FOXBOROUGH -- With the Patriots' season hanging in the balance, Stephon Gilmore did something incredible against the Jaguars, suspending himself in the air -- practically floating, his body parallel to the ground -- as the ball arrived.

Gilmore swatted it away, completing one of the season's most athletic plays at the most critical moment.

Then he did something even crazier: He celebrated.

After being mobbed by his teammates, Gilmore strutted along the sideline, seeking out the CBS camera, with Devin McCourty, Duron Harmon, Kyle Van Noy, Johnson Bademosi, and Jordan Richards following his lead. This qualifies as a wild display of emotion for Gilmore. It's the equivalent of another player ripping off his jersey, tossing his shoulder pads into the stands, and leaping into the front row.

Yes, Gilmore secured an eighth Super Bowl berth for Bill Belichick, Tom Brady, and the Patriots. And he's fired up. We think?

In the NFL, great receivers can make the beginning of any route look identical to others. Gilmore, who has proven to be a great cornerback for the Patriots, makes any situation look and sound exactly the same.

Playing an emotion-fueled position generally characterized by demonstrative body language and animated personalities, Gilmore acts as though a high-five will draw a $20,000 fine from the league office.

Off the field, Gilmore isn't evasive of reporters, nor is he shy of the camera. He's approachable and friendly. God bless him, Gilmore will stand at his locker and answer the same damn question a dozen times. And he'll do it without a hint of frustration or impatience or enthusiasm or really anything in his voice.

He speaks in a consistently soft monotone no matter the circumstance -- in his first press conference with the Pats, in the moments after New England's opening night blowout loss to Kansas City, in the moments after his breakthrough performance against Tampa Bay's Mike Evans. And if you're not lucky enough to get right in front of Gilmore for one of these interviews, there's a good chance whatever he's saying will be drowned out by the chatter of the defensive backs around him.

Devin McCourty and Duron Harmon tend to yell.

Gilmore's a whisperer, always. He's so mellow it's almost not believable.

"Trust me," Harmon said, "we had to get used to it a little bit."

"We had to tell him a couple times, 'Yo Steph, you need to speak up,'" Harmon added. "Mostly when he first got here. It was like, he speaks really, really quiet."

Harmon said Gilmore is a strong communicator on the field and in the meeting room. But Harmon couldn't help but laugh when asked point-blank: Does Gilmore ever seem excited?

"He's excited to be in the position he's in now," Harmon said. "It shows throughout the week in practice, and it shows on gamedays."

McCourty likened New England's current cornerback dynamic to the Darrelle Revis/Brandon Browner duo of 2014.

Gesturing toward Malcolm Butler, McCourty said, "This guy is talking to the receiver he's guarding the whole game."

"I just think, Revis was quiet -- not as quiet as Steph -- but Revis was also a guy that was pretty low-key, not super emotional, whereas Browner was the total opposite when he was here," McCourty said.

Patriots running back Mike Gillislee, who was previously Gilmore's teammate in Buffalo, said the cornerback has "just one mood."

He's chill.

"Always to himself," Gillislee said. "I don't know what he's really thinking. He's a good dude and he works hard. That's all I know."

"Even if he is stressed out," said Patriots cornerback Eric Rowe, "he kind of seems the same."

There hasn't been reason for Gilmore to be stressed in quite a while. After a shaky start and a prolonged absence due to a concussion, Gilmore finished the year as one of the Patriots' top overall players. Pro Football Focus graded Gilmore as the team's best defender and fourth-best player in 2017, trailing Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski, and Dion Lewis.

"Revis and (Gilmore) are different, but almost the same, just how they play, how we use him," Harmon said. "He's a good player.

In a December interview, Gilmore confirmed that, yes, he does experience some sort of emotion when he's on the field.

"You make plays, you get excited," Gilmore said. "I'm always happy on the inside. I never try to show it."

"My wife says to me all the time that I have to do something (to celebrate), but it's just not my personality," he added with a laugh.

It seems impossible to disturb Gilmore's reserved nature. He claims he's not interested in trash talking, and prefers not to engage when an opposing wide receiver starts chatting. While we don't have access to Gilmore Mic'd up, there's little evidence to dispute that.

One counterexample: Early in the fourth quarter against Pittsburgh, Gilmore got tangled up with wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey, who appeared incensed -- screaming at Gilmore -- as he retreated to the Steelers huddle.

As far as celebrations go?

Not much of that, either.

Gilmore struck a pose toward the Patriots sideline in Week 13 after he batted down a pass intended for Zay Jones. It was textbook technique by Gilmore, who placed his left hand on Jones' back and used his right hand to knock the ball away. Gilmore tumbled to the ground while making the play. As he bounced to his feet to celebrate the breakup, he didn't realize that Jones had actually caught the ball off the deflection. So the pose looked a little odd.

"I hit it," Gilmore said the week after the Bills game. "I told him it was lucky."

Later in the game, when Gilmore denied Jones on a fourth-down fade in the end zone, he appeared to say something to the rookie receiver as he jogged to the New England sideline.

He'd categorize this as an emotional sequence.

"I know I've gotten excited a couple other times," Gilmore admitted.

Watch out if the Patriots win Super Bowl LII. Who knows what this guy will do.