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Sunday Media Transcript: Safety Landon Collins

Eric from BBI : Admin : 8/12/2018 3:49 pm
Safety Landon Collins
August 12, 2018
 
Q: Did it feel good to be back on the field the other night?
A: It was really exciting just to be around different players and my own teammates.
 
Q: Was there any thought of you not playing in that game?
A: No, not at all. I already made it clear that I was going to play.
 
Q: Do you ever think about the condition and safety of your arm?
A: It’s just natural. It’s second nature. I’m not even paying attention to it, or if anything happens to it. I’m not paying attention to it.
 
Q: Have you tested to see if it’ll hold up against a big hit?
A: I’ve tried it at practice each and every time. It got stuck between a guy a couple times at practice. Once I took it out, it was good then. I knew it would be alright in the game.
 
Q: Based on what you saw from the starting defense on film, is this defense taking shape the way you expected it to?
A: Yes, all the guys are tuned in. We made a few mistakes, and we’ll just correct those from the game from what happened. Out of the 12 plays we played, I think we did a good job.
 
Q: Would you say the speed is where you want it to be?
A: I think we can play a little bit faster. We didn’t get a game plan against them. We just kind of played in our basic defense and just tried to make plays from that. If we game planned and just made certain adjustments, it would’ve been a different outcome I would say. Until we get to the regular season, I’ll just play at a normal speed until we can game plan against somebody. 
 
Q: (Defensive coordinator James) Bettcher had mentioned about moving you all around. How involved do you feel you were in stopping the run game?
A: I was very involved. He hasn’t moved it around this past week, yet. We’re kind of just in our normal positions – safety, linebacker (inaudible) in different ways. We’re not moving around yet until the season begins.
 
Q: How different has this camp been for you just having a different safety next to you each and every day?
A: It’s been the same since I’ve been here, for all three years. I’ve been having another safety next to me all three years. So, it’s normal.
 
Q: Do you fully understand the new helmet rule about hitting while leading with your head? Do you think it’ll be a problem this year?
A: Honestly, it was a lot of heads down in the game. I think it’s more open field when they want to see it. They want you to be able to protect yourself in the open field. When it’s in that cluttered situation when a pile or between the tackles, you can’t really see anything. So, it’s hard to see. I think it’s more open-field tackling when they want the head up.
 
Q: Do you have to make a mental adjustment knowing the rule change?
A: No, I’m used to that. I always tackle with my head up. So, there’s nothing to it. 
 
Q: Is it something that’s talked about in the defensive backs/secondary room?
A: When they brought it up – tackling with the head down – we kind of talked about it. Then when we watched the first game with the Ravens and Bears, and we watched how they were tackling. We saw a lot of heads down, but then we saw a lot of flags. We saw that open-field tackle, and both heads were down and they threw the flag. We see where they’re going to emphasize throwing a flag with your head down in situations.
 
Q: The dual practices with Detroit, you’re familiar with that from what the Giants did with Cincinnati, what is that like? How is it different than a camp practice?
A: Honestly, because you’re going against somebody different each and every day, you can test as a team, you can test other players and you’re not going against your own players. You can finally get more aggressive with your teammates.
 
Q: Does that become a fine line where you have to worry about getting a little too chippy?
A: We know what to do, we’re veterans, we know what it is. It’s still preseason and we just want to make it to the season. When it gets there, it gets there. We’ll figure it out once we get there.
 
Q: What have you seen from the safety position next to you? You guys are rotating a bunch of guys, does anybody stand out?
A: All the guys I play next to stand out. I have one guy who makes all the calls, one guy who makes sure we’re in the right adjustments, all of the guys are making great decisions, making great movements and fighting for their jobs so I’m excited for those guys and I know whatever safety that plays next to me is going to give me the A1.
 
Q: How important is communication when there are all those different guys rolling through?
A: Communication is the biggest key on this defense. We have so many adjustments, views, key points and things we have to look at. So communication is the biggest thing on this defense, not just with safeties, it’s with corners, safeties, linebackers, we have to get the whole thing adjusted to make sure we’re all on the same page.
 
Q: I understand it’s just a preseason game but you were here the last couple of years when opposing tight ends had big games against the Giants. Did you make anything of the fact that the Cleveland tight end had two touchdowns?
A: No, they had a good game at the time. We were in zone coverage when they scored, at that time they did a good job.
 
Q: We obviously see (Coach James) Bettcher’s defense, you don’t have a lot of guys who have a history of getting a lot of sacks. After seeing what you’ve seen this summer with the defense, what makes you convinced that you guys can have a consistent pass rush?
A: Not many teams know where we’re coming from, we make everything look like man (coverage). So you never know if we’re in man or zone coverage. This past game I came free three times. So, I was like, ‘If we just make sure we hold them for two more seconds, it’s a sack.’ But those open and wide-open tackles with Coach Bettcher’s defense, I think we’re going to have a lot of sacks, DB and linebacker wise. I think it’s going to be very open.
 
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