Clint Sintim is all about playing with enthusiasm
Photo credit: AP Photo | Giants linebacker Clint Sintim practices during rookie mincamp in East Rutherford, N.J.
Three days after his first extended play in an NFL game - an experience of about a dozen snaps - Clint Sintim still was bubbling with excitement. So much, in fact, that when he received a letter from the league with that big red, white and blue shield on the envelope, he said there was a moment he thought it might have been a note of congratulations.
"Welcome to the NFL, Mr. Sintim,'' he imagined it saying, noting his first game playing on first and second downs.
But there was no such message. Instead, it was a notice that he'd been fined $5,000 for a late hit on Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers, a play that didn't draw a flag in the game but certainly got him noticed in the league's offices.
"I got an envelope, I didn't know what that meant,'' he said. "Apparently, everybody else did.''
Welcome to the NFL, indeed.
Sintim took the place of Danny Clark at strong-side linebacker for a few series in the second half of the Chargers game last Sunday and took part in three tackles along with that expensive pressure on the quarterback. But the stat he was most interested in came up as a big zero, which was fine.
"More importantly for me, I didn't have any M.E.s, which is what I really wanted to focus in on,'' Sintim said of mental errors. "I knew coming into the week I was going to have an opportunity to play. I didn't want to go out there and think too much or be scared or be hesitant. I just wanted to play football and be confident. I feel like I can play. It was a cool feeling.''
Sintim may not have announced his arrival with a big play, but he certainly wanted his teammates to know about it. "The cool thing about it is Antonio [Pierce] is out there and he knows I'm in there,'' he said of relying on the veteran middle linebacker to point him in the right direction. "I'm like 'Antonio, I'm in here, let me know where I'm going!' So he'll set the front and work with me and just get me straight. I wasn't too confused about anything out there.''
On his first play, he was lined up on the left when weak-side linebacker Michael Boley broke up a pass on the right side of the field. "I ran all the way over to him and just jumped up and down as if I made the tackle,'' Sintim said. "I was yelling 'Yeah, yeah, yeah!' I was so excited, like a little kid. 'I'm in! I'm in, Mike! Mike, it's me! I'm in!' It was reminiscent of back in college when I used to run around and be happy for everybody else.''
And what was Boley's reaction to the rookie? "He didn't pay me no mind,'' Sintim said. "He was doing his own thing.''
Sintim was selected in the second round (45th overall, from Virginia) of this past spring's draft to be a pass-rushing linebacker on the strong side, someone who could use strength and power to balance Boley's speed and athleticism on the opposite side.
"He is a big, explosive kid,'' defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan said. "All of his best football is ahead of him. He can be a dynamic pass rusher in base or in sub personnel. He's only going to get better in playing the coverages.''
When he suffered a groin injury in the final preseason game, his development slowed. He sat out the first four games, made his debut against the Raiders, was inactive against the Saints and has played in every game since. Most of that was special-teams play until the game against the Chargers.
"It was so fun,'' Sintim said. "The amount of energy . . . I've been on special teams and all that, but that's kind of like one-play football. You're in, you're out. Sometimes it's hard to develop a rhythm. But when I was in the game for those couple of series, it's so exciting, man. It's like you give all you've got for those couple of plays, you know you aren't going to be in there for much longer, and it's a great feeling.''
