Veteran cornerback Stephon Gilmore wants to play in 2025, but he’s looking for the right situation. When he arrived in New England after spending his first five NFL seasons with the Bills, Gilmore thought he may have ended up in the wrong situation.
Appearing on The Money Down podcast, Gilmore told a story about a meeting-room critique he received from New England coach Bill Belichick.
“He killed me one day, bro,” Gilmore said, via Jordy McElroy of USA Today. “It was when I first got there. I was pressed down on the receiver. It was a bunch route. . . . And I got picked. Bro, he killed me the next meeting. I almost cried, how he did me. I ain’t going to lie to you. I went to the bathroom, like man, bro. I can tell you one thing: I ain’t never got picked again after that.”
Belichick had no sacred cows. He went after Tom Brady, regularly. From newcomers like Randy Moss in 2007 to Chad Johnson in 2011, witnessing The Goat get gotten by his coach sent a clear message that, if you deserve to be called out, you will be.
Of course, Brady has said he knew it was coming. And Brady took it, because it kept everyone else on their toes.
Based on Gilmore’s explanation of his own reaction to getting ripped in the film room, it made a difference.
That doesn’t mean the approach always works. When Belichick’s lieutenants have tried to export the tactic to teams with a different culture, it has created some hard feelings. And it has upped the ante on winning, sooner than later.
When Belichick’s ways lead to positive results, everyone falls in line. If he hadn’t won fairly quickly in New England, he may not have lasted much longer than the Belichick various former assistants, whose time usually ran out before they could prove that mercilessly ripping players for mistakes during practices and games lays the foundation for winning.
Read the full article here
