Stephon Gilmore Understands Patriots Preparation With Bill Belichick

Stephon Gilmore prepares to play the New England Patriots once again as an opponent after winning Super Bowl LIII with them in 2019.

After nearly returning to New England, Gilmore now plays as a top corner with the Dallas Cowboys.

In his four full seasons with the Patriots, Gilmore got an in-depth look at how Bill Belichick keeps his teams extremely prepared to win. Ahead of Sunday’s matchup with his former team, the 33-year-old showed respect for New England.

“They’ve got a great football team,” Gilmore told reporters on Wednesday, per a team-provided video. “Great coach. It’s going to be a big challenge for us to go out and execute how we can. I’ve got a lot of respect for those guys.”

Gilmore noted that his former head coach predicated on weekly preparation on how to stay mentally aware of anything that comes up during the game.

“He’s a great coach,” Gilmore said. “He’s probably one of the greatest coaches of all-time. He’ll have his guys prepared. He taught me a lot about the game. About preparing and studying. Appreciative for him, but I’m going against him on Sunday. It will be fun.”

The 2019 NFL Defensive Player of the Year described how Belichick hides schemes well to jump on opponent’s weaknesses and take away strengths on both sides of the ball.

“You don’t know what you’re going to get,” Gilmore added. “That’s the good thing about him. What you didn’t do well, he’s going to take advantage of. You’ve got to be able to correct the things you don’t do well.”

The Patriots and Cowboys meet for the third time in five seasons on Sunday at AT&T Stadium.