Safety Landon Collins
November 16, 2017
Q: What was your take on yesterday’s team meeting?
A: I don’t know, [Head Coach Ben McAdoo] was just trying to be honest with people and get people, just to push them a little bit more. That’s what I took from it. Not really too much from a big time meeting or an aggressive meeting [standpoint], just trying to get people a good little push.
Q: Do you think that the meeting would have been helpful a few weeks ago?
A: I don’t know, that’s a good question.
Q: How do you think the defense is going to play this week?
A: We’re going to come out strong, we usually do. We definitely take on every opportunity that we get when we step on the field and try to be the best team, the best defense that we can be. And come out strong. We’re looking forward to it, we’re looking forward to the challenge.
Q: How do you explain the defensive performances the past two weeks?
A: A lot of injuries, that’s what I’ll say. Injuries, and the not being on the same page with the guys that we’ve been playing with. So, that’s about the biggest thing on that that I can give to you.
Q: Is there a simple answer on how to stop all of the recent explosive plays?
A: It’s just eyes with that. It’s just more of people being on the same page and that’s what I mean by communication and being on the same page with guys we haven’t been on the field with.
Q: How disappointing has the defensive performance been?
A: Very disappointing. We know the caliber of defense that we have, the caliber players that we have and the game changers that we have on defense. It messes with our head a little, but at the same time, we should be better than what we are, but we’re just not being how we are and how we were last year.
Q: Could the defense play harder?
A: I don’t know, I mean we play hard every down.
Q: How can the defense not be on the same page, when so many guys were here last year?
A: A lot of guys have been injured, so we’ve been playing with guys that have been, either here and there, linebackers that haven’t played a lot of downs, guys are switching in and out from the front, just different guys all the time.
Q: What were some other players’ reaction from yesterday’s film review?
A: I don’t know, I mean, I didn’t ask other guys how they felt about the reaction from what was going on. We split up into our groups and we talked about it. I can only talk about what the safeties went through.
Q: Do you think the team meeting was a smart thing for Coach McAdoo to do, to motivate guys?
A: Yeah, of course. You try to get on top of guys, you try to push them as much as you can. You know the kind of guys you’ve got, all these guys up in here, it’s tough. So, we can take criticism.
Q: Do you trust that cornerback Janoris Jenkins can put last week’s game behind him and be better?
A: Yeah, Janoris is able to do that anytime, come out and play way better football. He knows what he can do, he knows what he wants to do and what he wants to be. So, definitely he’ll come out and be better.
Q: Do you think that the criticism that Jenkins has received after last week’s game bothers him?
A: No, you have to ask him that question. I doubt it bothers him, I know what kind of effort he puts out onto the field, what kind of caliber player he is and what he can do.
Q: Why do you think people are questioning Jenkins’ effort from last week’s game?
A: I couldn’t tell you. I mean, the only one you could really question is the one he missed the tackle against [San Francisco tight end Garrett] Celek. The one with [San Francisco wide receiver Marquise] Goodwin, that’s a deep ball. It’s kind of hard from chasing from behind to try to catch somebody like that.
Q: How does giving up so many points the last two games mess with your head?
A: I’m not worried about the points, it’s more about the yardage. We’ve been giving over 400 yards of total offense the past two, three weeks. And it bothers me because we don’t do that, we haven’t done that since last year and now, we’re doing it again and we haven’t done that since my rookie year. That bothers me a lot. I don’t like to condone stuff like that.
A: I’m not worried about the points, it’s more about the yardage. We’ve been giving over 400 yards of total offense the past two, three weeks. And it bothers me because we don’t do that, we haven’t done that since last year and now, we’re doing it again and we haven’t done that since my rookie year. That bothers me a lot. I don’t like to condone stuff like that.
You win games by stopping the other team from scoring, regardless of how many yards they get....