Gilmore: 'No friends on the field'

FOXBOROUGH — In his relatively short time with the Patriots, cornerback Stephon Gilmore has distinguished himself as a pretty chill guy off the field. On the field? That’s another matter altogether.

Gilmore was locked up with wide receiver Danny Amendola for a few moments during Saturday morning's practice. It marked the third time in a week where he knocked heads with a New England receiver: on Tuesday, he and Julian Edelman ended up scrapping. On Friday, he mixed it up with Brandin Cooks.

Following Saturday’s practice, he explained his approach.



“There’s not really no friends on the field to me,” Gilmore told reporters. “Once I’m on the field, there’s no friends. But off the field, very respectful. [I] respect everybody on this team, talk to them. It’s nothing personal. It’s just when I’m on the field, I’m super competitive, and there’s no friends.”

When it comes to his relationship with the receivers, Gilmore said it’s all good.

“We’re super competitive. We’re just trying to come out here and make each other better,” he added. “We’re always cool off the field, but on the field we just try to compete with each other and make each other better.”

This coming week will provide Gilmore with a different opponent, something he and the rest of the defense have been looking forward to.

“It’s exciting,” he said. “We’ll get to go against some new guys, some different types of receivers. [We’ll] get to test our technique and see how we play.”