By Pete Dougherty
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The Green Bay Packers' defensive backs in general and safeties in particular having harbored a good share of the blame for the team's No. 31 ranking in pass defense in the NFL after three games.
Among the issues is whether second-year safety Nick Collins has made any improvement from his rookie year, when the second-round draft pick had a promising season.
This year's Collins has played a major role in at least three of the 20 explosive passes (16 yards or more) the Packers have allowed, including twice getting beaten on jump-ball throws in one-on-one coverage against New Orleans, and being largely responsible for 42-yard touchdown pass against Detroit.
But the Packers coaches and players maintain that Collins is a star in the making, despite those early season problems. They say he's one of the best overall athletes on the team and point to his sound tackling (he leads the team with 25 tackles), team-high five passes defensed and his ability to chase down players to prevent even bigger plays as assets that are lost in his costly big-play errors.
Even a scout for another NFC North Division team this week, while discussing various matters with a reporter, brightened up when asked about Collins. The scout, who's never bashful about criticizing players, said he'd trade the Packers a second-round pick for Collins in a heart beat, and that even promising second-year safeties are going to look bad at times.
The Packers sound just as convinced Collins still will be an outstanding player soon, perhaps as early as this year.
"He's fast, he's got what it takes," cornerback Al Harris said. "I played with (Pro Bowl safety Brian) Dawkins, I played with (Pro Bowler John) Lynch. I think the world of the dude."
This week, Collins will face a major test in Philadelphia's dual-purpose halfback Brian Westbrook, just as he did two weeks ago against New Orleans' Reggie Bush. Both are ultra-quick halfbacks who also have rare wide-receiver type skills in the passing game and line up in the slot regularly.
Defending premier double threats such as Bush and Westbrook never fall on one player, but the brunt probably will go to Collins and linebackers A.J. Hawk and Nick Barnett, just as it did against the Saints and Bush. The Packers did a more-than-respectable job on Bush, holding him to 74 yards on 14 touches from scrimmage — five yards rushing, 68 yards receiving.
They probably will need a similarly effective performance against Westbrook to have a chance to defeat the 11-point favored Eagles, who will be harder to defend because their quarterback, Donovan McNabb, is much more mobile than New Orleans' Drew Brees and thus can spread out the linebackers and safeties as an added running threat on any given play. Westbrook is listed as questionable (50 percent chance of playing) on the Eagles' injury report this week because of a knee injury, but reports out of Philadelphia say he's expected to play.
Westbrook is the NFL's early leader in yards from scrimmage (140 yards per game) and is averaging 5.8 yards a rush and 10.9 yards a reception. He's scored four touchdowns this season, including on a 71-yard run last week against San Francisco and a 31-yard reception against Houston in the regular-season opener. So, the big play, which has been the Packers' failing early on, is a major threat.
When Westbrook lines up at receiver, the Packers will do everything they can to avoid matching up a linebacker with him, which means Collins or perhaps safety Marquand Manuel often will be covering him in those settings. Collins also will be matched up with receivers, both in base defense as a deep help defender, and in the dime, where he moves into the slot as a cover cornerback.
His misplays in one-on-one coverage the last two weeks have left pundits questioning or outright declaring that he can't cover well enough to be used in that role regularly, but the Packers are adamant that his problems aren't unusual for a second-year pro, even one with what they consider outstanding talent.
"He's very, very good one-on-one, and that will be proved out as the season goes on and as he continues to work," said Bob Sanders, the Packers' defensive coordinator.
Kurt Schottenheimer, the Packers' defensive backs coach, also is sold on Collins' cover abilities, even though Collins fell on a 33-yard pass to a pedestrian tight end (New Orleans' Mark Campbell) and was in OK position but failed to play the ball on the 25-yard jump-ball touchdown to the Saints' Devery Henderson.
In fact, Schottenheimer said while he was coaching with St. Louis for the 2005 draft, the Rams' staff projected Collins as a cornerback, put a second-round grade on him and strongly considered selecting him with the No. 50 pick overall. The Rams rated Howard cornerback Ronald Bartell slightly higher and drafted him instead.
The Packers selected Collins with the next pick.
"He's fast, powerful, he's an outstanding talent," Schottenheimer said.
