Shots Fired! Stephon Gilmore Calls Jalen Ramsey a 'Zone Guy'
Stephon Gilmore did a contractually obligated hit with Scott Zolak and Mark Bertrand on The Sports Hub today. And while for the most part he did his duty, staying within the Patriots Employee Handbook guidelines, specifically the section with the heading, “Public Relations: Saying Nothing,” he did manage to let out a normal, human reaction when they asked him a question about Chiefs wideout Tyreek Hill. Specifically about how Jacksonville’s Jalen Ramsey talked shit about Hill, calling him more of a “return specialist” than an actual receiving threat.
“It’s funny,” Gilmore said. “A lot of people can talk but you’ve gotta back it up — which he does. Sometimes. It is what it is. A lot of guys that talk, that’s just their personality or that’s just how they is. It’s his personality. That’s not my style, but I find a lot of guys that talk are mostly zone guys so they have a lot of energy to do that.”
Ouch! Sick burn! Please Stephon, Jalen Ramsey has a family! He can say whatever about Hill or say Josh Rosen “is trash,” call Matt Ryan “overrated,” say Rob Gronkowski gets shut down by corners and call Danny Amendola (2 TDs in the 4th quarter of the AFC championship game) “terrible.” But that’s all in good fun. Calling a cornerback a “zone guy”? That is crossing a line. You could call a guy a child molester or a Nazi or say a ruggedly handsome blogger is old, and that’s not nearly as insulting as “zone guy.”
Still, it’s good to hear it from Gilmore. It pulls back the layers of the onion a little bit and shows he’s got that confidence-bordering-on-cockiness you need to be one of the elites at his position. Which he is. A guy who ranks 9th among all qualifiers in Pro Football Focus grading of cover corners. A guy who is alternately either matching up with opponent’s top wideouts or taking on their No. 2 so the No. 1 can be doubled. A guy of whom Belichick today said:
I think he’s done a good job for us. Way better than last year, just overall everything. I mean, he’s a good player. He was a good player last year. I think his ability for us to utilize him in our system and for him to have maybe a better understanding for us as group in the secondary. … It improved last year over the course of the year and I think it’s improved this year, too. Yeah, he’s done a great job for us.
A guy who has lived up to the huge contract they gave him. A guy who doesn’t get to sit back an relax and save his energy. And now, a guy who has fired shots at Human War of Words Jalen Ramsey.
In short, Stephon Gilmore just earned the highest compliment we can give him. He’s a Man Coverage Guy.