First impressions are impactful. Sometimes, though, they prevent us from making an honest assessment and noticing change.
Eli Apple hasn’t been that bad this year. Really, he’s been just about average, which is great progress.
Thus far this season, opposing quarterbacks have had a QB rating below 80 five times when targeting receivers covered by Apple. And they’ve had a QB rating below 70 in three of those games.
Chart of the #Bengals QBR allowed through 9 weeks by all starting DBs (based on @PFF data).