Pirate Galaxy » you think youre out when you hit a ball like that

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- New York Giants safety and human fire emoji Landon Collins has dyed his hair blue. He wears it in neat braids atop his head, with the sides cut short, in sharp contrast to his unruly black beard. But the biggest differences between Collins 2015 rookie season and this one are the look in his eye and the number (four) in the interception column. All four of those interceptions have come in the past three games, all of which the Giants have won.Im being very accountable, Collins said after helping lead the Giants to a 21-20 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday Night Football. Last year, I had a bad season, and Im making up for it.He could be speaking for the entire Giants defense, which is the biggest reason the team has already won as many games (six) as it did in each of the previous two seasons. So much of the early-season focus was on Odell Beckham Jr. and Ben McAdoo, the new head coach, who was the young, hotshot offensive coordinator. But while the Giants offense has struggled to find its footing so far, the defense has been making sure they turn fourth-quarter leads into wins instead of heartbreaking 2015-style losses.Were 6-3. I havent been 6-3 since Ive been here, Beckham, the third-year superstar, said after the game. Its a good feeling.Last season?was a parade of bad feelings for the Giants, who blew five fourth-quarter leads in Tom Coughlins forgettable final season as coach. This season, the close games are breaking their way. They have won four games in a row with an average margin of victory of 4.3 points. They have the third-best record in the NFC even though theyve allowed more points than theyve scored.Why? Because theyre not giving up points when points would hurt the most. Only eight defenses in the league are allowing fewer points, on average, in the fourth quarter than the Giants 5.33. Last year, they averaged 8.75 points allowed in the fourth quarter -- tied for worst in the league with the Saints.Now, you know the Giants spent big to improve that defense, signing top-of-the-market free agents Olivier Vernon, Damon Harrison and Janoris Jenkins and bringing back Jason Pierre-Paul. Watching Monday night, you could see the payoff: Jenkins holding Bengals star A.J. Green to a pedestrian 68 yards on seven catches; Harrison anchoring a run defense that allowed only 78 yards; Vernon muscling his way past the Bengals line and meeting Pierre-Paul and Friends at the quarterback. The Giants have just 14 sacks this season -- more than only two other NFL teams. But two of them came on the final two offensive possessions the Bengals had on Monday, and they basically sealed a one-point win.Our job as a defensive line is to stop the run and get to the quarterback, Vernon said. I think we did a pretty good job of that tonight.The broader effect of the defensive infusion, though, is that it allows coordinator Steve Spagnuolo to maximize the players he has and put the combinations on the field that he prefers. Rookie Eli Apple has clearly usurped former starting cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, who frustrated the Giants coaching staff the past two years with inconsistency and by asking in and out of games. Vernon is a versatile enough player that Spagnuolo can run sub packages where his pass-rushers move inside, the way he used to do it with Michael Strahan and Justin Tuck in his 2007 glory year.But theres no greater difference than whats showing up in the play of Collins, who was NFC Defensive Player of the Week each of the past two weeks and kept the train rolling with a fourth-quarter interception of Andy Dalton on Monday. Cincinnati was driving inside Giants territory with a one-point lead and 11 minutes, 35 seconds left in the game when Collins made his weekly huge play. And if his teammates were surprised it was only because it had taken that long.Hes amazing right now, Pierre-Paul said. Not a different guy, but a better player. Smart.Collins agrees that hes a better player than he was a year ago. The Giants moved up to draft him at the top of the second round in 2015, and coming out of Alabama he was used to success. But his rookie year was a rough one. Without a true free safety on the roster, the Giants too often forced Collins out of his comfort zone and into coverage, which is not a strength of his game. The improved depth of talent on the defensive side of the ball this season?allows Collins to do more of what hes good at -- play closer to the line, deliver big hits and take advantage of his playmaking ability -- while the overall coverage forces a quarterback into mistakes.Monday night, Collins said, Dalton was staring down his tight end and Collins didnt have coverage responsibility on the play. He recognized the routes the receivers were running, saw that everyone was covered and moved the ball where Dalton was telegraphing it. Interception No. 4.No big deal, really, because Collins believes he owes all of this. Last year sticks with him. It haunts him and drives him.Just not being accountable, he said of what went wrong in his rookie year. Not making the right calls, not being in the right position, being out-leveraged. I knew the defense by the end of the year, but its night and day now as far as knowing the defense, being sound, being in the right position. Its so much better now.The Giants defense this year is allowing 359.3 yards per game, good for just 16th-best in the league. But those figures last year were 420.3 and 32nd-best. The stats put them