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Lucky for us, “next year” has come as fast as the calendar has turned. The two heavyweights face off for the third round in the Divisional Round Finals Sunday night in New Orleans. Lattimore was not made available to the media this week, while Evans moved beyond secondary questions regarding the cornerback, focusing instead on the game of the two teams.
“It’s definitely a great rivalry”, Evans said Wednesday. “When you play against each other, there is a lot of emotion, a lot of physicality.”
Lattimore hasn’t traveled with Evans from moment to moment because that’s just not how the Saints play defense under coordinator Dennis Allen. But his success against the bigger wide receiver is certainly a factor. It’s not hard to imagine a cautious quarterback like Tom Brady seeing No.23 across from Evans and thinking: Better to look elsewhere.
Lattimore’s dominance in coverage against Evans actually stretches over the course of his career, as evidenced by this snap breakdown of Nick Underhill at NewOrleans.football. According to Pro Football Focus, in Lattimore’s four seasons in the NFL (eight games against Tampa), Evans has just nine catches on 20 targets (45.0 completion percentage) and the two have traded touchdowns and interceptions, each with one. Those numbers are pale compared to what Evans has done compared to the rest of the league.
Evans’ potential removal from the equation might not matter as much now as Antonio Brown is cooking, but Lattimore’s presence – and his post-snap assignment – will be one of the more subplots. most interesting points from Sunday’s post-season game. As Lattimore reminded us just a few months ago on Twitter and with his Week 9 post-game comments – “It was a disrespectful thing he did” – the cornerback did isn’t about to forget that push to the rear when they take the ground this time.
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