FOXBOROUGH — Duron Harmon was looking down to the end of the row of lockers in the Patriots’ locker room after Sunday’s win over the Dolphins. Teammate Stephon Gilmore was being interviewed. Watching the scene, Harmon had a smile on his face.
The Patriots’ defensive backs have been extremely protective of Gilmore this year as he’s gone through some struggles in acclimating to his new team. At one point earlier in the season, a group of reporters approached Gilmore to ask about something, only to be shooed away profanely by Patrick Chung.
On Sunday, there was no need to keep reporters at bay. Gilmore’s coverage skills came through again in a, 35-17 win over the Dolphins, as he finished with a key pick in the victory.
It’s a far cry from where he was a month ago.
“I think, if you ask anybody in the secondary, we all knew what type of player Stephon Gilmore was, is, and what was going to be,” Harmon explained when someone asked him about Gilmore’s progression. “It was about taking steps. You’re never going to be as good as you want to be early in the year. You just always have to remember that you always have to look to improve.
“I’m excited for where he’s at, but I’m even more excited for where he’s going,” Harmon added.
It’s been a long journey for Gilmore. In October, he was The Symbol Of All That Is Wrong With The New England Defense, especially after an ill-timed penalty late in the loss to Carolina. Some unique circumstances around a mid-season concussion sparked some critics to suggest he was tapping out, that things — including the sizable contract he signed in the offseason — had gotten too much for him.
Gilmore said Sunday he never lost faith.
“I’m never really shook,” Gilmore said when asked to compare himself now to where he was earlier in the season. “I just work hard. When you’re playing with your teammates, you get used to playing with them in practice, you get used to playing with them in the game, and you get better and better every game. I’m never really down on myself. I know what it takes to be good.
“It’s not my first rodeo. I’m used to it. I’m used to stuff not going your way sometimes, and the fact that you have to fight your way out of it.”
Now? He’s not where he wants to be just yet, but over the last month-plus, he’s become part of a trio of cornerbacks — along with Malcolm Butler and Jonathan Jones — who are as scrappy in man coverage as anyone in the league.
“I know what I’m capable of. Everything isn’t always going to happen in the story that you want it to happen,” Gilmore said. “You learn from it, you get better, and you keep fighting.”
Some extra film study doesn’t hurt either. His pick came at a key moment — Miami was driving at the end of the first half, and had a shot at cutting the Patriots’ lead to 21-17 just before the half. But he went up and took away a contested ball from DeVante Parker in the end zone on a floater of a pass from Matt Moore. Gilmore said he knew what was coming, saying that every time Parker lined up in the slot, he ran a “seam empty” route.
“They ran it in the first quarter and I knew it was coming. They were going to come back to it,” Gilmore said. “I pressed them the first time, and I played it off the ball the next time. I was able to beat him to the spot.
“They go back to what they know,” he added. “If you study them enough, you’ll make the play.”
GILMORE!!! pic.twitter.com/29wIAFndVM
— '03 Kliff Kingsbury (@fearthe_beard11) November 26, 2017