Things have not worked out as Osi Umenyiora planned.
After winning two rings with the New York Giants, the Troy product figured that he was joining another franchise on the verge of a big Super Bowl breakthough when he signed with the Falcons during free agency in 2013.
But after falling 10 yards short of reaching the Super Bowl for the 2012 season, the Falcons regressed to 4-12 last season and are trying to recapture their winning ways. Umenyiora will return to the New York area to face his former teammates at 1 p.m. Sunday at Met Life Stadium as the Falcons’ designated passer.
“It’s going to be exciting,” Umenyiora said.
He doesn’t expect to be booed.
“Not at all,” Umenyiora said. “I didn’t leave there on bad terms. I left there on really good terms with most everybody.”
The Falcons are trying to find their way with a leaky revamped defense. The unit has struggled so much that he has more important issues, and that may explain why revenge is not a motivating factor.
“I’m not thinking about, ‘hey, let’s kick the Giants in the teeth,’” Umenyiora said. “I have a job to do, and we need to get back to winning on the road.”
Umenyiora was drafted by the Giants in the second round of the 2003 NFL draft. In 10 seasons with the Giants, he had 430 tackles, 75 sacks, 32 forced fumbles and 13 fumble recoveries in 129 games. He was on two Super Bowl-winning teams.
“It’s still a little bit sad for us to see ol’ Osi over there,” Giants coach Tom Coughlin said. “He was such an integral part of our teams here and the success in previous years, Super Bowls and that type of thing. I’m glad to see him doing well, healthy and playing hard.”
But Umenyiora had longed to test the open market after years of having contract disputes with the Giants. A metro Atlanta resident, he leaped at the opportunity to play for the Falcons, who were coming off an NFC Championship game appearance.
But a piece of him is still with the Giants.
“It’s the other relationships that I was able to build,” Umenyiora said. “I was there for 10 years, basically a third of my life. I met a lot of people, and I have a lot of good friends there. Most of the good things that I have in my life came from them. It’s going to be a good thing to go back and see them.”
He joined the Giants a year before they drafted Eli Manning. He sensed the Giants were heading in the right direction.
“He’s an outstanding quarterback,” Umenyiora said. “He’s really calm. He doesn’t buy into what is said about him. He just goes about his business. He’s a great competitor, and he’s very accurate with his passes. So, we’ll have our work cut out for us.”
Umenyiora led the Falcons with 7.5 sacks last season. He never grumbled through what was a tough season for all parties involved.
The Falcons planned to re-tool their defense and wanted Umenyiora to play on passing downs as a rusher from an outside linebacker spot in their 3-4 alignment or from defensive end in the 4-2-5 nickel defense.
He’s yet to find a rhythm this season and doesn’t have a sack. He’s the 43rd-rated 3-4 outside linebacker by Pro Football Focus.
Umenyiora, who has remained upbeat through the adjustment, has played 103 snaps and has one quarterback hit and five hurries. He’s hoping to land his first sack of the season against Manning.
“It’s going to be interesting to see what happens because I’ve never had a chance to get even close to him,” Umenyiora said. “They didn’t allow that in practice. That will be interesting.”
Unfortunately for the Falcons, Umenyiora doesn’t have any information to share about the Giants’ offense. They switched to the Green Bay-style West Coast attack over the offseason.
“It’s a brand new offense,” Umenyiora said. “I haven’t been able to pick up anything. I don’t know this offense at all.”
He remains close with some of his former teammates.
Umenyiora regularly plays FIFA games on his XBox with Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz.
“We usually just go off of how we are feeling that day,” Cruz said. “I usually play Manchester United and he’s a Chelsea or Manchester City guy. I’m not going to lie, he wins the majority of the games, but I come back when it matters. I’m cool with that.”
He also stays in contact with Giants offensive tackle Will Beatty.
“That’s my brother,” Umenyiora said. “It’s going to be really interesting. From what I understand and from what I’ve seen, he’s playing some really good football so far. … It’s crazy to see how he’s developed.”
Umenyiora also recalled the last time the Falcons played at MetLife, in the playoffs after the 2011 season in the wild-card round.
Justin Tuck, who also left the Giants, called the Falcons’ offensive linemen “dirt bags” leading to the game.
“I remember that,” Umenyiora laughed. “They were. They were actually the Dirty Birds back then. I guess that’s what the (offensive line) coach was teaching at the time. I don’t see that now over here. That was very accurate back then.”
The Giants prevailed 24-2 and were on their way to winning the Super Bowl.
“That was a different team and this is a different team also,” Umenyiora said. “Hopefully, we won’t go back there and revisit that.”
A Falcons victory and a few sacks of Manning would make it a triumphant return for Umenyiora.
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