Staple: Osi turning into a takeaway machine

There is no special technique. No new way that Giants defensive coordinator Perry Fewell is lining up Osi Umenyiora. No different drills Umenyiora is doing.

"It's nothing special, I swear," Umenyiora said.

He is simply becoming a pass-rusher with an ability to pop the ball loose. He had two more strip-sacks yesterday, bringing his total for the season to seven forced fumbles, four more than the next-ranked NFL defender.

He's only two off the high mark of nine forced fumbles, though the statistic dates only to the 2000 season in NFL record books. And there are 10 games left.

Umenyiora has eight sacks for the year, and six of those came when the only part of the opposing quarterback he touched was the football, or perhaps the QB's hand or arm. Umenyiora has only 16 tackles, partly because of the defensive-end rotation and partly because of the way he appears to be approaching the pass rush.

"We're very much in sync out there, and I know when I see him getting close, I need to keep my eyes on the ground because there's probably going to be a ball there," said Justin Tuck, who recovered the first of Umenyiora's forced fumbles in what was the biggest play of the game.

Tuck has recovered three of Umenyiora's forced fumbles, tying him for the league lead in that category.

There may be some factors at work accounting for Umenyiora's success rate. First, his injuries. He has a bad hip and two bad knees that have forced him to miss at least a day of practice each of the last three weeks. He said he's not trying to preserve his body by staying away from the mosh pit inside the tackles, but he clearly is using his speed around the edge of the opposing left tackle more than his strength to get inside.

That was how he got past Lions left tackle Jeff Backus in the third quarter Sunday to pop the ball from Drew Stanton's hands at the Giants' 38. Tuck recovered, completely turning around a 14-10 game that looked to be headed for a Lions lead just a play earlier, when a 28-yard pass from Stanton to Nate Burleson was called back because of an illegal formation.

"Someone needed to make a play there," Umenyiora said.

The other factor is that the Giants' pass rush works best when Umenyiora is flying free around the left tackle's outside edge, loosening up the middle for Tuck and Barry Cofield, who teamed to send Shaun Hill to the sideline with a broken left arm and nearly sent Stanton out in the fourth quarter.

"It's a little like a 1-2 punch," Tuck said. "We can get you with speed or power."

So Umenyiora is not forcing the ball loose with crunching blind-side hits, but it doesn't matter. The ball is coming out, forcing opposing quarterbacks to hurry up throws once Umenyiora has them thinking.

Umenyiora got a second ball out in the fourth quarter, but Stanton held the ball way too long on that one, looking to make a play with his team down four.

That was Umenyiora's seventh sack and sixth forced fumble in three games. As happened in his 13-sack 2007 season and his breakout 2005, when he had 141/2 sacks, they are coming in bunches.

"There's nothing different. I'm just trying to make plays and help the team," Umenyiora said. "When the ball comes out, that means I'm doing the right thing."