The Chicago Bears need to take note of where Landon Collins is on the field at all times
While the New York Giants defense has struggled and brought them to their record, they do have some decent pieces. The addition of a healthy Oliver Vernon has made them respectable in the past couple of weeks, and the Giants have a stud in Landon Collins.
While the Giants cornerbacks are getting torched, their pass defense to running backs and tight ends have been on par with thanks to Landon Collins. He provides a versatile skill set, but as you will see, it is his understanding that makes him so good.
The play linked here perfectly highlights his understanding. As the receiver motions, Landon Collins gives out a signal as to what he thinks is going to happen. Then, he rushes in, beats Nelson Agholor, who was looking to block him from the side and makes the play. This is pure instincts.
The play linked here is another very sound play by Landon Collins. Collins reads the play and sees it go to the outside. He rushes outside and sets the edge, forcing the run inside. However, by beating his blocker outside, he was anticipating the back to cut inside. From there, he is in open space and can make the clean tackle.
Landon Collins is quite possibly their best run defending threat on the team. The play highlighted here along with the other two can highlight how proficient he is in this area. Right before the snap, he is creeping into the box. As the ball is snapped, he is sprinting downhill and making a big tackle in the backfield.
However, as mentioned his best work comes against backs and tight ends in the passing game. Nothing illustrates this more than his work against Zach Ertz in the play linked here.
Ertz starts off to the left side of the line. He motions right out to the flats. Collins follows, but with two receivers on the left running slants have four roadblocks in his way. Collins manages traffic with ridiculous speed and gets across the field to make the tackle.
Zach Ertz is one of the best pass-catching tight ends, and Christian McCaffrey is one of the best pass-catching running backs. It doesn’t matter with Landon Collins.
Check the play linked here. McCaffrey flares out of the backfield and sees Collins sitting in zone. McCaffrey finds a nice spot to sit and should be open. However, Collins is reading and reacting and swarms to the ball to break it up.
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Lastly, we see an insane combination of defense on both the tight end and running back. Watch it here. Collins is lined up on the edge. The tight end runs to the corner of the end zone, and the running back runs to the flats. Collins is the only man over there and is stuck in a tough spot. However, he divides the two, makes it a tough pass to the tight end and forces the throw to the flats. From there, the Collins we have seen emerges as he bolts to the spot, takes down the running back and makes the play short of the goal line.
The degree of difficulty of all of these plays is exceptionally high. Collins is going to get his, whether the Chicago Bears scheme around it or not. The big thing will be turnovers. Despite eight interceptions in three years, he has yet to cause one yet. Yes, he will blow a play or two up. Yes, it will be tough to get Tarik Cohen involved in this game.
However, as long as the Bears can avoid him as much as possible and avoid him making a game-changing turnover, they can get by.