Osi caps rebound with forced-fumble record
Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora. Credit: David Pokress
LANDOVER, Md. - Osi Umenyiora finished up the 2009 season wondering aloud if he'd even be a Giant in 2010.
He still felt sad walking off the field here last night, but that was more for the Giants missing the playoffs. Everything else has turned around for Umenyiora, who had two forced fumbles on sacks of Rex Grossman to give him a league-record 10 forced fumbles this season to go with 111/2 sacks.
"Coming into this year, there was still some stuff going on, still some talk going on, but I knew exactly what type of player I was. My teammates knew exactly what type of player I was," Umenyiora said. "And I think from a personal standpoint, I did some things I was accustomed to doing."
After missing the 2008 season with a knee injury and clashing with defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan and Tom Coughlin during a 2009 season in which Umenyiora was demoted to a pass-rush specialist after Thanksgiving, this was a rebound season, even though he did most of his damage in the first half of the year.
His two strip-sacks against Washington were key plays in the Giants' 17-14 win, both coming with the Redskins deep in Giants territory.
The first, a blown assignment by the Redskins that allowed Umenyiora in untouched less than a minute into the second quarter, negated an Eli Manning interception that had given Washington the ball at the Giants' 25 in a 3-0 game.
The second, on the first play of the fourth quarter, ended a Redskins drive at the Giants' 30.
"He really has been so energized this year, the entire 16 games," Coughlin said. "He really had an outstanding game today. He was so focused, knew exactly what he wanted to do and just played well."
"He's a game-changer," Justin Tuck said. "We don't win this game without him."
Umenyiora also made a couple of big plays against the run, an aspect of his game that has always come under scrutiny. It was one of the reasons he clashed with Sheridan and Coughlin last year. With Perry Fewell replacing Sheridan for this season, Umenyiora has been turned loose more often, with clear results.
He also spoke up along with Tuck at halftime of the Nov. 28 win over the Jaguars, showing a side rarely seen.
Umenyiora was determined to get rid of the memories of 2009, even knowing that the Giants might not make the postseason after the losses in Weeks 15 and 16.
"Thinking about what happened last year - I was thinking about that the whole train ride up here," he said. "Just the taste it left in our mouths. We laid down out there. I just knew there was no way I was going to allow that to happen this year. We had to go out on a positive note no matter what.
"[The forced fumble record] is something I'm proud of. I just wish I could have done more of that to help this team win more games."
