Safety Landon Collins
August 22, 2018
Q: Why are you in such a good mood?
A: I’m about to go to the movies.
Q: What are you seeing?
A: I don’t know the name of it, I just know I’m going to the movies, that’s all I know.
Q: Your thoughts after two preseason games on the new helmet rule?
A: It is still being worked out. There’s a lot of, ‘Is this a helmet to helmet?’, ‘Is this not?’, so we’re still working on it as a team and trying to keep our heads out of it, still working on it.
Q: Are you tackling any different or are you doing what you’ve always done and counting on that not being a penalty?
A: I’m just doing what I’ve done always, I mean, I’ve always kept my head up tackling, so just trying to continue doing that with it.
Q: What are you trying to get accomplished in the third preseason game?
A: I think we’re going to play about three quarters, so I’m excited about almost getting a whole game in and making sure we stay on the same page as a defense and making sure we don’t have any mental errors out there, playing fast and playing with a lot of aggression.
Q: That seems to be your focus, the mental errors part of it. Is that different than usual at all? Is that because it’s a new defense?
A: Yeah, it’s just because it’s a new defense. We want to make sure we get everything correct, be sound, be prepared and always playing fast.
Q: What are your thoughts on playing against the Jets and (Sam) Darnold?
A: I’m excited. He’s a rookie, we feast on rookies sometimes. It’s always an exciting game. To see him play, he’s going to have a fantastic career once he gets it going and I know he’s going to do a great job at the Jets, but you’re playing against a good defense and we’re going to have fun with it.
Q: You’ve practiced with (Janoris) Jenkins for three years, is he practicing at another level right now?
A: Jackrabbit? He doesn’t like to be called ‘Jenk’. (laughter) He always plays at a high level, he always practices at a high level, always on the same page with me and the other safeties and the other cornerbacks and always staying ahead of the game. That’s Jackrabbit for us. I always expect 100 percent from him. That’s what he gives me, even if he’s hurt.
Q : When you see the outside linebackers like Olivier Vernon just flying to the ball, how much of a boost does that give the secondary?
A: It gives us a big boost. We kind of get like, ‘Man, we want some plays at the back end’, but at the end of the day they take a lot of stress off of our legs and a lot of running off of our legs and that’s a plus because we can run for four quarters instead of two. It’s good.
Q: Pat Shurmur talked the other day about naming captains after the last preseason game. Is that something you would be interested in? Taking on that responsibility?
A: You know me, that’s an easy question, yes. I definitely want to be a captain of this defense one of these years.
Q: Last year, when things didn’t always go right, that’s a year where that leadership kind of comes through?
A: It comes through regardless of the fact, winning or losing. If you’re winning, people get comfortable and you’ve got to continue pressing that. You can’t get comfortable in this league. If you get comfortable, you get sent home. From that point of view, it goes hand in hand. If you’re losing, you definitely need it (leadership) and when you’re winning, you especially need it because you need to keep everybody focused.
Q: Do you like moving around so much pre-snap?
A: Yeah, honestly, guys key on me. Offensive guys, especially coordinators and quarterbacks, I see them eyeing me all the time, saying ‘21’ or stuff like that. Just trying to move in and out of the box, trying not to give them a clean read on where we’re coming from and stuff like that, or give them an idea of what kind of defense we are in, so yeah, I like to move up and down, side to side.
Q: Does (Defensive Coordinator James) Bettcher ask you to do that or gives you the freedom to do it when you think it’s necessary?
A: They kind of give me the freedom to do it. Honestly, they don’t ask me to do it. They know I know I can get to my position wherever I’m at on the field and do a good job at it.
Q: Is that the kind of thing that could lead to a season like ’16, where you had the sacks, all the interceptions, tackles? Can that new role get you back to that?
A: Yeah, that’s the purpose of doing it. You give a confusing look, you get sacks from other sides. You give them a confusing look, I get a sack. So it works hand in hand.
Q: You were about to say Sam (Darnold) is going to play against a ‘great’ defense and you kind of stopped and said ‘good’, why?
A: Why did I stop? Because at the end of the day we’re going to be good regardless of the fact, but until those stats come out and we put it on paper when it counts the most, that’s when we’re going to call ourselves great.
Hell, even Parcells said hed be one of the guys that could play back then. I hope we can sign him to a long term deal sooner rather than later.