LONDON _ Landon Collins has been enjoying a tremendous second season with the Giants. He's been flying around the field making big hits and important tackles, and even came into Sunday's game as the team's leader in sacks. The one thing that had eluded the safety, that had made it feel like an incomplete surge, was the football. Collins had several chances to make an interception in the past few weeks but never seemed able to handle it.
That changed on Sunday.
Collins' two interceptions led to both of the Giants' touchdowns _ one directly, the other indirectly _ in a 17-10 win over the Rams in front of 74,121 at Twickenham Stadium. Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie added two end-zone picks in the fourth quarter to halt the Rams' two most threatening long drives of the game and seal the win. The last one came with 42 seconds remaining.
For a team and a player that had struggled all season to create takeaways, the Rams provided them with a virtual flood of opportunities and the Giants took advantage of them.
"Definitely we were due," Collins said. "My biggest problem was not running to the ball when it was in the air. I made it a thing to run to the ball. With tipped balls, you never know what's going to happen and it happened today."
Landon loved London. And so did the rest of the Giants. They left this International Series game feeling like they are on top of the world, winners of two straight with a 4-3 record. The Rams had to take the long flight back to Los Angeles with a 3-4 record; they left there over a week ago at 3-2 and have now lost to the Lions and Giants since being home.
In a game that many hoped would showcase all of the Giants' offensive stars such as Odell Beckham Jr., Eli Manning and Victor Cruz on an international stage, it was the Giants' defense that stood as tall as Big Ben. The Giants did not allow a Rams' scoring drive of more than 35 yards in grinding out the victory and kept quarterback Case Keenum under duress.
No play was bigger than Collins' 44-yard pick-six. He not only caught the ball that glanced off the hands of Rams receiver Tavon Austin but started going to his right, cut back to the left, ran for the goal line, then put his head down and pushed through would-be tacklers for the final five yards. It was his first career touchdown and it impressed Collins' teammates.
"He looked like a running back," rookie running back Paul Perkins said. "He killed it. I gotta take a couple of those moves."
"He looked like a cornerback," Rodgers-Cromartie said, jokingly enlarging the sibling rivalry between corners and safeties.
Cornerback Janoris Jenkins was more direct:
"He kinda looked like me," he said. "Nice moves. He got loose with the ball."
All kidding aside, Collins' change-of-direction return changed the direction of the contest.
"That was the biggest play of the game," Jenkins said. "That's what he's back there for, to make plays like that and take it to the house."
It also came at a time when it did not seem like any Giants offensive players were going to be able to reach the end zone.
"Obviously, offensively, we hadn't done a whole lot," Manning said. "Landon getting the interception and then also putting it in the end zone, going ahead and scoring right there, was a huge play to tie it up."
For the second game in a row the Giants spotted an opponent 10 points thanks to an early turnover. This time it was tight end Larry Donnell who fumbled on the second snap, giving the Rams the ball at the Giants' 35 and setting up an eventual 10-yard touchdown pass from Keenum to Austin against rookie safety Andrew Adams. The Rams' next possession resulted in a field goal that made it 10-0 just 9:47 into the game.
Newly signed kicker Robbie Gould connected on his first Giants field goal, a 29-yarder, to cut it to 10-3 in the second quarter and then Collins tied it on his first interception.
It remained tied until shortly after Collins' second interception, this time off a pass tipped by linebacker Keenan Robinson. Manning hit Beckham on a jump ball in double coverage for 22 yards on third-and-3 to get to the Rams' 6 and then Rashad Jennings ran it three times in a row, the final one from the 1 for a go-ahead touchdown with 9:23 remaining.
The win sends the Giants to the bye on a high, but still looking up at the rest of the NFC East. They also won't be leaving New Jersey much for the next few weeks after this extended road trip. When they return to action after next week's bye they have three straight home games against the Eagles, Bengals and Bears. Their next road game isn't until Thanksgiving weekend in Cleveland.
"We have a chance to get healthy [with the bye] and have a good stretch run at home coming up and get ready for the second half of the season," coach Ben McAdoo said.
Said Beckham: "We're moving in the right direction. We need to make more plays, we all need to make more plays. But it's a step forward."
