Bretsky
10-11-2007, 11:19 PM
Time for Collins to make his mark
Posted: Oct. 11, 2007
Tom Silverstein
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It was during their third year as starters in the National Football League that LeRoy Butler and Darren Sharper, both second-round picks and both the standard by which safeties are now measured in Green Bay, began to blossom into the Pro Bowl players they soon became.
Both spent their rookie seasons as backups playing mostly cornerback in nickel and dime situations. Butler became a starter at cornerback during his second season then was moved to strong safety in 1992, where he remained until his retirement after the 2001 season; Sharper moved to free safety during his second season and was the starter there from 1998-'04.
Another second-round pick, Nick Collins, was given Butler's No. 36 because general manager Ted Thompson had hopes the small-school prospect with big-league skills would become the next generation of great safeties to play in Green Bay.
Five games into his third season as a starter, Collins hasn't distinguished himself the way Butler and Sharper did during their third seasons as starters and one has to wonder whether he ever will. It's true Butler and Sharper both started making an impact as fourth-year pros and Collins is only in his third year in the NFL, but after 37 starts the trajectory was clearly defined for the two former Packers.
It isn't for Collins.
Just for comparison's sake here are the statistics all three had after 37 starts in the NFL:
Butler - 137 solo tackles, 5 interceptions, 34 passes defensed, 2 forced fumbles.
Sharper - 181 solo tackles, 7 interceptions, 1 sack, 19 passes defensed, 1 forced fumble.
Collins - 168 solo tackles, 4 interceptions, 28 passes defensed, 2 forced fumbles.
Not too much difference really.
But both Butler and Sharper were taking off at that point of their careers. Butler finished the '93 season with six interceptions, a sack, a touchdown, two forced fumbles, 69 tackles and 23 passes defensed. Sharper finished the '00 season with nine interceptions, one sack, one touchdown, 79 solo tackles and 23 passes defensed.
Collins is nowhere near that pace this season. He has 20 solo tackles and three passes defensed. It is not fair to argue that Collins plays in a less friendly zone-oriented defense because he does come up to the line of scrimmage at times and does get matched one-on-one with tight ends and backs.
Back in '93, Butler was just beginning his transition to strong safety and was still in the infancy of his role as Ray Rhodes' special playmaker. In '00, Sharper had the benefit of being teamed up with Butler and could take chances Collins probably can't, but he also wasn't used at the line of scrimmage very much and made most of his plays in deep centerfield.
Collins is not a liability by any means and provides the Packers with speed and athleticism at a position that has been wanting since Sharper's departure after the 2004 season. Yet for all the talent he has and all the responsibility he is given, he continues to be no more than a solid player.
That, of course, is not the opinion of the Packers.
"To suggest that Nick Collins is not an outstanding player is in my opinion ridiculous," secondary coach Kurt Schottenheimer said. "He is an outstanding player. Every play won't go perfect for you when you're being aggressive and asking him to do the things we ask him to do. He runs the defense, makes the checks, he plays solid man-to-man coverage, he has great range back there."
The idea that Collins is the player Schottenheimer claims he is just doesn't square with what you get on the field. You can see the athletic talent - his tipped pass that led to Brady Poppinga's interception against the Bears is a prime example - but what is missing are the great instincts of a natural playmaker.
It was just three plays in a single game and none was as egregious as the Barnum and Bailey interception Brett Favre threw to Brian Urlacher, but in the 27-20 loss to Chicago Sunday night Collins shouldn't be giving up plays like the 30-yard catch-and-run in the flat by running back Adrian Peterson or the 27-yard completion to tight end Greg Olsen or the 34-yard touchdown to tight end Desmond Clark.
It is his third year as a starter in the NFL and it's time for the Packers to expect more.
The last of those three plays should be the most disconcerting for the coaching staff. It was one of those plays where from Collins' standpoint you could follow the defense to the letter and be forgiven for doing what you're told or you could read how the play was developing and make a logical decision to cover Clark rather than bite on a play fake.
The play went down like this: On third and 2 at the 34, the Packers were expecting a run. Collins was 8 to 10 yards from the line of scrimmage as the last line of defense. Clark was supposed to be held at the line of scrimmage by defensive end Cullen Jenkins, giving linebacker Brady Poppinga and Collins time to read whether it was going to be a run or a pass.
Jenkins did not hold up Clark and Poppinga bit badly on the run fake, which is acceptable because he's a linebacker and his first priority is stopping the run. After the play fake, quarterback Brian Griese intended to throw the ball into the flat to his fullback, but linebacker A.J. Hawk was there to defend the route.
Collins came charging down to play the run and when he saw the play fake drifted out to cover the fullback. As he did that, Clark ran right past him into the open where he hauled in Griese's pass and scored the winning touchdown.
