Osi Umenyiora needs a reality check

Pot, my take on Osi(the Chief, remember?) is the same as yours.

The entire defense needs to do some serious soul searching..I don’t know about you guys, but at 53 years old..when I look in the mirror, I see the same guy I saw at 25 years old..Obviously far from reality..Sometimes, well all of the time..somebody else has to tell you what you really look like and what your capable of…Looking in a mirror just doesn’t work..

It has been obvious for quite some time. The seven sacks in fifteen games in 2007 kinda proved it though, at the time, I put it off to teams swinging away from Strahan in their protection, seeing Osi as the new threat after the 6 sack Eagles game (which I took my Chicago bred, non-football fan girlfriend too, her first pro-game, and which she enjoyed, especially the big soft pretzels, despite the parking lot woes and shuttle bus crap). I digress. I don’t think Osi will come back as a full force either. A situational role is something he should embrace if he wants to stay on this team. And if he embraces it, go balls out with it. Sad to say, since Strahan, we have not had a premiere pass rusher.
Tuck is good, not great. We’ve been speaking about Osi. Alford, when he comes back, is not that person either. I’d say it’d be nice to have one. But our defensive problems go deeper. There was a lot of rot that nobody saw or was prepared for (well, not really nobody there were some who foresaw the overratedness and weakness of this team… some…). There’s a big job ahead. The trick is not to let the O falter as the focus goes to the D, because, mark my words, our O-line is in major decline. Without some bolstering and rethinking, the O can end up in 2010 where the D ended up in 2009. We need a starting running back. BJ is not it. Successful knee surgery or not. He’s a one dimensional back, figured out, and his one dimension has taken a smack and isn’t all that anymore anyway. AB is not a starting back. Groom the Brown kid, see what he’s got, pick up someone in free agency — who might be available, that’d be a fun thread. So, the D, major overhaul. O: O-line and RB need attention. That’s my armchair GM consensus, which is probably quite redundant and imitative of much of what’s been tossed around on this blog these past few days. Happy new year.

…Osi needs to step up and make big plays.

There are too many guys not playing as a solid unit..Harry Carson hit the nail on the head with his comments..No passion.

I have enjoyed BBV and commenting with all of you folks, my fellow fans..I wish all of you and your families a very Happy New Year!!..My thoughts on this site is meaningful to me for much more than football..There are folks out here that come from differing backgrounds and faiths, but we are all unified by, when you think about it a pretty simple sport..It has been a pleasure. I wish you all much happiness and good luck in 2010..and look forward to the future interaction. You are all a very good group of folks and I am very happy to be a part of it. Be safe and Bless you all in the coming year..Bobbieblue

Since I no longer reside in NY/NJ to chat football with fellow Giants fans, it’s great to have this blog to celebrate and vent about my Giants. It’s amazing to find so many fans who share the same joy when we win and the pain when we lose. I really enjoy this site.
Anyway, wishing all BBV members a healthy and happy New Year.

Osi’s production in 2005 was a reflection of the attention that Strahan was getting at the time, and as good as Justin Tuck is, he doesn’t get near the attention Strahan did. So perhaps the baseline was set a little high. As far as this year is concerned, the lack of a push from the interior line was a much greater problem than his performance. In fact there were many, many occasions on which Osi turned runs to the inside (which is his first responsibility) only to have no linebacker in position to make the tackle (which is theirs). That’s why the leading tacklers in virtually every game this year were safeties and corners.

Just like a few years ago when yall were on Eli’s back, now you are on osi’s back. Osi is the best DE the giants have. I love tuck, but didn’t osi still lead the team in sacks while only playing part time? Granted, he has never been great against the run but in a year where we lost spags, has anyone on the defense really played well against the run or pass? With osi out of most of the game last sunday, did we play well against the run? It will be terrible if they take this talented, still young 28 year old player and play him for one down. Stray was great in that he played the pass and run equally great but he got better with experience. Stray wasn’t that great against the run early in his career either if I remember correctly. Tuck has balance but didn’t do what DE s get paid to do, which is to sack to the QB. It is ridiculous and dissappointing to see all the osi bashing especially one year removed from his knee surgery. The bottom line is that the entire giant team played poorly on defense this year and you would be hard press to find anyone who didn’t have a down year. I am just confused as to why you are all scapegoating OSI. Now “he is not as good as he thinks he is”? “he needs to look in the mirror and so some soul searching”? This talk reminds me of the same thash that clown were saying about eli after his first 3 seasons. Maybe YOU guys need to look in the mirror and do some soulsearching and realize that every year that ends poorly, you seek out one of our stars to tear down. Stop being a blamer.

