FOXBORO, Mass. — Stephon Gilmore, free safety?
The NFL’s best cornerback switched positions late in Saturday’s New England Patriots thriller at Gillette Stadium, moonlighting as a deep safety during the Buffalo Bills’ final possession.
The experiment lasted just two plays, neither of which was particularly successful for New England. Josh Allen scrambled for eight yards on the first but had that gain negated by an illegal formation penalty, then hit Cole Beasley for a 25-yard completion on the second.
Gilmore was not involved in either play. After the Beasley reception, which moved Buffalo inside New England’s 10-yard line, he moved back to his usual corner spot. Backed up near their own goal line, the Patriots forced a turnover on downs to seal a 24-17 victory.
“I see Devin (McCourty) and Duron (Harmon) do it all the time, and I just (went) with the flow,” Gilmore said of his altered role. “I don’t know. Know formations, just try to look at it as a corner stem point and just read the quarterback and make plays. That’s the mindset I had.”
He added: “Whatever I can do to help the team, that’s what I’m going to do.”
J.C. Jackson and Joejuan Williams were the Patriots’ cornerbacks during Gilmore’s brief safety stint. New England’s depth at the position was tested Saturday, as Jonathan Jones (groin) missed the game and Jason McCourty (groin) exited after just four snaps.
“Defensively, it’s a combination of us changing up our calls and the players within those calls having the ability to change up exactly how we play them,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said in a conference call Sunday morning. “Sometimes we have more than one way to play something, and they can pick Option A or Option B or maybe even Option C, depending on what the offense is doing.
“When you play a team like Buffalo that does a lot of different things … sometimes just everybody lining up in the same spot on every play isn’t the best thing in the world. It can make it relatively easy for the quarterback to figure out what you’re doing based on where a certain player is relative to where they put their players.”
Gilmore spent the majority of the night covering Bills top receiver John Brown. Brown beat Gilmore and Devin McCourty for a 53-yard touchdown during the third quarter but finished with just one catch on four targets.
“It was a good play by them,” Gilmore said. “I adjusted after that, and it didn’t happen no more. That’s what it’s about. Learn from your mistakes, good or bad, and get ready for the next play.”
