Eli Apple (3 Viewers)

[SaintsThinker]

This is the team that many people thought we could be. There is a reason the Saints were picked as the NFC favorites by many pundits during this past preseason. Yes, the Bucs and Browns games (despite the latter resulting in a win) made people think they'd been sold a bill of goods on their Saints preseason predictions.......but time would reveal that we were alot closer to being that 2017 team that was teetering on SB aspirations.....as opposed to just another 7-9 blowhard team that we've tended to become immediately following a promising season.

But then something funny happened along the way. We had the two-headed RB duo which supposedly was in place to shoulder much of the load while Brees played great "when needed". Unfortunately half of that duo was gone for the first month......so...well.........ok, ok, Drew.....just get us through this month, and then we promise, we'll go back to not asking as much of you.

But........that Drew, you know how he is..........you ask him to straighten the decorative pillows on your couch, and he helps you rearrange your living room. He just had to go and start playing the best football of his career.

And that's the difference.

Ingram and Kamara are still Ingram and Kamara. Our defense is back to playing like they did last year when Crawley solidified the #2 CB spot, only this time with Apple. But Brees is playing MVP-level football in addition to that. May sound weird to hear someone say that Drew Brees was the "unexpected" X factor in all this.......but really, he kinda was.

This. This is like you took last years team but added Drew playing out of his mind along with the dynamic running game. They figured out to truly balance the two and now the offense is just unstoppable.

 

[1badsailor]

Jones one great skill was running really really fast in a straight line. He’s never been good at quick cuts, and has very poor suddenness. As he has gotten older, bigger and slower it killed off the one thing he did well, and his lack of ability in other areas is keeping him from progressing into that shorter/medium range target.

julio is still a top receiver in the nfl. Big boy whonruns good routes and is a grown man afyer the catch. The offensive coordinator is just terrible.

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

has Julio really lost a step or is he just burnt out in Atlanta. The announcers were talking about how he doesn't produce in the redzone while he catches a pass to get them down to the 5 yl and immediately gets up and calls to sit out the next play. I would think if the talk is that he doesn't produce enough in the redzone to warrant the contract he is asking for, that he would want to be in on all those plays. It wasn't like he took a big hit, he just looked gassed.

The sense that Julio works best in space - finding seams and holes in coverage or zones
That doesn’t work as well in the red zone

 

[VPCajun]

There were so many times that Ryan had absolutely no where to go with the ball because his receivers were blanketed by our good coverage. Could we say the same if we didn't have Apple? Probably not. Those extra seconds allow the d-line to get home even though they are held almost every freaking play. I almost enjoyed watching our defense play last night more than the offense.

And to think that the NFL is forcing the game towards what we saw in the KC-LA game.

smh

 

[VPCajun]

It's funny cuz it's on a loop!

LOL!

 

[VPCajun]

Does all this seem too good to be true? I mean, the first few games felt EXACTLY like last year where everything seemed such a struggle. Now it's like we have some control without everything being against us.

I'm waiting for sanctions to come down from Godell - he wants OFFENSE and Offense ONLY!

smh at the direction the NFL is going

 

[MLU]

Deserves a ton of love.

Most of Julio’s catches came against zone coverage. When he was manned up, Apple did a great job and allowed Lattimore to shut down Ridley.

I feel like being a part of this team has helped his confidence grow quite a bit in a short time.

You better start a thread for Vonn Bell and Marcus Williams. They assisted Eli the entire night.

 

[tinman]

It's nice to see a Saints defender able to manhandle the Falcons best reciever, after so many years of playing against "Captain Push-off"!

 

[jmalon3]

Eli Apple was an upgrade even if all he did was not get penalized on every pass play. Crawley was decent in coverage but he got too handsy in coverage. That’s how the bucs beat us this year. They threw it deep in hopes of a reception or PI call over Crawley. It worked.

 

[jessy]

I love this! Not sure exactly what is going on but it reminds me of two kids playing backyard ball. Eli gives him a little “get outta here” push, Jones turns around angry, Eli runs away. Lol

 

[James Spader]

And Apple is still improving as he is learning & becoming more comfortable in DA's system. He'll only get better as time goes on. Great use of a #4 draft pick.

Turned a 4 into 1.