New York Giants safety Landon Collins is ready to take on a leadership role. When asked on Wednesday if being named captain is something he will be seeking out Darius Slayton Buffalo Bills Jersey , he responded with, “that’s an easy question, yes,” adding, “I definitely want to be a captain of this defense one of these years.”Giants head coach Pat Shurmur will be naming team captains for the season following the team’s final preseason game. And it’s a good year for Collins to finally be named defensive captain; the 2015 second-round draft pick has been named to the Pro Bowl for the past two season and has started in all 47 games he’s played. It’s also the final year of his rookie contract, with no guarantee that he’ll remain with the Giants in 2019. “One of these years,” may instead be “one of these days.”Collins shared his thoughts on leadership in an NFL locker room: “It comes through regardless of the fact, winning or losing. If you’re winning, people get comfortable and you’ve got to continue pressing that... From that point of view, it goes hand in hand. If you’re losing, you definitely need [leadership] and when you’re winning, you especially need it because you need to keep everybody focused.”On Week 3 of the preseason and the New York JetsCollins expects the Giants’ starting defense “to play about three quarters” against the New York Jets on Friday night. And he’s hoping it will give a chance for his side of the ball—which is still adapting to new defensive coordinator James Bettcher’s system—to work out any remaining kinks. Collins is “excited about almost getting a whole game in and making sure we stay on the same page as a defense and making sure we don’t have any mental errors out there... just because it’s a new defense. We want to make sure we get everything correct, be sound, be prepared and always playing fast.”He’s also “excited” about going up against rookie Jets quarterback Sam Darnold Youth Michael Strahan Jerseys , who he believes will “do a great job at the Jets,” but nonetheless noted that on Friday Darnold will be “playing against a good defense and we’re going to have fun with it.”On pre-snap movementCollins is enjoying that Bettcher is allowing him to move around before the snap this year, particularly that, “guys key on me. Offensive guys, especially coordinators and quarterbacks, I see them eyeing me all the time, saying ‘21’ or stuff like that.” The goal is “to move in and out of the box, trying not to give them a clean read on where we’re coming from and stuff like that, or give them an idea of what kind of defense we are in.”This isn’t a decree from Bettcher, however; it’s more that Collins does it, succeeds at it and Bettcher sees no need to tell him otherwise. “They kind of give me the freedom to [move around],” said Collins. “They don’t ask me to do it. They know I know I can get to my position wherever I’m at on the field and do a good job at it.” EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — While the win total has increased slightly after a fiasco of a 2017 season, Pat Shurmur sees good things on the horizon for the New York Giants.That’s provided the Giants (5-10) learn how to finish games.It’s been one of their major weaknesses this season and they head into the final week of a fruitless season coming off another late-game collapse in a 28-27 loss to the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday.It was the third time this season Shurmur has seen the Giants lose a road game when the opposition scored the deciding points in the final minute. Seven of their losses have been by seven points or less.“We’ve won some games Michael Strahan Jerseys Stitched , but we haven’t won enough, and so that’s the growth that has to take place, and for those of us that aren’t very patient, it’s a painful process until we get to that point where we’re winning all of these games at the end – not just a few of them, but all of them,” Shurmur said Monday, a day after the Giants squandered an early 14-0 lead.“We all know that it comes down to a drive or two at the end or the critical plays at the end of a game,” he added. “There’s things that we’re doing that are good enough, but right is right. We’ve got to do it throughout the game and we’ve got to win them.”Looking back, this has been a turnaround year. The roster has fewer than 15 players left over from last year’s 3-13 season. While Eli Manning has remained the quarterback, the offense has changed and has added dynamic rookie halfback Saquon Barkley to a group of playmakers that include wideouts Odell Beckham Jr. and Sterling Shepard and the suddenly revitalized and healthy Evan Engram at tight end.The defense has shown flashes. The takeaways have picked up, but the run defense and finding ways to close out games have faltered too much.“You’ve got to go out and take these wins, nobody gives you anything,” Shurmur said. “So when you get to the position like we were at the end of this game Youth Saquon Barkley Jerseys , it’s safe to say we’ve been in a handful of these this season where we’ve won a couple and then we’ve let a couple get away from us. But nothing’s given to you in this league, you’ve got to go take it.”Shurmur refused to say his team needed better players, insisting he liked the group he has now.However, a few more players will help.The Giants, who have made the playoffs once since 2011, are close to be a contender, Shurmur said.“I think as we start building and as the players get better, as we improve, as we understand situations and how to play each situation better, then eventually this thing pushes over the top,” Shurmur said of his first season in charge. “So I would agree with their assessment.”NOTES: Shurmur said some of his injured players are close to returning for the Dallas game on Sunday. He did not mention Beckham, who has missed the last three games with a quadriceps injury. … The players had a short day Monday and will be off Tuesday for Christmas. The coaches will have Tuesday morning off but will be back in the afternoon to work on the Cowboys. … Manning will start Sunday at MetLife Stadium. … The game has little meaning since the Cowboys won the NFC East and will have a wild-card game at home.