Image courtesy of the Boston Herald
By Michael Vallee
When the New England Patriots opened NFL free agency last March by signing Stephon Gilmore to a whopping 65 million dollar contract I imagine most Patriots fans reacted with some variation of the following, “Uh Gilmore……um, OK……uh, plays for the Bills right……..yeah he’s solid I guess…..don’t remember him much….”. This was the classic “In Bill We Trust” signing. A guy that was hundreds of miles off anybody’s radar, didn’t exactly make a big splash in the AFC East and played a position, corner, where they already had an elite player. In short, the signing made little sense and on the “Un-Patriot-like Scale” was the free agent equivalent of the Patriots recording their own version of the ‘Super Bowl Shuffle’. Now, after an embarrassing 33-30 home loss to the Carolina Panthers, a loss where Gilmore was exceptionally awful, it’s time to push “In Bill We Trust” aside and start asking “What the hell was Bill thinking?”
The defense has been bad all year but Sunday was particularly ugly. The Panthers offense stumbled into Foxboro having scored just 22 points in their last two games, including a putrid 13 point performance at home against the Saints. They put up 33 on the Patriots despite fumbling inside the 10-yard-line. Entering Sunday Carolina had not thrown for more than 180 yards all year. On Sunday they lit up New England for over 300 yards passing. Cam Newton walked into Gillette a broken quarterback in a prolonged funk: He embarrassed himself in the Super Bowl against the Broncos, followed that up with the worst year of his career in 2016 and entered Sunday’s game with a QB rating of 69.7. Newton may have walked in a broken man but he left with MVP swagger – shoulders back, chest puffed out and a 130.8 QB rating in his back pocket.
The Patriots defense has become like a therapy dog for NFL quarterbacks. Dink-and-dunk Alex Smith entered his Patriots game needing to fend off a high rookie draft pick and establish the Kansas City Chiefs as a contender, well Alex, how does 368 yards and a 148.6 QB rating grab you. Deshaun Watson entered his Patriots contest a struggling and confused rookie but left with confidence and clarity after putting up 342 yards of total offense. And now the rebirth of Newton.
Most disappointing is that the biggest culprit in this defensive mess is New England’s secondary – a much-hyped unit laced with talent and experience, that has been abysmal most of the season. The Patriots pass defense ranks dead last in the NFL, allowing 324 yards per game. The second worst team is the Eagles at 285 yards per game. That’s a big gap. Which brings us back to Gilmore.
While everybody has struggled on some level in the secondary, Gilmore has been at the center of the mess, and Sunday he was a one-man wrecking crew of incompetence. It’s not so much that he can’t cover as much as it is that he apparently doesn’t even know who to cover. Whether it’s a late first half TD to a wide-open Devin Funchess or a Fozzy Whittaker touchdown where, not one, but two Panthers were left wide-open, it seems all it takes is the slightest motion or misdirection to turn Gilmore into a befuddled pile of goop. And yes, I know, technically we don’t know what coverage they were in or who had what receiver but is it some wild coincidence that Gilmore seems to be involved in all of these plays. Is there any doubt now that Tyreek Hill’s deep ball on the Patriots week 1 was Gilmore’s fault and not McCourty’s?
It probably isn’t helping the situation that New England’s secondary is communicating with each other about as well as the Democrats and Republicans, and certainly the entire unit, along with the coaches, need to shoulder the blame for that. But it’s funny, I don’t seem to recall any problems with the secondary communicating before this year. Hmmm, what has changed in the last year? If only I could put my finger on it.
Clearly, opposing teams have put their finger on it. Sunday it looked like Carolina was using its receivers to play three-card Monty with the Patriots defensive backs.
Of course communication wasn’t the only problem that plagued Gilmore on Sunday. Twice he was flagged for illegal hands to the face on 3rd and long to extend Carolina drives that led to scores. The first penalty was simply a horrendous call as Gilmore’s fingertips barely grazed the lower part of Kelvin Benjamin’s facemask. The second penalty was all Gilmore, and it was as costly as they come.
Despite a wretched game New England’s defense actually showed a spark late in the 2nd half and it looked as if they had stopped Carolina with sacks on back-to-back 3 and outs. It appeared that Brady, who had brought the team back from 14 down with consecutive touchdown drives, was going to get a shot to score for a third consecutive time and win the game. All was going to be right with the world. Then Gilmore, after having just been called for it, jams Carolina receiver Devin Funchess right in the mug. Penalty. Sack nullified. First down. Eight plays later the Panthers put Gilmore and the defense out of their misery with a game-winning field goal.
It’s not as if Funchess is some Wes Welker runt where you are almost forced to jam him near his face, the guy stands 6’5”. It was an inexcusable and baffling mistake from a Patriots player that is looking more and more like an inexcusable and baffling signing. Gilmore didn’t exactly instill confidence when he was asked about the penalty, “I was playing aggressive, I don’t know what else I can do.” Really? You’ve been in this league for 6 years and you don’t know how to prevent a penalty. Here’s an idea, stop doing stuff that is against the rules. And definitely stop doing stuff that is against the rules at really, really key moments in the game. At the very least, stop getting caught.
“I don’t know what else I can do?” Not exactly the cerebral answer you might expect from a Belichick coached player. Which begs the question, why is Stephon Gilmore here? What did Belichick see in this inconsistent and expensive cornerback from a franchise that has spent the last 15 years rotting away in the NFL’s basement? Why is this the guy Belichick chose to break the bank for?