It’s beyond Sheridan, who should go IMO, it’s beyond Osi. This D hit its stride end of 2007, lost two key components, Strahan and, yes, K. Mitchell, covered up for them most of 2008, but was slowly exposed, under Spags, the unravelling then becoming all too apparent this past pre-season, and now… well, voila. The rot is deep. Sheridan’s schemes, right and wrong, couldn’t cover for it. He is the scapegoat. He goes. Right or wrong. Unfortunately, the Giants and most fans fell victim to believing hype based on past rep and the idiocies of the sports press (Adam Schfecter, or whatever his name, and the rest of ‘em, save for some Giants beat writers, they are almost always wrong, dishonest, and nothing more than lemmingesque shills for popular opinion and the whims of a very corrupt league (another story). I’ve used the quote before, I’ll use it one last time. Orwell: “It takes a constant struggle to see what’s in front of ones face.”
Giants management failed in that struggle. Don’t let them fail again. Hold them to account. The D sucks and the O is in danger of crumbling. If they don’t see that, if they don’t take the measures needed, they are stealing your money, your heart and your time. And if they are (F John Mara and his rip off stadium, yet another story), deny them all those things. Happy new Year.

The drop off in production certainly has something to do with the loss of spags. But It mainly has to do with injuries to players, especially right up the middle of the D: tackles, middle linebacker, safety . The defensive ends aren’t even close to the biggest problem.

do lie. look.. i am not saying that osi is the greatest. What i am saying is that he is not any more responsible for the defensive failures than the rest of the d players. They all share the blame along with (especially) the d cordinator. Osi is still a young talented player that shouldn’t be thrown under the bus. His numbers are down but so are his snaps on the field. Had he played all snaps and gotten say 3 more sacks, would we be calling him overrated? The fact is that he played less snaps than the other DE and still led the team in sacks. No one played great. As far as the defense, allot has to do with scheme, personnel, play calling, tackling and everyone doing their jobs. You can’t just go by numbers in a team game. Coverage sacks are a prime example. If phillips hadn’t gotten hurt and was great in covering roaming receivers then QBs would hold the ball longer and d-line gets more coverage sacks. Likewise, d line pressure will cover poor secondary play. My point is, you can’t point to osi’s numbers as proof he isn’t good in a team sport. You have to watch film and see how he is playing against his opposition and what mental and physical mistakes he is making. The opponents know he is still dominant and that is why they still double team and chip him. See how many takers are there if we attempt to trade him. Osi is a good young DE and doesn’t deserve to be thrown under the bus. I guess I would be making this arguement for many of our “stars”.

Ed. this isn’t a personal attack on you. I normally love reading your articles. I just hate when media scapegoats one player then folks (like sheep) follow without considering other points. It like what they did with Vince young. Now they want to say it is because he is more mature and sat on the bench why he is winning now. What the sheep won’t remember was that VY came to a lotto team and made tenn a winning team well before that one distasterous game. He was phenomenal that he made the madden cover (lol). What the sheep does is listen to the stupid media comments, forget evergthing that was previously said or done and think he underwent some transformation. VY is still the same player he was but now a bit older. It ’s the blind leading the blind. The Osi article, will lead many of sheep to forget that Osi is still young, a former pro bowl player coming off of knee surgery, who played less snaps on a poor defense and still led the team in sacks. Not sure why anyone would want to give up on that quite yet.

There is another name for it, but I figured our team smelled enough this year, hence the term “brain burp”…Anyhow, wouldn’t it be a blast for all of us to organize a get together at the new stadium next year..a “meet and greet” tailgate party for all BBV-ers, then watch a game together?…Probably couldn’t be a regular season game, but perhaps a pre-season game? Jets/Giants maybe?..I could have a big banner made and ship it up to somebody close-by to set it up, so that we could all identify and converge in the same spot..and chip-in to have a caterer take care of the food and drinks..We could also get Giants tee-shirts made up with our “Handles” printed on the back..Those of us where warranted could car-pool..for example I know Jim lives down here in South Florida and maybe others..We could hook-up and drive together, and so on with folks elsewhere..that live close-by each other..We could make it a Father/Son deal also, for those of us who were un..er, excuse me..fortunate to have had children..lol..Anyway, think about it..Ed could get our guest writers to join us..and we could most likely get some players to show up after the game for awhile..If we start now we could most likely get a section of tickets, so we’d all be together..