Osi Umenyiora, Giants defense are class of league in hard hits
When Jon Kitna leads the Dallas Cowboys into New Meadowlands Stadium on Sunday instead of injured Pro Bowl quarterback Tony Romo, it will be the latest reminder of the damage caused by the revived New York Giants defense.
The Giants, riding a five-game winning streak that vaulted them into the NFC East lead at 6-2, made Romo the fifth quarterback they've sidelined this year when he suffered a broken collarbone during a 41-35 loss in their Oct. 25 NFC East matchup.
He joined the Carolina Panthers' Matt Moore, the Detroit Lions' Shaun Hill and the Chicago Bears' Jay Cutler and Todd Collins as passers who were no longer intact after being belted by Giants defenders.
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"We aren't going in there trying to hurt anybody," says defensive end Osi Umenyiora (YOU-men-yur-uh), who is enjoying a resurgence under first-year defensive coordinator Perry Fewell. "It just happens like that sometimes."
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There can be little doubt, though, that a unit scorched for 427 points, the NFL's third-highest total as part of a disappointing 8-8 finish in 2009, is responding to Fewell's insistence on aggressiveness.
"We don't coach helmet-to-helmet (hits), that type of thing," says Fewell, the Buffalo Bills defensive coordinator before he served as interim head coach last season. "Our mind-set is to be physical, to punish, to wreak havoc. We want to play the game as clean and as hard as we can. Injuries occur in our game. We don't want those things to occur, but they happen."
The number of wounded quarterbacks the Giants are leaving behind might weigh on the minds of future opponents. Fewell hopes so.
Consider this exchange when he met with news reporters two days after Romo was hurt, leaving the one-win Cowboys with Kitna as a starter in Jason Garrett's head-coaching debut Sunday:
Q: "As an opposing head coach, what are you thinking when you come up against this defense?
A: "Protect my quarterback."
Q: "Would this really impact the way you feel about your offense, knowing that this defense is ferocious?"
A: "Yes. I would stay up at night thinking about, 'Wow, am I next?' "
Getting inside the opposition's headset appears to be working.
New York ranks first in the NFL in defense, allowing 250.6 yards a game. The club also stands first in yards per play (4.4), first downs per game (13.8) and third-down conversion percentage (29.1%).
The Giants allow 80.9 rushing yards a game, which would be their lowest mark since they yielded 72.3 yards when they won the NFC title in 2000.
They permit an average of 169.8 yards by air. To understand how airtight that is, they surrendered 195.1 passing yards midway through a 2007 season that culminated in a 17-14 Super Bowl upset that ruined the New England Patriots' perfection bid.
Three-safety package works
Fewell leaves no tactic unturned in his effort to baffle quarterbacks and make them feel the heat. That includes his increasing use of a three-safety alignment that capitalizes on free agent acquisitions Antrel Rolle and Deon Grant and the return of Kenny Phillips, who missed 14 games last year with an arthritic knee condition that required surgery.
"That's a package that I like," Fewell says. "There is talent in our defense that you want to use in certain ways."
Rolle, signed to a five-year contract worth $37 million, possesses above-average coverage skills for a safety.
"That three-safety package has been huge for them," Dallas tight end Jason Witten says.
"Rolle comes down and is playing almost like a linebacker, and they do a good job of matching the personnel so they're not in odd looks."
Members of the Giants say they appreciate Fewell's willingness to make adjustments according to their strengths and weaknesses.
"The first thing he said was, 'This is not a Perry Fewell defense. This is our defense. We all have ownership in it,' " defensive end Justin Tuck says.
Linebacker Michael Boley views Fewell as a refreshing departure from Bill Sheridan, who was dismissed after one year when his defense was embarrassed 41-9 by the Carolina Panthers and 44-7 to the Minnesota Vikings to close 2009.
"He brings that fire and intensity this group needed," Boley says of the new coordinator.
"We're able to see one thing in practice and come into the meeting room and say, 'Coach, maybe you need to take a look at this,' " Boley says. "It wasn't the same relationship with Bill. It was what he wanted to do and how he wanted to play."
Umenyiora, Fewell connect
Umenyiora was the player Fewell needed to reach more than any other. He played far short of expectations under Sheridan and demanded a trade after losing his starting role.
According to Tuck, the eighth-year defensive end is back to being himself.
"He's put a lot of stuff behind him," he says. "I think he got concerned with a lot of stuff off the field."
Fewell made an easy connection with Umenyiora.
"He wanted to be the best he could be, and I felt I could help him accomplish that," he says.
Umenyiora allows his play to do most of the talking these days. In his team's four October victories, he made 18 tackles (10 solo), to go with seven sacks and six forced fumbles and was named the NFC's defensive player of the month.
"He's a game-changing play waiting to happen," defensive tackle Chris Canty says.
When Umenyiora was asked last week about his exploits in October, he discussed them in a team context.
"I think if I'm positioned to make those plays, that's what I'm going to do," he said. "I think everybody has to do his part to enable everybody else to perform at an optimum level. And I think that's what everyone has done."
Quarterback Eli Manning points to the defense's handiwork in explaining some of the success of an offense that averages 401 yards a game and ranks second to the San Diego Chargers (420.2). No team has finished first in offense and defense since the San Francisco 49ers in strike-tainted 1987.
"When the defense is playing well ... it makes our job easier," Manning says.
As encouraged as they are by the way they roared back from a 1-2 start that had some observers questioning the team's coaching and leadership, experience makes the Giants cautious.
They have been 5-3 or better in each of Tom Coughlin's seven seasons as coach. Their late-season collapse after a 5-0 start in 2009 reminds them of how quickly a team can lose its way.
"We've got to have the mind-set that it doesn't matter what we did last week," Manning says. "It's how you practice, how you prepare and what you do this week."
The schedule is about to turn treacherous. Dallas (1-7), which practiced in full pads for the first time this season with the shift from mild-mannered Wade Phillips to Garrett, might relish the spoiler role. Then comes a visit to the 2009 NFC East runner-up Philadelphia Eagles (5-3).
Injuries also are a growing concern. Clutch receiver Steve Smith (47 catches, 517 yards, three TDs) was forced to leave Thursday's practice with what Coughlin said appeared to be a strained chest muscle. Various physical issues have turned the offensive line into a patchwork group.
Still, the Giants, especially on defense, are drawing comparisons to the team that made a seemingly magical playoff run in 2007. Tuck rejects that notion, at least for now.
"We are not yet close to 2007. It was remarkable how we just came together as a defense," he said.
"At this point, we are not as consistent. We are still trying to get into a groove."