Asked if he would do things differently were he to get another shot at defending that play, Collins said: "Probably not. I probably play the same way. It was a defense we were in. I probably play the same way no matter what (given) the defense we were in. My job is to do what I did, to come up and if I read the tight end then I help out, if I don't there's nothing I can do, just try to go back there and make a play."
The problem is Collins should know he's the last line of defense and that coming up from 10 yards back he's not going to stop anyone from getting the first down. The linebackers will make that play; the best he can do is make sure the run or short pass don't turn into a long gain.
Sensing Clark might get free is an instinctual play that should be made by a player making his 37th start in the NFL.
After the game, Poppinga took all the blame for the play, which was a noble gesture on his part. Collins, meanwhile, made it seem as though there was nothing the Packers could do, that the Bears had just called a better play than the Packers had.
"Nobody's responsible," Collins said. "They called a great play. That's it. That's all that was."
Schottenheimer, meanwhile, took the blame for putting Collins in a bad spot.
"I think probably the problem was I had him trying to do too much from a close alignment and we thought it was a point in time that we needed to stack the box as well as we could," Schottenheimer said. "It was a good play. It was good play-action. It got us caught."
No one was willing to say it was a play that could have been defended.
Again, it's just one play in one game, but coupled with the other plays he didn't make and the lack of big plays on his resume, it's logical to wonder whether Collins will become the player general manager Ted Thompson thought he would be when he took him in the second round in the '05 draft.
Collins said his defensive numbers are greatly affected by the fact teams game plan against him. That might be the case, but it's not like they're afraid to throw the ball at him when he's in coverage, as was the case when Olsen beat him down the sideline in man-to-man coverage for the 27-yard completion.
Most teams seem to recognize that Collins will be able to run step for step with most backs, tight ends and receivers matched up against him but that when the ball is thrown he does not have a history of being the one coming down with it. There's no evidence that opponents refuse to test him when he is in man coverage.
For his part, Collins doesn't see a problem with the way he's playing and isn't sweating the fact he doesn't have the numbers of a Pro Bowl prospect.
"Everybody's not going to make the perfect play every time," Collins said. "You just go out there and do your job. If you go out there and do your job everything is OK. You can't worry about the next man's job. You can't worry about the next man's job or whoever is going to talk about your game. 'Your game is this, that.' You can't worry about that. You play your game.
"I just play ball. It's not about taking chances. If I can make a play I'm going to make it. If I can't, I'm going to try to get over there to make a play. That's just me."
Maybe Collins is just a late bloomer and will start to take off the way his predecessors did. But time is running out and by the end of this season the Packers should know whether Collins will be following in the footsteps of Butler and Sharper.
Posted: Oct. 11, 2007
Tom Silverstein
It was during their third year as starters in the National Football League that LeRoy Butler and Darren Sharper, both second-round picks and both the standard by which safeties are now measured in Green Bay, began to blossom into the Pro Bowl players they soon became.
Both spent their rookie seasons as backups playing mostly cornerback in nickel and dime situations. Butler became a starter at cornerback during his second season then was moved to strong safety in 1992, where he remained until his retirement after the 2001 season; Sharper moved to free safety during his second season and was the starter there from 1998-'04.
Another second-round pick, Nick Collins, was given Butler's No. 36 because general manager Ted Thompson had hopes the small-school prospect with big-league skills would become the next generation of great safeties to play in Green Bay.
Five games into his third season as a starter, Collins hasn't distinguished himself the way Butler and Sharper did during their third seasons as starters and one has to wonder whether he ever will. It's true Butler and Sharper both started making an impact as fourth-year pros and Collins is only in his third year in the NFL, but after 37 starts the trajectory was clearly defined for the two former Packers.
It isn't for Collins.
Just for comparison's sake here are the statistics all three had after 37 starts in the NFL:
Butler - 137 solo tackles, 5 interceptions, 34 passes defensed, 2 forced fumbles.
Sharper - 181 solo tackles, 7 interceptions, 1 sack, 19 passes defensed, 1 forced fumble.
Collins - 168 solo tackles, 4 interceptions, 28 passes defensed, 2 forced fumbles.
Not too much difference really.
But both Butler and Sharper were taking off at that point of their careers. Butler finished the '93 season with six interceptions, a sack, a touchdown, two forced fumbles, 69 tackles and 23 passes defensed. Sharper finished the '00 season with nine interceptions, one sack, one touchdown, 79 solo tackles and 23 passes defensed.
Collins is nowhere near that pace this season. He has 20 solo tackles and three passes defensed. It is not fair to argue that Collins plays in a less friendly zone-oriented defense because he does come up to the line of scrimmage at times and does get matched one-on-one with tight ends and backs.
Back in '93, Butler was just beginning his transition to strong safety and was still in the infancy of his role as Ray Rhodes' special playmaker. In '00, Sharper had the benefit of being teamed up with Butler and could take chances Collins probably can't, but he also wasn't used at the line of scrimmage very much and made most of his plays in deep centerfield.
