Osi Umenyiora Not Awful Against the Run. Who Knew?
Giants DE Has Been Average, Not Awful, Vs. the Run
If you were to ask Giants’ fans about Osi Umenyiora’s ability against the run, the vast majority would likely cast a disappointing look and share a snide remark. His struggles against the ground game have been well documented over the last calendar year, but are they deserved?
Since his rookie season in 2003, Big Blue fans have accepted that he’s less-than-stellar against the run, but only since his 2009 preseason outburst have they been put under the microscope.
According to Pro Football Focus, Umenyiora ranked 57th amongst 4-3 defensive ends versus the run in 2009 with a -4.1 rating. By comparison, teammate Mathias Kiwanuka, with whom he’s most often compared, ranked 35th versus the run with a +0.6 rating.
Frankly, neither rating is worth writing home about, but Osi’s is unacceptable.
But before we go pulling the plug on the chief, it’s worth reminding everyone that Umenyiora was coming off of a major knee surgery and had just missed an entire year of football. And whether or not fans view that as an excuse, it’s nothing something you can ignore…ACL reconstruction is a serious procedure and it takes a long time to recover.
Back in 2007, Umenyiora was significantly better against the run, compiling a +3.3 rating (including the playoffs). And considering that was done on a much healthier knee, I think it’s fair to say that’s a more accurate representation of his skill versus the run than his one down year following a major knee surgery.
Perhaps even more interesting than the full season ratings are Osi’s individual game ratings.
Over the course of 14 games in 2007, Umenyiora had only three games “in the red” (-1.1 or worse) and only five games in the negative. On the contrary, he had five games “in the green” (+1.1 or better) and eight games in the positive. He also had one game with a 0.0 rating.
Moving ahead to 2009, Umenyiora had only four games in the red over the course of the entire season, and only six games in the negative overall. His -4.3 against Dallas in week two and his -3.3 against Denver in week 12 significantly damaged his overall numbers against the run.
So, what is the conclusion?
Frankly, I think it’s safe to say that Umenyiora is still a quality defensive end who struggled in a defensive scheme that saw down years for almost every single defensive starter last year. The fact is, he spoke out against his defensive coordinator and it rubbed people the wrong way. Whether he was correct or not, it caused people to watch him much more carefully and the timing couldn’t have been worse.
Should he continue to struggle coming season as he did at times in 2009, then perhaps the negativity is warranted. Until then, I’ll view it as nothing more than a single hiccup in an otherwise very promising career.
