Stephon Gilmore has some strong thoughts about Bill Belichick's portrayal in "The Dynasty"

BOSTON -- It's been a few weeks since New Englanders watched and reacted to "The Dynasty," a 10-part docuseries on Apple TV+ that received quite a bit of criticism from owner Robert Kraft as well as longtime Patriots icons like Devin McCourty and Rodney Harrison as well as Julian Edelman and Matthew Slater.

Stephon Gilmore, who could lay claim to having the best two-year run of playing cornerback in Patriots franchise history, was a little late to the party. After seeing all the reactions to the series, he tweeted on March 26, "I need to watch The Dynasty."

He's apparently caught up, so he took it upon himself to go to bat for Bill Belichick.

"Just watched The Dynasty. Bill was the greatest coach I've ever been around. Don't let that fool you," Gilmore wrote on X/Twitter. "I'll never forget we were a predominantly man team during the 2018 season all the way up to the Super Bowl. When we played the Rams we switched to Zone."

That massive shift in defensive philosophy was covered late in the docuseries, but Gilmore made it a point to highlight it even more.

"No coach would switch what they did all season in a big game like that," Gilmore said. 

Gilmore added one other coaching point from Belichick that didn't make the docuseries, too.

"Or him telling me to play trail technique in Buffalo because the quarterback can't throw against the wind when I was following a big time receiver," Gilmore said. "If you ever played corner that's not a good feeling playing trail technique. I shut the WR down to 0 catches."

Gilmore has made five Pro Bowls in his career, but his lone All-Pro seasons came during his time in New England. He also became the first Patriots player to ever win Defensive Player of the Year, which he won in 2019, and he of course made what was essentially the game-sealing interception in Super Bowl LIII.

Belichick surprised a lot of locals when he signed Gilmore to a big-money free-agent contract instead of keeping Malcolm Butler for the long term, and it was a move that had plenty of critics when Gilmore's Patriots career got off to a rocky start in 2017. Yet Belichick clearly -- and rightfully -- believed that Gilmore had a special level of talent, and the coach helped him unlock it in ways that have Gilmore still feeling appreciative years later.