Collins is not a liability by any means and provides the Packers with speed and athleticism at a position that has been wanting since Sharper's departure after the 2004 season. Yet for all the talent he has and all the responsibility he is given, he continues to be no more than a solid player.
That, of course, is not the opinion of the Packers.
"To suggest that Nick Collins is not an outstanding player is in my opinion ridiculous," secondary coach Kurt Schottenheimer said. "He is an outstanding player. Every play won't go perfect for you when you're being aggressive and asking him to do the things we ask him to do. He runs the defense, makes the checks, he plays solid man-to-man coverage, he has great range back there."
The idea that Collins is the player Schottenheimer claims he is just doesn't square with what you get on the field. You can see the athletic talent - his tipped pass that led to Brady Poppinga's interception against the Bears is a prime example - but what is missing are the great instincts of a natural playmaker.
It was just three plays in a single game and none was as egregious as the Barnum and Bailey interception Brett Favre threw to Brian Urlacher, but in the 27-20 loss to Chicago Sunday night Collins shouldn't be giving up plays like the 30-yard catch-and-run in the flat by running back Adrian Peterson or the 27-yard completion to tight end Greg Olsen or the 34-yard touchdown to tight end Desmond Clark.
It is his third year as a starter in the NFL and it's time for the Packers to expect more.
The last of those three plays should be the most disconcerting for the coaching staff. It was one of those plays where from Collins' standpoint you could follow the defense to the letter and be forgiven for doing what you're told or you could read how the play was developing and make a logical decision to cover Clark rather than bite on a play fake.
The play went down like this: On third and 2 at the 34, the Packers were expecting a run. Collins was 8 to 10 yards from the line of scrimmage as the last line of defense. Clark was supposed to be held at the line of scrimmage by defensive end Cullen Jenkins, giving linebacker Brady Poppinga and Collins time to read whether it was going to be a run or a pass.
Jenkins did not hold up Clark and Poppinga bit badly on the run fake, which is acceptable because he's a linebacker and his first priority is stopping the run. After the play fake, quarterback Brian Griese intended to throw the ball into the flat to his fullback, but linebacker A.J. Hawk was there to defend the route.
Collins came charging down to play the run and when he saw the play fake drifted out to cover the fullback. As he did that, Clark ran right past him into the open where he hauled in Griese's pass and scored the winning touchdown.
Asked if he would do things differently were he to get another shot at defending that play, Collins said: "Probably not. I probably play the same way. It was a defense we were in. I probably play the same way no matter what (given) the defense we were in. My job is to do what I did, to come up and if I read the tight end then I help out, if I don't there's nothing I can do, just try to go back there and make a play."
The problem is Collins should know he's the last line of defense and that coming up from 10 yards back he's not going to stop anyone from getting the first down. The linebackers will make that play; the best he can do is make sure the run or short pass don't turn into a long gain.
Sensing Clark might get free is an instinctual play that should be made by a player making his 37th start in the NFL.
After the game, Poppinga took all the blame for the play, which was a noble gesture on his part. Collins, meanwhile, made it seem as though there was nothing the Packers could do, that the Bears had just called a better play than the Packers had.
"Nobody's responsible," Collins said. "They called a great play. That's it. That's all that was."
Schottenheimer, meanwhile, took the blame for putting Collins in a bad spot.
"I think probably the problem was I had him trying to do too much from a close alignment and we thought it was a point in time that we needed to stack the box as well as we could," Schottenheimer said. "It was a good play. It was good play-action. It got us caught."
No one was willing to say it was a play that could have been defended.
Again, it's just one play in one game, but coupled with the other plays he didn't make and the lack of big plays on his resume, it's logical to wonder whether Collins will become the player general manager Ted Thompson thought he would be when he took him in the second round in the '05 draft.
Collins said his defensive numbers are greatly affected by the fact teams game plan against him. That might be the case, but it's not like they're afraid to throw the ball at him when he's in coverage, as was the case when Olsen beat him down the sideline in man-to-man coverage for the 27-yard completion.
Most teams seem to recognize that Collins will be able to run step for step with most backs, tight ends and receivers matched up against him but that when the ball is thrown he does not have a history of being the one coming down with it. There's no evidence that opponents refuse to test him when he is in man coverage.
For his part, Collins doesn't see a problem with the way he's playing and isn't sweating the fact he doesn't have the numbers of a Pro Bowl prospect.
"Everybody's not going to make the perfect play every time," Collins said. "You just go out there and do your job. If you go out there and do your job everything is OK. You can't worry about the next man's job. You can't worry about the next man's job or whoever is going to talk about your game. 'Your game is this, that.' You can't worry about that. You play your game.
"I just play ball. It's not about taking chances. If I can make a play I'm going to make it. If I can't, I'm going to try to get over there to make a play. That's just me."
Maybe Collins is just a late bloomer and will start to take off the way his predecessors did. But time is running out and by the end of this season the Packers should know whether Collins will be following in the footsteps of Butler and Sharper.