EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- New York Giants safety Landon Collins has become one of those players that opposing offenses cant overlook.Collins is the Giants playmaker on defense, and much more.Playing on a team that has boasted such Hall of Famers as Lawrence Taylor, Harry Carson and Michael Strahan, the second-year pro from Alabama has become the first Giant to win conference player of the week awards in consecutive games.Two weeks ago, he was recognized for intercepting two passes against the Rams in London, with one resulting in an incredible return for a touchdown.After the bye week, Collins came back against the Eagles this past weekend with 12 tackles, and his interception on the opening series set up the first of four Eli Manning touchdown passes.Hes a beast, said fellow safety Andrew Adams, who then repeated the statement for emphasis. He is flying around, making plays, hitting people. Its what you need from a safety.Collins is a big reason the Giants (5-3) are off to their best start since 2012, when they were 6-2 at the halfway point. He leads the team in tackles (69), sacks (3) and interceptions (3), the only player in the NFL to lead his team in all three categories this season.No Giant has led the team in both sacks and interceptions in a full season since sacks became an official statistic in 1982. The last NFL player to do it was Pittsburghs Lawrence Timmons in 2012 (3 interceptions, 6 sacks). This season, Yannick Ngakoue leads the Jacksonville Jaguars in both categories (4 sacks, one of three players with one interception).Collins was unaware of the statistics.Im just out there playing ball, doing what is best for the defense, he said Wednesday as the team started preparing for Monday nights game against the Cincinnati Bengals (3-4-1). Im just trying to help in any way possible.Collins has come a long way this season.The Giants moved up in the draft last year to grab him with the first pick of the second round. He became an instant starter on a unit that blew six leads either late in the fourth quarter or in overtime.For a kid who came into the NFL with a chip on his shoulder after being passed over in the first round, it was a humbling experience. So he worked harder in the offseason, and it has paid off.As I kept on working, kept on understanding the defense and working at my craft, I definitely knew I was going to get to this point sooner than later, said Collins, who grew up modeling his game after the late Sean Taylor.Collins cant get enough of football. When he is not lifting, he either is in the film room or studying opposing offenses.On the opening drive against the Eagles, he recognized the route concept on the pass to Nelson Agholor from something the Eagles did the week before. He kept his leverage and intercepted the overthrown pass by Carson Wentz.He remembered to credit end Olivier Vernon for putting pressure on Wentz.It always starts with the D-line, said Collins who had only one interception in his first 22 games. If they get pressure, a push back there, its going to be a tackle for a loss or a play that gives us an interception. When they get going, we all get going.Collins is the first to win defensive player of the week awards in consecutive games since Chicago cornerback Charles Tillman in 2012, and the first safety since Pittsburghs Troy Polamalu in 2010.The New Orleans native is the first Giants defensive player to win two player of the week awards in a season since safety Stevie Brown in 2012. Quarterback Eli Manning won the offensive award twice in 2015.Manning said he saw how talented Collins was last season.The first year you come in, theres a lot going on, Manning said. NFL defense is a lot more complex. Defense is thrown at you. Youre maybe thinking a little bit and you might not make the plays that you normally would make. Now, you see him flying around and totally confident in what hes doing. The results show on game day.---For more NFL coverage: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP-NFL Cheap Michigan Wolverines Jerseys . You can watch the game live on TSN at 7:30pm et/4:30pm pt. The Flyers had won seven of eight before dropping their last two outings on consecutive days over the weekend. Philadelphia was handed a 6-3 loss by the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday afternoon before dropping a 4-1 decision to the Rangers the following night in New York City. Cheap Tom Brady College Jersey .C. -- Al Jefferson joked that he feels he can score from anywhere on the court. http://www.ncaacheapjerseys.com/ . Both players have lower body injuries that will keep them out of the lineup until at least January 31, which is the first game they can be activated from IR. NCAA Jerseys China . -- Hunter Smith scored the winner with just 12 seconds remaining in the third period as the Oshawa Generals edged