Saints: Eli Apple’s big Week 3 was an indicator of his high upside
New Orleans Saints’ second-string cornerback Eli Apple showed off his skill set in the team’s Week 3 victory over the Seattle Seahawks.
To most people’s surprise, it was Saints’ star cornerback Marshon Lattimore, not Eli Apple that was torn up against Seattle. Apple was actually a highlight for the Saints defense after receiving a bulk of the criticism to start the season.
It seemed as though Eli Apple was the focal point of conversation in the team’s primetime Week 1 Monday Night Football game. However, then it wasn’t for anything positive that the former Ohio State Buckeye had done.
Matched up with either Kenny Stills or Will Fuller, the narrators continued to remind fans of how Deshaun Watson and the Texans offensive coordinator were targeting the Saints two weaker links in their secondary.
Against Seattle, it was the exact opposite.
According to Pro Football Focus, Apple was targeted four times and allowed one catch for a mere 32 yards, being given an overall grade of 80.3. Lattimore, on the other hand, was targeted 13 times and allowed three of the Seahawks’ deep-ball completions. Overall, he received a 66.4 score.
Lattimore allowed 152 of Wilson’s 400-plus yards. Apple allowed just 32 of Wilson’s 408 yards. That’s a big difference than the storyline in the first two weeks.
As a corner that was heavily targeted the first few weeks, Apple stepped his game up. However, he was given a much easier assignment as the vast majority of targets were being thrown to Tyler Lockett.
This was the week Apple needed to shut down a receiver. After playing Fuller and Stills in Week 1 and a combination of Cooper Kupp and Brandin Cooks in Week 2, Apple needed a confidence booster as he limited DK Metcalf all game.
Apple’s terrific Week 3 should signify a few things. For starters, it should tell the team and fans that this roster doesn’t necessarily need help in the secondary. They just need to figure out how to be more efficient in their sets, not go head-over-heels for a player like Jalen Ramsey.
Secondly, it proved that Apple could play.
After the first few weeks, fans were wanting Apple replaced or better yet cut. That was never going to happen, and his huge Week 3 performance silenced his doubters and should hopefully keep those skeptics at bay a bit longer.
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He needs to follow it up this week with a solid performance against the Cowboys. However, it’ll be Marshon Lattimore that again draws the toughest assignment, most likely facing Amari Cooper, who has scored in each of the Cowboys’ first three games.