16 EXPRESS 09.06.2019 WEEKEND WEEKEND 09.06.2019 EXPRESS 17 redskins2019 redskins2019

WEEK 1 broken moments when an 11-year- WEEK 9 @ Eagles old boy learns to drive a car — just @ Bills 1 p.m. Sunday, Fox in case — and has to make it all 1 p.m. Nov. 3, Fox The Eagles have QB seem as if it’s something normal. The Bills still might be a sub- back healthy and have boosted “A lot of times I had to take .500 team, and the Redskins their backfield with former Bears over for my sister and my have a reasonable chance to win. standout Jordan Howard and brother,” Collins says. “At that rookie Miles Sanders. age, I was a man.” WEEK 11 Deep down, Justin always vs. Jets WEEK 2 had hoped Collins would grow 1 p.m. Nov. 17, CBS vs. Cowboys up to become a movie star. She The Jets added 1 p.m. Sept. 15, Fox worked as a costumer on movie Le’Veon Bell and former The Cowboys had the No. 6 and television sets, and Collins Redskins wide receiver Jamison scoring in 2018. Their and his brother and sister would Crowder in free agency. young will challenge run around the dressing rooms, the Redskins up front. wrestling in the actors’ trailers. WEEK 12 One day, she confided her hopes vs. Lions WEEK 3 A new for her son in actor Jason Lee as 1 p.m. Nov. 24, Fox vs. Bears the two stood in a downtown New Detroit has renewed its 8:15 p.m. Sept. 23, ESPN Orleans alley made up to look like dedication to the running game Washington is 6 25 in Monday a murder scene for the series under new offensive coordinator night games since 1993. “Memphis Beat.” Collins, who Darrell Bevell. DONNELL THE WASHINGTON POST WASHINGTON THE DONNELL had dropped by the set, walked c WEEK 4 WEEK 13 up to say hello, his arms already M JOHN @ Giants rippling through his T-shirt. Lee Washington signed to a six-year, $84 million deal this year. @ Panthers 1 p.m. Sept. 29, Fox heavy glanced at Collins and predicted 1 p.m. Dec. 1, Fox If things go badly for Case a different career path. “I would not knocking them to the ground. This could be a winnable game Keenum at QB, this could be “I think he’s going to play in When the Redskins called his for the Redskins, depending on ’ first game. the NFL,” Lee said. have been made agent in March and said Collins how Cam Newton looks. Justin remembers looking at to be an adult was their top free agent target, WEEK 5 her oldest child that day and real- Collins was elated. WEEK 14 vs. Patriots izing that Lee might just be right. like that without “Let’s make it work,” he told @ Packers 1 p.m. Oct. 6, CBS hitter By then Collins already had a Katrina. But that his agent. 1 p.m. Dec. 8, Fox Tom Brady. Bill Belichick. Nine dream and a favorite player, storm happened, A few days later, he met the Green Bay still has two-time MVP Super Bowl appearances. Let’s forced Landon Collins and he knew exactly who he team’s owner, Daniel Snyder, Aaron Rodgers, who makes any just say the Redskins will be the to be a leader at a young age. Now the wanted to be. and everything who presented him with a game- game a challenge for opponents. underdog in this one. When he was in middle school, changed in my life.” worn Taylor jersey that Taylor kid who grew up idolizing Collins sat at his mother’s kitchen had signed. WEEK 15 WEEK 6 counter one day, watching on REDSKINS SAFETY LANDON “I talked Sean Taylor from vs. Eagles @ Dolphins is ready to lead the Redskins’ defense. her laptop video clips of the COLLINS, who was 11 when the middle school to college to now,” 1 p.m. Dec. 15, Fox 1 p.m. Oct. 13, Fox player he loved most at the time: storm hit his home in Louisiana Collins says. “I still say he’s the Philadelphia has beaten The Dolphins have a chance Redskins running back Clinton best safety, even though he only Washington by double digits in to be the worst team in the POST WASHINGTON THE SANDYS L. TONI Portis. That’s when he became played four or five years. So four straight meetings over the league in 2019. Can the Redskins DEFENSE It would be almost three months brave, she thought, always the the Redskins signed him to a six- coaches and executives had told transfixed by one of Portis’ team- wept. Later, he would say it was when you talk about , you past two seasons. capitalize on that? Landon Collins was 11 years old before the water would recede and little man, older than his age. year, $84 million contract on the Collins, the way he had always mates. He had never heard of the first time he had cried for talk about [Troy] Polamalu, Bob when he learned to drive. they could return. In the mean- Years later, Collins, now 25 and first day of free agency, wonder- seemed the strongest and wisest Taylor, nor had he ever seen someone who wasn’t