Landon Looks to Finish Strong!

Landon Collins will say hello to his old teammates and the organization that let him walk out the door last winter, when his new team the Washington Redskins host the New York Giants on Sunday.

When Landon Collins signed with the Washington Redskins back in March he made it known how important playing—and beating his former team, the New York Giants, was to him. Well, the Giants hosted the Redskins back in September and things didn’t go well for the Redskins as New York dominated Washington with an easy 24-3 win.

To make matters worse, Collins was outshined on that by the very man who replaced him, Jabrill Peppers. Late in the third quarter with the game already out of hand, Peppers picked off Dwayne Haskins and returned it 32 yards for a touchdown.

Peppers didn’t necessarily outplay Collins that day, however, he did have the highlight-reel play and that’s what most fans will remember. Since that embarrassing defeat, not a lot has changed for either of these teams. They are both terrible. Each teams enter Week 16 with identical 3-11 records and the only thing at stake is who will be in better position to select second in the 2020 NFL Draft.

Not necessarily what Collins signed up for.

Quietly, Collins has had a strong debut campaign with the Redskins. He has started all 14 games, made 110 tackles with one sack and one forced fumble. Unfortunately, the entire Washington defense, especially the secondary, hasn’t been very good. Earlier this week, Collins was named as a first alternate for the Pro Bowl.

Many fans will point to his massive contract and say Collins has under-performed. I do not agree. Do I think we should probably see more big plays from Collins? Sure. However, that’s not always his fault. A common theme in recent years has been the defensive scheme not always putting players in the best position to match their talents. That’s not just Collins, that’s also Ryan Kerrigan, Montez Sweat, the young defensive line and the now departed Preston Smith.

Collins has also brought leadership to this young unit. After last week’s close loss to Philadelphia, Collins was asked if that was one of the better games the Redskins have played in 2019.

Collins succinctly replied, “our offense played good.” He paused for a brief second and again praised the offense, “yes, offense played good.”

In past years, fans would hear this team congratulating one another on losing close games. It’s nice to see players like Collins and Jonathan Allen not accepting the losing culture that permeates this organization from the top down.

Collins has also ingratiated himself with the local community, taking several local kids shopping for Christmas earlier this week.

Collins missed two days of practice this week with what head coach Bill Callahan said was an Achilles issue, but that he should be good to go on Sunday, per Callahan to reporters including Redskins Maven on Friday. There was no way Collins was missing this rematch.

Washington’s secondary is a beleaguered unit. Top corner Quinton Dunbar is out again this Sunday with a hamstring injury, Fabian Moreau did not participate all week and is doubtful. The Redskins signed corners off the street this week to avoid having Josh Norman see the field.

Collins and the Redskins will have their hands full on Sunday, even against a New York team equally as bad. Rookie Daniel Jones returns for the Giants after missing two games. Injuries have begun to pile up for the Redskins and the Giants are coming off a big win over Miami last week to snap a nine-game losing streak. Before the win over Miami, New York’s last win came over the Redskins in Week 4.

While it’s been a tough year for the Redskins and Collins, he has proven to be the type of player to build around moving forward. 

Bryan Manning has covered the NFL, MLB, NBA, college football and college basketball for almost 10 years for various outlets such as Bleacher Report, SB Nation, FanSided, USA Today SMG, and others. Bryan has covered the Washington Redskins for different outlets and currently co-hosts a podcast on the Virginia Tech Hokies for SB Nation. For his day job, Bryan works in engineering for a major communications company.