FOXBORO -- There wasn't much in the way of remorse. There were no formal apologies in front of microphones and cameras.

When Stephon Gilmore was asked about his scuffle with Julian Edelman earlier this week -- a wrestling match that got both players booted from practice by Bill Belichick -- the newly-acquired Patriots corner gave the equivalent of a verbal shoulder-shrug.

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That's the cost of doing business with the way he approaches practices, Gilmore explained.

"There's not really no friends on the field to me," Gilmore said Saturday following a rainy practice at Gillette Stadium. "Once I'm on the field, there's no friends. But off the field, [it's] very respectful. [I] respect everybody on this team. Talk to them. It's nothing personal. It's just when I'm on the field, I'm super competitive and there's no friends."

Gilmore's aggressiveness has shown up regularly over the course of nine days of training camp practices. He often finds himself matched up with the top wideouts New England has to offer -- like Edelman or Brandin Cooks -- and seems to always be around the football.

He broke up a pass to Cooks in Friday's scrimmage, and he nearly had another breakup on a deep pass but Cooks was able to pin the ball to Gilmore's arm and hang on for about a 50-yard gain.

He's clearly one of the top two corners on the team along with Malcolm Butler, and it looks as though he's feeling at home -- both in the Patriots defense and in the Foxboro area. He said on Saturday that he's been reminded a bit of Orchard Park, New York since arriving in New England after spending the first five years of his career with the Bills.

"This is a football town," Gilmore said. "It's kind of like a college town. It's football bred. You always want to be in a place like this where you can focus on football, and focus on your job . . . They're both football cities. They love football."