Stephon Gilmore Says Zach Ertz Cries a Lot and is Easy for Him to Cover
“Yeah, he was crying. He do that on film a lot. If you get into him, if he don’t get the ball or if he doesn’t get a call, he’ll cry. But he’s a good receiver, a good tight end. He’s a great player.” -- Stephon Gilmore on the words he had with Zach Ertz after a making a 3rd down stop
“I gotta slow myself down a little bit because they’re so slow. They’re bigger, though. They push off a lot. Just gotta slow myself down a little bit, because I’m used to covering faster guys. If I do that, then I can play them pretty tight." -- Gilmore on covering tight ends like Ertz
It's always the quiet ones.
OK, it's not always the quiet ones. That might apply to serial killers and sexual deviants, but not defensive backs. As a matter of fact, in the high stakes, pass/fail, dog-eat-dog world of playing cornerback, it's hardly ever the quiet ones. The vast majority of the time, it's the brash, uber-confident, shit talking, extroverted Alphas who dominate. Your Richard Shermans and Jalen Ramseys. That rare exception, apparently, is Stephon Gilmore.
Gilmore has been in New England now for exactly 2 5/8ths seasons, plus two Super Bowl trips. And honestly the only other time I can remember him flexing (as the kids say) on an opponent was when he said Ramsey has the luxury of talking so much because he's a "zone guy" so he has extra energy.
Which is a clever line. And since it was cornerback-on-cornerback crime and Ramsey had spent an entire offseason ripping any opposing player an interviewer would bring up, understandable. And pretty much justified. Two guy perfecting the same craft having a rivalry.
This business about Gilmore calling out Ertz is another thing entirely. This is way out of character for him. At least publicly. Hell, it's way out of character for the Patriots who treat ending up on an opponent's bulletin board like it's making the "Wanted Criminals" board at the post office. But in spite of the overall game that Ertz played, you have to at least concede that Gilmore earned the right to chirp.
Ertz had nine receptions on 11 targets for 94 years in the game, while Gilmore and the Pats other cornerbacks were mainly covering the Eagles wideouts, leaving Ertz to double teams from the safeties like Terrance Brooks and Devin McCourty and the linebackers. But as the game wore on, Gilmore was switched to Ertz on 3rd downs and obvious passing downs. Which is when both of Ertz's incompletions happened. In all, Gilmore was assigned to him on 11 snaps. Carson Wentz targeted him three times and completed one, for four yards.
According to Pro Football Focus, overall Gilmore was targeted just seven times, good for two receptions and 10 yards, with a pass broken up and a Passer Rating allowed of just 39.6. For his game, Ertz had a Passer Rating when targeted of 102.3. Meaning that, in this case, the immovable object won.
And, if Gilmore is to be believed, the immovable object moved the irresistible force to tears. So there you go. It's uncharacteristic of a Gilmore or any Patriot to say stuff like that in the middle of a season. And he'll probably get a talking to. But since the Eagles are now .500 with six games to go, it's not very likely they or Ertz will be Gilmore's problem in the Super Bowl. So he can talk all he wants.