Finally, Osi Umenyiora is allowed to sack Eli Manning
Atlanta Falcons defensive end Osi Umenyiora (50) and Atlanta Falcons tackle Lamar Holmes (76) celebrate after Umenyiora intercepted a St. Louis Rams throw and scored a touchdown during the first half. (Sept. 15, 2013) Credit: AP
Osi Umenyiora has sacked 43 different quarterbacks in his career. On Sunday, he'll have a chance to hook the fish he never was allowed to catch: Eli Manning.
"Eli Manning is my brother," the Falcons' Umenyiora said on a conference call Wednesday.
Manning, his former teammate with the Giants, had always been off-limits in a red non-contact jersey whenever he got close. Not now.
"I'm not necessarily looking forward to it," he added of the opportunity to sack Manning. "I'm really not. I've just got to approach it like every other game. I have a lot of love for pretty much everybody over there, so I am not looking forward to just going out there and destroying my former team the way most people would think. I have a job to do, and I have to go out there and execute, and that is pretty much it."
So should we expect Umenyiora to ease up on Manning if he comes around the edge and has a chance to hit him or knock the ball loose with his tomahawk chop?
"Now, I didn't say all that," he laughed. "I'll never say that. If I see that, that's second-nature to me. I'm going to go for it no matter who the quarterback is. I'm not looking forward to punishing him or anything like that. But if I have to, I will."
Manning knows that's the deal.
"He'll be fired up," Manning said. "Osi and I had a great relationship when he was here, but I know, as a defensive end, they always want sacks. In practice he was in the backfield quite a bit, could have hit me a number of times, but you can't hit the quarterbacks. Hopefully, our guys will do a good job and keep him away. He's a tremendous player and can still get to the quarterback."
