Stephon Gilmore unveiled the disrespectful trash talk from AJ Brown that fueled the cornerback’s stellar performance.
Dak Prescott delivered yet another outstanding performance, with Micah Parsons remaining disruptive despite battling the flu. Donovan Wilson’s crucial first-quarter turnover also stood out. Nevertheless, in Sunday night’s game, Stephon Gilmore emerged as the Dallas Cowboys’ standout player.
Assigned to shadow the Eagles’ star receiver A.J. Brown, Gilmore not only finished with a team-high nine tackles but also successfully contained Brown, preventing him from dominating the game.
Throughout the night, Gilmore and Brown engaged in a verbal exchange. While this is common when elite cornerbacks face top-level receivers, the matchup between Gilmore and Brown took a personal turn early in the first half. Tempers flared when the two players locked facemask-to-facemask, presumably engaging in trash talk.
AJ Brown called Stephon Gilmore old, per Gilmore. Probably shouldn’t have poked that bear. #Cowboys
Gilmore was lights out.
— Patrik [No C] Walker (@VoiceOfTheStar) December 11, 2023
Following that intense moment, Gilmore played with exceptional intensity, appearing almost possessed on the field. It was later revealed that Brown’s highly disrespectful comment had lit a fire under the veteran cornerback, as Gilmore shared with reporters after the Cowboys’ significant victory.
“I was mad,” Gilmore said of Brown’s trash talk. “I was going to show him. That’s the only thing I could do. I’m still here and I think I did that today.”
Calling an aging player old is one of the most disrespectful forms of trash-talk. The 33-year-old Gilmore saw that as a challenge and he thoroughly dominated Brown by turning back the clock to 2019, when he won Defensive Player of the Year as a member of the Patriots.