family. Sanders … I don’t care.” WEEK 16 WEEK 7 This was in September 2005, time, Justin needed her oldest a star safety for the Redskins, ing whether it was too much for one on his college team at Ala- someone hit so hard. “As a kid you are so emotional, He claps his hands loudly. vs. Giants vs. 49ers just weeks after Hurricane Ka- child to be something more than quietly shakes his head. a safety, despite the fact he had bama and then for those years Collins sat for four hours that like you don’t know how to con- “Sean Taylor is the best safety 1 p.m. Dec. 22, Fox 1 p.m. Oct. 20, Fox trina had roared through New a little boy with a football dream. “I would not have been made been to three Pro Bowls in four with the Giants. day, hunting for videos of Taylor. trol it,” Collins says. “You don’t to play the game!” New York has gone 8 24 over the Jimmy Garoppolo will be back Orleans, ripping his father’s “He had to take a role of being to be an adult like that without seasons with the Giants. But in But to Collins, leadership is Collins’ high school teammate know how to understand it be- He claps his hands again. past two seasons and has even from a torn ACL. He went 5 0 as house in half and flooding the my sidekick,” she says. Katrina,” he says. “But that Washington’s locker room, Collins not yelling at teammates in the and best friend, Shaquille Lewis, cause even though I had never “There is nobody like him. less talent on its roster this year. the 49ers starter in 2017. streets around his mother’s. His Another hurricane was coming, storm happened, and everything is the unifier, the player who grew locker room or screaming in pre- remembers Collins taping his met him, I [thought] he’s my Nobody can do what he did in the mother, April Justin, had packed and nothing seemed certain any- changed in my life, and we had up in Louisiana wanting nothing game huddles. It’s earned through fingers before games just like friend. I think he’s someone close way he did it,” he says. “I really WEEK 17 WEEK 8 him and his younger brother and more. So she put Landon behind to figure stuff out.” more than to play for the team of quiet conversations and bringing Taylor, who never wore gloves to me. It touched me in that way appreciate the guy for who he @ Cowboys @ Vikings sister into a Nissan Altima the the wheel at a circle at the end of When Washington’s players his favorite player, Sean Taylor. divergent groups of teammates on the field. Collins taped his that my favorite player had died.” was on and off the field, and I 1 p.m. Dec. 29, Fox 8:20 p.m. Oct. 24, Fox day before the storm and driven her brother-in-law’s subdivision. talk about why this year will be “He makes a difference,” Red- together. It’s not something in- helmet, too, copying the way He dreamed of playing for the love and appreciate that he was If the Redskins can keep It’s the Kirk Cousins revenge them several hours north to her If something bad happened, she different, how their defense is skins cornerback Josh Norman vented. It’s learned. And for Col- Taylor taped his. He even cut his Redskins, imagining himself a good guy. He is a good guy.” themselves alive through game! Minnesota signed Cousins brother-in-law’s house in Sicily said, he was to take his brother stronger and closer and more recently said about Collins. “Ev- lins, it was learned in Sicily Island towel to match Taylor’s. wearing the same helmet and He stops and smiles. Week 17, this could be a fun, to an $84 million deal last year Island, La., where seven adults and sister and drive them away. cohesive, the biggest reason, erybody says it. He makes a and in the months and years after And when Taylor was shot in uniform as Taylor, launching “I’m talking about him hard-fought matchup. TWP after things ended on a sour and 13 children filled a three- She showed him the ignition, the they say, is Collins. Many around difference.” they all came home in the Altima. his South home in 2007 himself like a human rocket as if he’s still alive,” he says. note in Washington. bedroom, one-bathroom house. pedals and the gears. He seemed the NFL were surprised when We need a leader, the Redskins Leadership comes from the and died a day later, Collins into unsuspecting ballcarriers, LES CARPENTER THE WASHINGTON POST Note: Week 10 is a bye

NFL Week 1 early Sunday games: Ravens at Dolphins (CBS); Redskins at Eagles (Fox); Chiefs at Jaguars; Falcons at Vikings; Bills at Jets; Titans at Browns; Rams at Panthers Sunday afternoon: Colts at Chargers; Bengals at Seahawks (4:05 p.m.); 49ers at Buccaneers; Lions at Cardinals; Giants at Cowboys (4:25 p.m., Fox) Sunday night: Steelers at Patriots (8:20 p.m., NBC)