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Wednesday Media Transcript: Safety Landon Collins

Eric from BBI : Admin : 9/26/2018 3:46 pm
Safety Landon Collins
September 26, 2018
 
Q: Do you study a player like (RB) Saquon Barkley when you have to go up against a player like (Saints RB) Alvin Kamara?
A: Practicing, yeah, but I don’t study Saquon. Practicing against him definitely brings us balance. You have to stay square and keep him in front of us. If you do that, you’ll be able to make a tackle on him, and same thing with Alvin.
 
Q: You know the ball is going to find him a lot (Kamara).
A: It’s something we know, and we have to game plan against. He has almost 30 touches from just out the backfield for passing. We know he can get a lot of balls thrown his way, a lot of touches. We have some work to do with that.
 
Q: How big of challenge is that as a defensive group?
A: It’s a big challenge. We look forward to it though. We’re excited for it because this is an explosive offense, and they’ve got a great quarterback back there that knows how to run it. He’s been doing a great job since he’s been in the NFL.
 
Q: This year (Saints QB) Drew Brees has thrown 80% completion percentage. How much pressure does that put on you guys?
A: A lot of pressure. We see he gets the ball out quick, and his guys get open. They know how to catch the ball. I think he kind of gets on their backs about it, and that’s what a great quarterback does.
 
Q: Do you feel like this defense if finally starting to settle down a little bit from Week 1? Do you see progression being made from Week 1 up until this point?
A: Of course, we’re settling down. We’re getting down the right concepts and we’re getting our defense right in terms of how we want to play. We know what defense we’d like to play. When we play the right defense for us, we’ll play at 110 percent.
 
Q: Do you feel like you’re getting off to a faster start these last couple games?
A: Yeah, we’re getting off to a faster start. We just want to get that first series to be a three-and-out if we can. That’s what we harp on. As long as we don’t let them score or get three points, or something like that, we’ll be good.
 
Q: How do you build on your first win? How do you gather momentum?
A: You gather momentum by staying the course. You don’t think about it. We got our win. We can kind of calm down now. We do the same preparation we did the week prior, the weeks before that, and the week before that. Just continue to get better and continue working to be the best.
 
Q:  When you look at Brees’ numbers, he really is that good, isn’t he?
A: Yeah, he’s definitely that good. He’s the icon of their organization. He’s been doing a great job over there, and I’m looking forward to playing him.
 
Q: A lot of people get on Brees for his lack of height, you can block his field of vision, you can kind of control him, but it doesn’t seem like anyone can.
A: He just knows the game. He knows where his guys are going to be at. He knows his offense. He knows where to throw the ball. I don’t know a lot of quarterbacks that throw the ball to where it should be and not to their receiver.
 
Q: Kamara catches so many passes. Do you think that’s by design? Or, are more of those check-downs and looking for an escape patch?
A: Honestly, it’s hand-in-hand. Some of them are designed for him to get the ball. Some of them are check-downs. You get the ball in his hands and he can make an explosive play. So, why not check the ball down to him if he is open.
 
Q: Do you find it surprising that Brees is still able to get the ball out his hands so quick and play at a high level at 39 years old?
A: You have to understand we have a lot of good rushers. You don’t want to hold the ball back there when you have a lot of good rushers coming towards your way. So, getting the ball out slows down the rush. You get the ball out quick, now you have to try to find a quicker way to get to him, or you have to play differently. It slows a lot of people down.
 
Q: Right, but he’s getting up there in age. You would think that his release is slowing down.
A: No, not with a quarterback. Not with him, especially. He’s definitely going to keep his strengths up there.
 
Q: What did you guys do two years ago when you beat the Saints?
A: That was a different team, I can’t even speak about that (laughter). That was a different team with different players. I can’t even speak about that. Honestly, just play ball. 
 
Q: How much stress does it put on a secondary when you have to account for (WR) Michael Thomas, and a guy like Kamara who can be a dynamic playmaker in the passing game as well?
A: It puts a lot of stress on us, but its two guys. We just got to figure out a way to contain them. You figure that way out, and you keep playing ball from there.
 
Q: Do you think this game will be a shootout? Some of the guys on offense may feel up to it. Maybe not so much for the guys on defense.
A: No, we’re not interested in that. That’s bad defense when you have a shootout. I had one my rookie year when I was here. I didn’t like it, so I’m not trying to have it happen here (laughter).
 
Q: In any level, have you ever been a part of something like that?
A: That game was the only time I’ve been a part of something like that.
 
Q: Was it helpless? It seems like neither team could do anything.
A: It’s really just lack of assignments. Knowing what you’re supposed to do, defensively, on both sides of the ball at that time. Every team scores within seven points, and it’s a low-scoring game if you look at it. If it’s a high-scoring game for one team, somebody is on the other side of the ball that’s not doing what their supposed to be doing.
 
 
Q: Is one win enough to get past the burden from not winning last year? Do you guys need to string together a few wins before you feel like this organization is back to its winning ways?
A: Honestly, we’ve got to keep on stacking them (wins). Like I said, we’re not really worried about last year. It’s a lot of players coming from last year, but it was a 0-2 start for us, for everybody. We don’t care what happened last year with us. It’s in the back of our mind. We’re going to carry it with us on our shoulders. We wanted to win, and we still want to win, regardless of the facts. When we go into each and every game, we’re trying to win.
 
Q: As a defensive player seeing all these roughing the passer penalties being called, how aware do you have to be of that? Do you have to do anything differently when you go after the quarterback?
A: Honestly, you got to continue playing football. It’s up to the refs discretion on what’s roughing the passer, because different refs are going to call it. We had a lot of tackles on the quarterback so far, and I don’t think we’ve gotten one yet. It’s on the ref’s discretion. Just keep going, you just keep playing ball. It’s a contact sport. Sometimes it happens, sometimes it won’t, and we just have to live with the consequences from there.
 
Q: Is it hard to realize what is and what isn’t a foul?
A: It’s very hard, because you don’t know what is a foul, what’s not a foul. Now you can’t scoop the quarterback from underneath his legs, and I did that the first preseason game against (Brown QB) Tyrod (Taylor), and I didn’t get flagged.
 
Q: Did anyone say anything to you?
A: No, nobody said anything. Even the ref came up and said, “Good job staying off the quarterback.” So I was like, alright, cool. Then, I saw (Vikings LB Erick) Kendricks do it from Minnesota. Then, I saw (Packers LB) Clay (Matthews) do it. Then, I saw a D-tackle do it in the Carolina game. I think two of them got called, and one of them didn’t. You really just have to play football, because we’re trying to stay off the quarterback. Maybe the easiest thing to do is taking their legs away from them, scooping them, and just setting them down, because if we drive in to them, it’s hard to take your body off of them.
 
Q: Do you see a difference in the Saints when they play indoors as opposed to outdoors? Are they a different team?
A: They’re a different team when they’re away, yes. I think so. They’re home field advantage is taken away. They love being in their dome. It’s hard to win in that dome. When they’re outside of it, you give the other team a little advantage.
 
Q: What is it about them that makes them a different team on the road?
A: I don’t know, that’s a good question. I don’t think it’s the fans. I just think it’s the atmosphere. They’re at home in their stadium. It’s just a better feeling.
 
 
very complimentary of Brees  
Les in TO : 9/26/2018 4:56 pm : link
he has learned from his comments about Dak!
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