""TIME FOR COLLINS TO MAKE HIS MARK""

[Bretsky]

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.

[Harlan Huckleby]

I think Bigby is already a better player.

And as long as I'm in bashing mode, I don't accept that Collins can't catch a football to save his life. He should be working with one of those machines to improve his skills.

If I see Collins bat down one more balls with his club paw I'm gonna scream.

[CaliforniaCheez]

There is something that limits Collins reaction time. If he could react a fraction of a second sooner on plays he would emere as a very good player.


Tom in the article did not mention Collins' Wonderlic Score.

It would be speculation without evidence to suggest it is a factor.

Is it lack of film study?

Has he not sufficiently mastered the defensive scheme?

There is only that moment of time that is the difference for him.

[swede]

I was annoyed by the ridiculous assertion that Sharper belongs in the same conversation as LeRoy Butler when it comes to quality safeties. Harrumph!

Sharper was and is a blowhard that sacrificed smart, steady play for opportunities to make self-aggrandizing picks. Every brilliant play he made, and he made quite a few, was eventually countered with a mistake in coverage or tactics leading to a big play by the opposing team.

The real story here is that Collins is playing like Sharper always did--erratically--but without the "compensatory picks."

[Tarlam!]

I've had a soft spot for Nick Collins ever since he was drafted and TT was ridiculed for doing so. Many people, including on this forum, bashed him based on his Wonderlic result.

Watching him in the last game of last season was downright exciting to me. It also proves he can be an animal. In that game, he seemed to have been turned loose - not unlike Brett Favre this season.

Maybe Schotty needs to "take off the leash".

At any rate, I still have a soft spot for him!

[The Leaper]

There is something that limits Collins reaction time. If he could react a fraction of a second sooner on plays he would emere as a very good player.

I think that is the crux of the article. Collins doesn't have the natural instincts that allow him to make that split second decision to be a very good player. You can have all the athletic ability in the world, but it takes instincts and smarts to diagnose the situation and what you need to do.

Anyone with half a brain on that last Bears TD playing safety would know to cover the TE if he released. As was pointed out, there was NOTHING Collins could do to prevent a first down. The only thing he could prevent was someone going deep on play action.

He was too dumb to figure that out. How much of that is Collins and how much of that is Schottenheimer, I don't know. But Collins certainly doesn't seem to be the brightest bulb in the chandelier.

[The Leaper]

The real story here is that Collins is playing like Sharper always did--erratically--but without the "compensatory picks."

Sharper was a very good safety...although I agree not in Butler's class. He did not allow coverage breakdowns as often as Collins did though...and he made up for the lapses he did have by making numerous big plays. Sharper isn't a dumb guy. Collins is.

[run pMc]

Great athlete. Solid player. Questionable instincts. Not much of a ballhawk.

I highly doubt team gameplan against him, unless it's to expose his aggressiveness or lack of on-the-ball skills.

I agree that Butler was a superior S vs. Sharper.

Will Collins be as good as either? Maybe, but I get the sense that it will take him longer for the lightbulb to go on than it did for Butler or Sharper.

Will TT and M3 are patient enough to wait until then?
Do you think TT goes for a couple of CB or S in the next draft?
Will Rouse be a better long term answer?
Has Bigby just about hit his ceiling as far as upside?
If they bring another S in next season and Collins loses the camp battle, how would he take it?

I have lots of questions about Collins, which is strange considering the # of starts he has. I do think he needs to step up more. Last year's game at CHI was encouraging...I'm hoping he picks it up a bit. The TD to Clark was disappointing, but there were a lot of bad plays in that game. The Packers beat themselves...hopefully they come out angry vs. the Redskins and get a W.

[Carolina_Packer]

Well, let's face it. That bad play is magnified because the game is on the line. If it were a TD that was scored in the second quarter , but there were more scores and we won anyway, then it wouldn't have been as big of a deal.

I am most disappointed that he seems to be downplaying his responsibilities, and shows no accountablility. I don't know if that is bravado, or being scared to show weakness, but his play speaks for itself, so he might as well come clean and be honest with people. Like most situations in life, if you just come clean and say, I'm sorry, I'll work to become better, people tend to be forgiving because you are owning up. I don't want him to lose all confidence, but I also don't want him to downplay bad plays as much as he seems to. If he had a more consistent track record, and a pattern of doing the right thing and showing instincts, then one bad play you'd cut him some slack, but if there is a bad pattern, then that's another story.

Perhaps he realizes he's not progressing like he had hoped, but he's taking this tact in terms of how he talks about it publicly to save face. Bottom line, he's got to make that save the other night, and he blew it. He should have said as much, that's leadership. Show some kid.

[HarveyWallbangers]

To me, everybody is letting the DE and Poppinga off on the play. The DE was supposed to jam Clark. Poppinga had coverage on him also. To me, it looked like he had primary coverage. However, he got beat so bad that it looked like he was Collins man. You have to remember that it was 3rd and 1. A first down pretty much clinches the game for the Bears. In that instance, the safety and LB have to look run first.

[Zool]

None of us can really know who had RB contain and who had deep release responsibilities.

But if I were wagering a guess, with Collins lined up deep, he had responsibility to keep everything in front of him on the play.

[Partial]

To me, everybody is letting the DE and Poppinga off on the play. The DE was supposed to jam Clark. Poppinga had coverage on him also. To me, it looked like he had primary coverage. However, he got beat so bad that it looked like he was Collins man. You have to remember that it was 3rd and 1. A first down pretty much clinches the game for the Bears. In that instance, the safety and LB have to look run first.

Yep, I watched the tape of the game last night and this seems to be the case. No way should this guy have run free off the line. Had they just got a block on him for a second or two he wouldn't have been a factor at all and Griese would have had to go elsewhere.

[Carolina_Packer]

At this point, blame doesn't matter. What matters is whether a guy can step up, make the adjustments and learn from his mistakes. If he does that, he'll be fine. If he doesn't, there will be more threads like this.

[The Leaper]

You have to remember that it was 3rd and 1. A first down pretty much clinches the game for the Bears. In that instance, the safety and LB have to look run first.

How does a safety 8-10 yard off the LOS have run responsibility on a 3rd and 1...where the first down in all likelihood means the game? Do you honestly expect the safety to run 8 yards in the time it takes the RB to go 1?

Perhaps if the safety sees a toss outside...I could see that argument. But on a run up the gut into 8 other defenders, Collins should be thinking he is the last line of defense in case of play action and looking for that possibility first.

[HarveyWallbangers]

Actually, it was 3rd and 2, and there was a run fake to the outside--which Collins bit on. If you notice on the camera angle from behind the Bears offense, Poppinga tried covering Clark from the very start of that play. Collins came up to play the run. When it's 3rd and short like that, you can't have every receiver double-teamed. We don't know who had primary responsibility, but seeing that Poppinga tried covering the guy the whole way (and got beat miserably) and seeing that Collins came into the box and then ran back when the ball was thrown that leads me to believe Poppinga had responsibility. I know it's easier to blame Collins, but LBs are supposed to be able to cover average TEs.