Stephon Gilmore is a really good cornerback. That sentence shouldn’t be as difficult to say as it currently is on Twitter without getting a “he’s a bum” or “he’s overrated”. I’m here to change some minds, while using one of my favorite wrestlers to hit my point home. You’ve been warned.
For any given cycle of Bills players, like many of you I have my favorites. One of them (Mario) was cut recently and Michael did a masterful job smashing every pitchfork and torch he could in this article. Stephon, Tyrod, Cordy, Marcell and Shady are currently the players I will instantly jump into INTERNET DEFENSE FORCE mode (tm BMFCast, a great podcast that covers bad movies) when the tide begins to turn on them #onhere. Joe is usually a great counterbalance to me, either hopping in guns blazing or giving me a few suggestions to temper it into something a bit more coherent. In this case, mentioning Antonio Cesaro crystallized exactly where I put Stephon in terms of esteem and willingness to defend him and his future mega-contract to the hilt.
As anyone who has read my twitter feed or any of my articles can attest, in addition to my passion for Bills football – heck, football in general, my first love was pro wrestling. I’m not going to try to prosthelytize – but currently, the WWE has a wrestler named Antonio Cesaro that is what I’d call a wrestler’s wrestler. He’s not flashy, but he’s so effective at what he does in the ring it makes it to me akin to art. One of the biggest detractors of Cesaro ironically is his boss, Vincent K McMahon, owner/CEO of WWE. McMahon’s issue – Cesaro doesn’t talk, which he attributes to Cesaro being Swiss. Despite not talking, Cesaro does what he needs to do as a pro wrestler excellently. That is what Stephon Gilmore does for me at corner for the Bills.
At age 25 and having played well over the first four years of his career, I never thought there’d be an outcry that Gilmore was A) a bad player/bust or B) overrated, but here we are. Much like Cesaro, because Gilmore isn’t much of a talker, he falls to the back of the line in terms of premiere players at his position. By any metric you can cite – burn rate, TDs allowed, whatever – Gilmore is in the top 1/3 (top 10 really) in the league. If you go back to him vs Beckham Jr., heck any top receiver he’s faced, Gilmore has more than held his own.
In Ryan’s scheme, he did a great job prior to his injury. Unlike some defenses where you are going to be put in a position to have “help” (assistance from your safety or perhaps a linebacker underneath) Rex lives and dies by his corners handling 1-on-1 situations. Say what you will about former Bills GM Buddy Nix, but his declaration that the CB position is the toughest other that QB to start in the NFL was quite true. Unlike say running back where you can get a play or two and on third down get a replacement in that understands protections a little better, as a corner your mistakes are there for the world to see. Just like a tackle, they might have 50+ plays where they do their job, but that one time they mess up is on SportsCenter.
For Cesaro, it’s the same – in a match you can have a great 20 minute spectacle, but that one missed forearm or a splash that flames out and you hit the boards and you’re hearing “you f’d up” is going to the rafters by the fans. Planning a match and executing a match are two separate things – and for Cesaro he’s done a masterful job in his career at making sure he got the most out of his opponent without such big gaffes appearing in a match.
Ultimately, Stephon Gilmore’s play on the field and his ability to stay healthy will be the best way for him to continue to prove this on the field. And maybe, just maybe that’ll allow the IDF to take a day off.
So that’s all the takes I have for one day. As always, hit me up on twitter (@RDotDeuce) if you have questions/comments/suggestions for Cesaro matches/hatred of wrasslin’ to throw my way.
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