For starters, it’s not exactly the Patriot way to make any big splash in free agency, much less on day one. Free agency has always been a bit of fool’s gold, wrought with big risks and expensive payouts, and the Belichick era has been no exception. Only twice since 2001 has New England delved into the world of high-priced free agency and both times the results were less than spectacular: LB Rosevelt Colvin in 2003 and LB Adalius Thomas in 2007. Both players had their moments but in the end came up way short of expectations and were eventually released. If twice in your life you go an expensive cruise, and both times you get sick, then you’re probably not booking a third cruise. But after 10 years of staying away Belichick was sucked back into the unlimited buffets and awkward magic shows of the open seas, convincing himself that he had packed enough dramamine and this time would be different. So far it’s been different alright, it’s been much worse.
The entire mind set and process behind the signing of Gilmore was such a break from the normal way of doing business down at Foxboro. The Patriots are supposed to be the patient and methodical ones. The team that rarely trades up in the draft, and gladly trades down for picks in future years. The team that never overpays for its own players, and welcomes them to test the market. The team that calmly sits back when free agency opens, while all the desperate franchises trample all over each other like it’s midnight on black Friday, so they can throw away 100 million on the next Ndamukong Suh. Not New England, they are smart shoppers. The team that lies in the weeds waiting to pounce on the next bargain.
Until now.
The Gilmore signing always had that whiff of desperation normally reserved for the other guys. The Patriots didn’t even have him in for a visit. No formal meeting to kick the tires and look him in the eye in the hope of getting some sense of what the player was all about. No chance for Belichick to put him thru any of those mental tests he uses on potential draft picks. No opportunity to find out if the loser mentality of the Buffalo Bills had seeped permanently into his DNA. If they had a face-to-face maybe they could have asked him about that deep touchdown Chris Hogan caught against the Bills last year in Buffalo. It was a play that was broken down expertly by Erik Turner of USA Today and, as Parcells used to say, the play had more red flags than May Day in Moscow.
For starters it looks like yet another blown coverage that involved Gilmore and a big play – are you starting to see a pattern here? Then, after Hogan makes the catch Gilmore bypasses an opportunity to make a tackle on Hogan so he can instead turn and yell at one of his teammates. Even if the touchdown wasn’t his fault what NFL player does that in the middle of a play? And this was during a Patriots game. Belichick saw this first hand and still didn’t hesitate to whip out Kraft’s checkbook???
And this only gets worse.
Turner reported that Gilmore reacted that way “several times” that year, inexcusable even if Gilmore was in the correct coverage every time. But guess what, he wasn’t, at least not on the Hogan touchdown. After the game then head coach Rex Ryan confirmed that it was Gilmore that had blown the coverage. So for those of you keeping score at home, Gilmore blew a coverage, cost his team a crucial 53-yard touchdown, and even though it was his fault, gave up on the play so he could openly bitch out a teammate for his own mistake. Is there anything in that sentence that sounds remotely Patriot-like?
Turner adds this nugget about Gilmore’s play overall, “He has been beaten by opposing wide receivers, but that happens to every cornerback. What’s more concerning is his apparent selfish play and his attitude towards his teammates in a contract year.” Yikes. Again, does this sound like the type of guy you break 10 years of free agent discipline for? And don’t gloss over the “beaten by opposing receivers” part of the quote. In 2016 Gilmore was one of the lowest rated corners according to Pro Football Focus, with a grade of 73.2. To put that in perspective he barely finished ahead of Sterling Moore, yeah THAT Sterling Moore, who came in with a grade of 72.3.
Isn’t that the opposite of what Belichick normally does? Belichick’s the guy that lands the player with the high ranking for the low dollars, not the other way around. Belichick’s free agent M.O. is to find the undervalued guys from winning programs like Rodney Harrison and Mike Vrabel, not overpay for defensive backs from loser franchises that can’t even perform in a contract year. But maybe I shouldn’t be so harsh on the Bills who currently have the number one scoring defense in the NFL and just won at Atlanta by holding their high-powered offense to 17 points. I have no idea if this will hold up, but if it does, what does it say about Gilmore that he leaves and the defense gets better? Or that he shows up on the number one scoring defense last year and thru four games they are ranked 31st. I call this the A-Rod effect. It’s when a team seemingly improves whenever a certain player leaves and when the new team regresses after that same player arrives. The sample size as yet is too small but it is something to keep an eye on.
The worst part of this entire Gilmore saga is the Malcolm Butler sub-plot. At least when Belichick signed Colvin and Thomas he didn’t step over high-performing linebackers on his own roster to do it. If the Gilmore signing is puzzling, the treatment of Butler is utterly baffling.
Since arriving in New England as an undrafted free agent Butler has done virtually everything right. By all accounts he works hard, plays hard, keeps his nose clean off the field and in case you missed it, has a penchant for making big plays when the spotlight is brightest. He is a Pro Bowler that has excelled in the Patriots system and played a key role on teams that have done nothing but win. He is a coach’s dream yet here he is making less than 4 million while his struggling counterpart makes 13 million. The entire situation is confounding. It’s easy to understand in a salary cap league why guys like Belichick take an excessively frugal approach to team building, but if you’re going to occasionally open the vault don’t you do it for a high-performer on your own roster and not some outside question mark?
It’s still far too early to close the book on the Gilmore signing but what if this thing keeps trending bad? Worse yet, what if Butler is gone at the end of the year? Where will the Patriots be then? And for those of you that think New England can just press the eject button on the Gilmore experiment and give his money to Butler, think again. Gilmore’s guaranteed money based on performance (not injury) is 31 million, meaning there is zero chance he gets cut after this year. If he did, the cap hit for next year would be roughly 23 million for a player that wouldn’t even be on your roster. That ain’t happening. Even if he is cut after 2018 the cap hit would still be around 11 million in 2019. Like it or not, Gilmore is here for the foreseeable future. But the question Patriots fans are asking today is less about his future and more about his past: Why is Stephon Gilmore a Patriot?
Your guess is as good as mine.