Even though it’s difficult for him, Falcons defensive end Osi Umenyiora is embracing change.
For the first time in his illustrious career, Umenyiora is getting ready for a specialty role. The Falcons have created a position called “DPR,” which stands for designated pass rusher.
Umenyiora hasn’t put up much of a fuss after being a three-down player for most of 10 NFL seasons.
“Whatever they ask me to do, I really don’t have much to say about that,” said Umenyiora after Thursday’s practice with the Texans. “I’m here and I’m working my butt off. I just want to help this team win.”
The Falcons have been working on readjusting the scheme of their defense. Also, they have been getting some of the younger players acclimated. Umenyiora’s role has been on the back burner.
“I really can’t tell you,” Umenyiora said. “It remains to be seen. We’ll see how it goes once the season starts. Right now, I’m trying to get my legs up under me.”
Umnenyiora, who signed with the Falcons in 2013 after playing nine seasons and winning two Super Bowl rings with the New York Giants, has 82.5 career sacks. The plan is to put him in advantageous pass-rushing situations after he registered 7.5 last season.
“I have to get accustomed to just going in there on third downs,” Umenyiora said. “It’s quite difficult to do, but I’m quite sure that I’ll be able to adjust.”
Falcons coach Mike Smith said it’s time to start getting Umenyiora cranked up in order to get him ready for the regular season.
“It’s a new role for Osi,” Smith said. “We feel like it’s the best role for him to help us. You always want to put guys in their most advantageous position. We’ll have to get his reps up in this game as well.”
Umenyiora, who’s registered double-digit sacks in three of his seasons, has heard the critics of the team. He’s been mum as they have trashed the team’s pass rush and have wondered where the pass rush will come from in 2014.
“Well, I understand it,” Umenyiora said. “People are entitled to their own opinion.”
The Falcons had 32 sacks last season, and their sacks-per-pass-attempt-ratio of 6.20 percent ranked 25th in the league.
“Obviously, last year I don’t think we rushed the quarterback as well as we should have,” Umenyiora said. “Rushing the quarterback, there are a lot of factors involved in that. It’s just not having people who can rush.”
Umenyiora, while he doesn’t know exactly how his new role is going to work, believes the Falcons can rush the passer better.
“As long as we get everything corrected and we are playing the run, getting teams into third-and-long situations, that will give the pass rush an opportunity to really ramp it up,” Umenyiora said. “Last year, that just wasn’t there.”
Umenyiora had some strong rushes against the Texans. He’s also developing some chemistry with defensive tackle Jonathan Babineaux on stunts.
“It’s good to get out here and go up against different guys and work on different techniques that we’ve been doing during training camp,” Umenyiora said. “I think we did a lot of positive things, but we saw a lot of things that we have to work on.”
Umenyiora didn’t get a chance to rush much against Miami as the first-team defense couldn’t force any third-and-longs. He played only six plays against the Dolphins.
He hopes that the defense has a better showing against the Texans.
“All we can do is improve on that performance,” Umenyiora said.
He believes the practices went the Texans should help the defense improve.
“We were pretty physical,” Umenyiora said. “We played well in most aspects, but there are definitely a lot of things that we have to work on.”
About the Author
