SmashMouth

The assignment for Marshon Lattimore in his second NFL game was to stay with Brandin Cooks, a former New Orleans Saints wideout who played last season with the New England Patriots.

The cornerback is remembered for having a good game: limiting Cooks to two receptions for 37 yards in a Saints loss that dropped them to 0-2 before an eight-game winning streak that ended agains the Los Angles Rams. Lattimore did not play in that game against the Rams because of an ankle injury.

This time around, Lattimore his healthy. Once again, the Saints have an impressive winning streak — this one at six games — with another chance for the shutdown corner to face a team that has Cooks among its receivers, only this time he’s on the same Rams team that busted the Saints' streak last season.


There’s no definitive telling how the defensive coordinator Dennis Allen will deploy his defensive backs against this grouping of receivers, one that also has Todd Gurley coming out of the backfield, but the Saints should be better positioned by having Lattimore healthy and on the field.

“That’s big,” said Sheldon Rankins, the Saints defensive tackle. “When you talk about how good Marshon is when it comes to playing tight coverage and not getting flags called and always being around the ball, I think that’s big for the defense. I think the last time we played the Patriots he guarded Cooks and pretty much neutralized him.”

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