in the middle of the road, but its possible no single unit in the NFL is more improved over last season than the Giants defense. Personified by its red-hot, blue-haired second-year star safety, it is -- as he described it -- so much better now. And the difference is right there in the standings. Wholesale Air Max Shoes .ca look back at each of the Top 10 stories of 2013. Today, we look back at Boston Strong - a citys recovery from tragedy. Air max Outlet . The news was first reported on Gonzalezs Twitter account and confirmed by the Rockies. Gonzalez has a six-week window before position players have their first workout at spring training in Arizona. http://www.airmaxoutletsale.us/ . Rinne played two periods in his first game since left hip surgery in early May. Gabriel Bourque scored 3:07 into the second period and Austin Watson tallied 5:15 later for Nashville. Cheap Air Max 2017 . Ronaldo produced a spectacular individual performance on Tuesday, scoring all three goals and guiding Portugal into the next years World Cup in Brazil with a 3-2 victory in Sweden. The Real Madrid forward has scored 66 goals in 2013, but the last three may be the boost he needs to upstage Messi after FIFA unexpectedly extended the voting period for the Ballon dOr to Nov. Cheap Air Max Sale . Bjorn, who had a 36-hole total of 8-under 134, made a testing six-foot putt to save par on the 16th and a birdie on the 17th before bogeying the final hole after a misjudged approach shot. American Kevin Streelman was in second place after shooting a 69. ARLINGTON, Texas -- Jonathan Villar homered on the first pitch of the game for the Milwaukee Brewers. His sacrifice fly on a foul pop to short right field in the second inning put them back ahead after blowing their first lead.There was not another comeback after a trio of former Brewers helped put the AL-leading Texas Ranger ahead to stay late.Carlos Gomez, a former two-time All-Star with the Brewers, hit a tiebreaking three-run homer in the eighth inning to give the Rangers an 8-5 victory, their MLB-best 49th come-from-behind win.Im not surprised. I know hes a hard worker. He plays hard and always has been a good hitter, center fielder Hernan Perez said.Jonathan Lucroy, the catcher traded from Milwaukee to Texas on Aug. 1, started the Texas eighth when he reached on a two-base error by Perez. And Jeremy Jeffress, the reliever who went to Texas with Lucroy, worked two scoreless innings for his first win with the Rangers.The Brewers scored in each of the first three innings to build a 5-3 lead against All-Star left-hander Cole Hamels, who likely will start the Rangers postseason opener Oct. 6. But they didnt score again.We did a nice job for the first three innings. We had him on the ropes a little bit. We were aggressive and did a nice job staying off some stuff, manager Craig Counsell said. We didnt quite do enough defensively tonight just overall to keep a really good lineup in check.Corey Knebel (1-4) was the fourth Brewers pitcher when he took over in the eighth, and Lucroy hit a ball that ricocheted off the glove of a leaping Perez.That one was like a knuckleball. It went left to right, and at the last minute moved to the left again, said Perez, playing only his fifth game in center this season.Lucroys pinch-runner, Delino DeShields, scored the tying run on Elvis Andrus RBI single before Gomez then hit a 418-foot drive to left field, a night after hitting another long three-run homer -- a 444-footer. He started this season in Houston, where he had been traded last year by Milwaukee, before being released by the Astros last month.Texas went ahead with a three-run firsst that started when Gomez reached on a double after second baseman Villar never saw the popup that dropped in short right-center field.dddddddddddd Rougned Odor snapped an 0-for-22 slide with his 32nd homer after Adrian Beltres RBI single,The ball that was hard to see, obviously theres nothing you can do about that, Brewers starter Chase Anderson said. That was tough to swallow. Even as a hitter, you think youre out when you hit a ball like that.The Brewers led again after two unearned runs in the second. All-Star center fielder Ian Desmonds throwing error allowed one run to score and set up Yadiel Rivera at third base to go home on Villars shallow foul popup caught by second baseman Odor.WINNING COMEBACKJeffress got the victory five days after being reinstated by Major League Baseball from the restricted list following a drunken driving arrest last month and then a three-week stint in an inpatient rehab clinic. He retired all four Milwaukee batters he faced Monday.TOUGH STARTAnderson had allowed only three runs in 22 1/3 innings in his four previous starts, but he allowed three in the first inning against Texas. The right-hander left after five innings, having given up only an unearned run after that initial outburst by the Rangers.SUTERS 2ND STARTYoung lefty Brent Suter, a 31st-round draft pick out of Harvard in 2012, will start Friday when the Brewers open a three-game series at Colorado. He is going in place of scheduled starter Taylor Jungmann, who suffered a hip injury in a start last Saturday.Suter has pitched 12 1/3 scoreless innings in 12 relief appearances since getting called up for an emergency start Aug. 19 against Seattle, when he allowed four runs in 4 1/3 innings in his major league debut.TRAINERS ROOMBrewers: Jungmann felt pain running to first base during an at-bat Saturday, then stayed in another half-inning before coming out because of his hip abductor.UP NEXTThe Brewers are off Thursday before playing in Colorado on Friday. ' ' '