FOXBORO — Stephon Gilmore is a confident man. And why shouldn't he be?
After identifying Bengals routes and picking off two more passes to give him an NFL-leading half-dozen interceptions, including a pick-six, he tweeted "Best in the business."
Tom Brady, with two decades of experience studying defensive backs, said that Gilmore is "playing as well as anybody to ever play the position."
Yes, he has a real shot to be named the first Defensive Player of the Year at corner since Charles Woodson achieved that honor 2009.
But there's something that one of Gilmore's teammates does better than he does, according to him. And it's someone who shares space with Gilmore in the Patriots cornerback meeting room, no less.
J.C. Jackson's ball skills are that good.
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"He has the best ball skills I done seen," Gilmore said on Sunday. "I done seen a lot of corners. He plays the ball as good as anybody. He's just gotta keep working, keep practicing hard, keep preparing. He's gonna be a great player."
Jackson is already posting great numbers in his second year. On Sunday, he combined with Gilmore to allow just six catches for 51 yards on 13 targets to go along with four picks and two more breakups. Jackson's two picks were his fourth and fifth of the season. It was his second two-pick game (Buffalo, Week 4) of 2019.
Among corners who've played at least 50 percent of their team's defensive snaps, Jackson leads the league in quarterback rating allowed (28.6). Gilmore (32.8) is second.
The turnovers Jackson has been able to create have a lot to do with that figure, and the fact that Jackson is averaging an interception on every 9.4 targets has a lot to do with his background. He was an All-American in high school as a two-way player, and he could've played receiver at a Power 5 program. Instead, he landed at Florida to play corner and stuck with that position as his bumpy collegiate road took him to Riverside Community College and then Maryland.
But apparently those receiver instincts never left.
"You can tell when the ball's in the air, he knows how to play the ball really well," Gilmore said. "He can run. He's strong. But I think that's what separates him from a lot of players."
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Gilmore's compliments echoed what the McCourtys said about Jackson late in his rookie year.
"He makes plays in practice," Devin McCourty said after Jackson made a pick against the Vikings last season, "that you guys haven't seen in the game but our whole secondary is like, '[Expletive.] There he goes again.'
"One-handed catches. Great ball-skills. Like today. It's a long throw, it looks like the guy might have a step. As soon as J.C. turns his head, he locates the ball as good as anybody I've seen that we've had at corner."
"Watching him from spring on," Jason McCourty said, "he's a guy, when he turns and looks for the ball, [he's] elite as far as going to look for the ball, attacking the ball . . .
"There's plays that he makes in practice that we see week in and week out and he has some special talent."
Jackson's performance this season has flown under the radar somewhat as Gilmore has established himself for a second consecutive season as the top corner in the game. And Jason McCourty has started 10 games this year while Jackson has started four.
But given the way Jackson is playing the football — and given the fact that Jason McCourty and Jonathan Jones are dealing with injuries — he'll have a shot at making impact plays alongside the game's best corner under whatever spotlight is available to him.