Thursday Night Football Live: New York Giants vs. Philadelphia Eagles

Tonight’s NFC East match-up pits one of the best defenses in the league against an Eagles offense that has stumbled since its opening weeks ransacking of the NFL; It was a ransacking that saw Carson Wentz cement his place as future mayor of Philadelphia. Since those first few weeks, however, the Eagles have stumbled and the Giants have rallied behind a crushing defense and an offense that has Odell Beckham Jr.

Going back to the defense,though...there’s one member of this defense who I would like to bring everyone’s attention to, and that’s Landon Collins. Collins was a second round draft pick by the Giants in the 2015 NFL Draft and had a rough rookie year adjusting to the league. This season, Collins has been nothing short of a monster.

A quick primer on Collins’ stats for this year so far:

108 tackles.

87 solo tackles.

3 sacks.

5 tackles for a loss.

13 passes defended.

5 interceptions (1 returned for a TD).

1 fumble recovery.

And a partridge in a pear tree.

In a year where this isn’t one player who’s been truly dominant statistically (Khalil Mack, Vic Beasley, Oliver Vernon, Von Miller and Aaron Donald have all been as destructive, though), I can’t think of a player like Collins. He’s had an excellent year on an excellent defense (3rd against the pass in DVOA, 5th against the run in DVOA, and 3rd overall in defensive DVOA), a defense on which he’s probably the best player. There just aren’t that many guys that tick the number of boxes Collins has.

I’ll keep chugging the Landon Collins DPOY kool-aid while we all enjoy tonight’s game. Enjoy!