Landon Collins talks about Ereck Flowers, Ben McAdoo and the defensive miscommunications
Landon Collins of the New York Giants celebrates his interception against the Kansas City Chiefs on Nov. 19, 2017 at MetLife Stadium. Credit: Getty Images / Elsa
Ereck Flowers’ absence from the voluntary Giants workouts this spring seems to stem from the reason most people assumed.
Appearing on WFAN on Friday morning to promote his celebrity softball game in June, Giants safety Landon Collins said he texted Flowers to see why he was not participating in the team events. He said he did not receive a reply, but Collins’ cousin is good friends with Flowers and passed along some information.
“He’s unhappy that they picked up Nate Solder,” Collins said.
That acquisition of the free-agent left tackle means Flowers — if and when he shows up — will compete at right tackle.
“Ereck is my boy,” Collins said. “He has a lot to learn and he has to work harder. That’s all I would have to say to him. He came in last year, he thought he did what he had to do. He lost weight, he was in the proper shape, he thought he was playing good in the first couple of games and just kind of went downhill when the season went downhill.”
Collins added:
“After being a first-round draft pick you don’t want to be called a bust. I would say he needs to be here as a teammate and a captain. We need him here. We need to get the line together so they can be on the same page. We have a quarterback, we have a running back, we have these talented receivers, and we have to run with it.”
Collins and former Giants running back Brandon Jacobs touched on a number of other topics in the half-hour interview on the “Boomer & Gio” show. Jacobs said he knew the Giants were in trouble last year when Ben McAdoo came to him for advice.
“I knew that guy had no clue what was going on when we were walking off the practice field and he asked me: ‘You have any advice? What should I do?’” Jacobs said. “I said, ‘I dunno, I coach kids. I can’t tell you what to do, I coach children.’ Why is it happening this way? Do you ever remember anything of this nature happening like this? Nah, we kind of stuck together and our coaches never threw us under the bus. The guys when we played, regardless of what happened we never threw each other under the bus.”
Collins said he never had a problem with McAdoo personally.
“I love him,” Collins said. “He was a great coach to me. Did he lose the locker room? Nah, I wouldn’t say he lost the locker room. Did he lose respect from players? Yes he did. Once you lose respect, everything goes out the window.”
Collins also said that the cause of the chaos in the defensive backs room last year was not necessarily from the players.
“A lot of miscommunication back there, not between each other just between upstairs and us,” Collins said.
That, Collins insisted, is in the past.
“We just get on the same page and tell each other that we’re here, we’re a brotherhood, and we don’t want what happened last year to continue happening because that’s how we lose our jobs,” he said.
As for the new regime, Collins is so far impressed. He said Pat Shurmur reaches out to him often.
“This is the first time I ever had a coach sit down in the cafeteria with the players and eat lunch with us,” Collins said. “He’s more of a players’ coach . . . It’s very early to tell, but mindset-wise we’re definitely on the right track.”
Collins also was pleased with the Giants’ draft and the mindset of the front office when it comes to the most important position on the field.
“Eli [Manning] is our guy,” he said. “He’s our quarterback. And I’m glad that the organization sees it the same way.”
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
