New England Patriots: Stephon Gilmore anchor of defense

With Trey Flowers gone, the New England Patriots defense will be heavily reliant on Stephon Gilmore this season.

Last season was definitely a special one for Stephon Gilmore. The cornerback was able to get his first Super Bowl ring and was spectacular for the New England Patriots.

The pressure will be ramped up in 2019 for Gilmore and the defense. The loss of Trey Flowers shouldn’t be scoffed at. New England may have signed Michael Bennett, but New England’s top defender is far and away Stephon Gilmore.

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Gilmore will have to once again be a lockdown corner. If Gilmore struggles the entire team will struggle as well.

The offense has some holes to fill as well. Rob Gronkowski’s retirement will make life rather difficult for Tom Brady. Losing a player as talented as Gronk would be devastating to some teams. For the Patriots it just means that will someone else will have to take his place.

So I expect New England to rely on their defense much more. I think this season we will see the Patriots winning more low scoring games. Expect less 35-14 wins and more 24-7 victories.

That is why the Patriots need Gilmore to play well and not take a step back. The pass rush will probably not be as ferocious as it was last season. New England will need the secondary to be all over receivers.

Hopefully this will cause Gilmore to rise to the occasion. If the corner is able to nab a few more interceptions than he did last season that would be appreciated, but Gilmore’s success isn’t shown in his own stat sheet.

Last season he went up against some of the NFL’s top receivers and made them look like they belonged in college.

Next. Bill Belichick is losing his fastball. dark

In 2018 Gilmore got to see what it takes to get win a championship. If he and the New England Patriots want to return to the “big game” they will need to be even better then they were last season.

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