all went down rubbed Gilmore the wrong way.
But his tune changed this week. He spoke Wednesday as if playing the Patriots on Sunday will be just another game.
“I think I’m motivated any time I step on the field,” Gilmore said when asked what this game meant. “Obviously, I spent a lot of time there. I’m just going to study those guys and trust my technique and make plays for the team.”
Gilmore spent 4 1/2 years with the Patriots before the trade. That’s where he had some of his most successful years. With New England, Gilmore won the 2019 NFL Defensive Player of the Year award, was voted an first team All-Pro twice, and won a Super Bowl in 2018.
So his former teammates don’t believe this is just another game for Gilmore. They know he’ll be motivated when the Panthers host the Patriots on Sunday.
“He’s super competitive,” said Patriots safety Devin McCourty, who played with Gilmore from 2017-2021. “He competes in walk-throughs, so I know he’ll be ready on Sunday.”
The Panthers are realizing that, too.
In just one game, Gilmore and Shaq Thompson have made this defense better. The players in their returns last week were responsible the Panthers’ two turnovers in the 19-13 win over Atlanta. This must continue.
The Panthers are 4-4 heading into their Week 9 game against New England (4-4) and need to continue to win to maintain their playoff hopes. The back end of the Panthers schedule is among the toughest in the NFL with road games against the Cardinals, Bills and Saints, and they play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers twice.
Having Gilmore in the lineup gives them a better chance at having success.
‘Let me have Pitts’
After it became clear last week that Gilmore would make his debut for the Panthers, the former All-Pro went up to defensive coordinator Phil Snow during a team meeting and volunteered to take on what was perhaps the game’s biggest defensive assignment.
“He came up to us and said, ‘let me have (Kyle) Pitts,’ ” Snow recalled Thursday.
Before that game, Pitts was on fire for the Falcons. The 6-foot-6, 240-pound rookie tight end had 16 catches for 281 yards and two touchdowns in the previous two games.
And here was Gilmore, coming off a quad injury and playing for the first time in 10 months, confident he could slow Pitts.
“He had studied tape, and so we sat together and went through it, and it ended up being good for us,” Snow said.
What happened has been well-documented. Pitts was held to a season-low two catches for 13 yards and called it his “welcome to the NFL moment.” Gilmore, who played only 17 snaps, had the game-sealing interception while covering Pitts. And the Panthers snapped a four-game losing streak.
None of that surprised McCourty, who witnessed it up close while they were teammates..
“That’s what he does,” McCourty said, adding that he keeps in touch Gilmore. “We’ve seen over the years if you keep going at him, and you keep going at him, he’s going to make you pay.
“Why he’s so good is just technique and positioning. He’s always in great position. He always knows where he wants to be, studying film of what guys like to do, routes. He knows that stuff and he knows it well.”
In football, he’s the equivalent of a scholar in academia. He’s not lightning fast. He’s not the highest jumper.
But he’s smart and appears to be two steps ahead of everyone.
“It’s funny — you look at how fast guys run in the course of a game. Guys that are real fast run around 20 miles per hour, and I don’t think he reached 15,” Snow said of Gilmore. “And it’s because he does such a real good job with his feet and his hands playing bump ’n’ run, playing man-to-man. He makes the game really simple and it’s not taxing to him because he’s so good at what he does physically.”
An increased role?
Most players go home after a road game and rest. Not Gilmore.
When the Panthers arrived in Charlotte from Atlanta last Sunday, he went straight to Bank of America Stadium to get treatment and prepare for the next week. It was a recovery routine he said he established early in his career.
No one was at the stadium at the time, Gilmore said. He had to have a trainer let him in the facility.
These are the things Gilmore’s teammates and his coaches notice.
“He puts a lot of time in,” Rhule said. “We flew back, I drove home and he came back here and starting rehabbing to get ready for the next game. He’s a true pro’s pro.”
Gilmore is still working his way back from a quad injury that kept him out since Week 16 of the 2020 season. He came out of last week’s game healthy, Rhule said. While no one has said whether Gilmore’s role will change, it likely will increase as he continues to get into game shape.
“I’m just taking it a day at a time, and whatever role I’m in, I’m going to do it to the best of my ability,” Gilmore said. “They’ve got a lot of good players on the team and it’s going to be a good matchup for us.”
This story was originally published November 5, 2021 at 11:56 AM with the headline "How Stephon Gilmore’s addition has already made the Carolina Panthers defense better."
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