NEW ORLEANS — Marshon Lattimore turned the tide of the game, and it was only fitting that he would be the one to seal the victory.

The New Orleans Saints second-year cornerback overcame being beat a few times in the first quarter to play his most complete game of the season in Sunday night’s 20-14 divisional playoff win over the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles. 

The game didn’t start out that well for the 2017 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year.

Philadelphia’s veteran wide receiver Alshon Jeffery won his matchups against New Orleans’ shutdown cornerback. The Eagles’ second touchdown drive of the game was set up after Jeffery caught a 30-yard pass while Lattimore was defending him. Two plays later, the Eagles scored on a one-yard touchdown run by Nick Foles.

Jeffery also picked up a first down with a 14-yard catch while once again being defended by Lattimore and at halftime the Eagles wideout had three catches for 55 yards. As the 70,000-plus nervous Who Dat fans in attendance, and thousands more watching on television, began to feel their Super Bowl hopes fade away, memories of the heartbreaking 1992 home playoff loss to the Eagles began springing to mind.

That is when Lattimore stepped up.

With the Eagles leading 14-0 at the beginning of the second quarter, Foles tried to thread a pass to Pro Bowl tight end Zach Ertz but Lattimore, despite giving up five inches in height and 50 pounds in weight, managed to outmuscle and outleap Ertz to haul in the interception.

That pick ignited the home crowd and subsequently the Saints offense which had been stagnant up to the point.

Lattimore continued to blanket Jeffery the rest of the game as the Eagles possession receiver managed only two more catches for eight yards the rest of the game as New Orleans shut out Philadelphia in the final three quarters.

The exclamation point came on the Eagles’ final drive of the game.

Philadelphia got a play off right before the two-minute warning and Foles looked for his favorite target Jeffery along the left side of the field. The pass though went through Jeffery’s hands and Lattimore was there to haul in his second interception of the game.

After recording five interceptions as a rookie last season, the former first-round draft pick had an up-and-down season for the Saints in 2018, recording only two picks and losing more than a few one-on-one matchups with top tier wide receivers. 

That wasn’t the case on Sunday night.

In making two of the game’s biggest plays, Lattimore appeared to return to his shutdown corner form of 2017 and promptly put his sophomore slump in the rearview mirror. 

The timing couldn’t be better as the Los Angeles Rams and their high-powered offense come to town next Sunday with a berth in the Super Bowl on the line. 

Lattimore will be needed to once again play at an elite level if New Orleans hopes to inch closer to hoisting another championship trophy but if Sunday is any indication, Lattimore is once again more than ready to do just that.

 

Raymond Partsch III is managing editor of The Daily Iberian.