Giants coaches spent part of last week talking up the progress of rookie cornerback Eli Apple. Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo said the first-round pick was developing “quicker than maybe we expected” and safeties coach David Merritt said he believed that “this kid is going to be one of the great ones for us down the road.”
The only thing left for Apple to do, they agreed, was to actually do it.
On Saturday, he took care of that.
Apple passed his first big on-field test as a starting cornerback when, in the 21-20 win over the Jets, he was charged with covering Eric Decker.