the host Sarnia Sting 5-4 on Friday in Ontario Hockey League action. Wholesale College Jerseys China . Coach Tom Thibodeau says the former MVP will probably start travelling with the team in the next few weeks. Rose tore the meniscus in his right knee at Portland in November and was ruled out for the remainder of the season by the Bulls. ROME -- Italy suspended Romes bid for the 2024 Olympics on Tuesday, forced to pull the plug because of the staunch opposition of the citys mayor.Italian Olympic Committee president Giovanni Malago said that he had written to the IOC announcing the decision to interrupt the candidacy.While the letter left open a small possibility for a revival of the bid if there is a change in city government, Malago didnt hold out much hope.Today the game is over. But if someone decides that the game isnt over its not up to us. But today were ending the game, Malago told The Associated Press after his announcement at a news conference. Thats it.The move comes after Romes city council voted last month to withdraw support of the bid on the recommendation of Mayor Virginia Raggi.The bid committee is officially liquidated as of today, Malago said. Its a big wound for us. I hope they realize how bad an impression weve made.The International Olympic Committee said it had taken note of the Italian decision and will further explore with the candidature committee what this means.All the circumstances and the information that we have received in the past days clearly demonstrate that this is about Italian politics only, the IOC said.Romes withdrawal leaves only Los Angeles, Paris, and Budapest, Hungary, in the running for the 2024 Games. The IOC will select the host city in September 2017.Its also the second time in four years that a Rome bid has been withdrawn or suspended. In 2012, then-premier Mario Monti scrapped the citys bid for the 2020 Olympics because of financial concerns.I feel like Ive been robbed of hope, Rome bid vice president and Italian Paralympic Committee president Luca Pancalli said.Hoping to regain the trust of the IOC, Malago said he was offering up Milan as host of the IOC session in 2019.This is the first step of Italys rehabilitation after this unacceptable interruption, Malago said. The other evening I had a chance to discuss this possibility with (IOC President) Thomas Bach and IOC general director Christophe De Kepper and there is ample support for this idea.This is a way to turn the page and move on, Malago added.Raggi, who represents the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement, said that taking on the costs of an Olympic bid is irresponsible for a city struggling to emerge from years of corruption and poor public services.ddddddddddddWhile Raggi wrote a letter to the IOC last month, IOC rules state that only the national Olympic committee can withdraw a candidacy.Anybody can write to the IOC but the only letter that counts is the one from the president of the Olympic committee, Malago said.Since being elected in June as Romes first female mayor, Raggi has had a rough first few months in office. Her administration was thrown into chaos after she dismissed her Cabinet chief and four other officials resigned.A budget of 24 million euros ($27 million) had been allotted -- much of it spent -- to the 2024 candidacy, even though bid leader Luca Cordero di Montezemolo had no salary.Malago revealed that he would have promoted Nerio Alessandri, the entrepeneur who is president and founder of Technogym, as organizing committee president if Rome had won, with architect Renzo Piano in a supervisory position.But I was never able to speak with the mayor since she was elected, Malago said.Malago compared Romes situation to Vancouvers withdrawal six months before the 1980 Winter Games were awarded to Lake Placid in 1976. Vancouver had to wait 30 years to host the 2010 Winter Games.While its true that Canada had two games in the intervening years -- Montreal (1976) and Calgary (1988) -- I think Vancouver paid a big price for that decision, Malago said. Rome and Italy find themselves in a similar situation today.Still, the interruption of the bid is another signal that the IOC still has work to do to convince cities that hosting the games is a boon and not a burden.Last month, a city government panel in Tokyo warned that the cost of the 2020 Olympics could exceed $30 billion, more than four times the initial estimates.Voters in Hamburg rejected the German citys 2024 bid in a referendum, and Boston dropped out last year amid a lack of public and political support and was replaced as the U.S. candidate by Los Angeles.Four cities withdrew during the bidding for the 2022 Winter Games, leaving only two candidates in the field. Beijing, hardly known as a winter sports destination, defeated Almaty, Kazakhstan.---Andrew Dampf on Twitter: www.twitter.com/asdampf ' ' '