Umenyiora, Ferguson May Decide Bragging Rights
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Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora had millions of eyes on him Sunday night when he sacked Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb six times. The most interested observer may have been Jets left tackle D’Brickashaw Ferguson, who will line up against Umenyiora this Sunday.
The battle between Ferguson and Umenyiora will be the single most important individual matchup when the Giants play the Jets at the Meadowlands, and after what Umenyiora and his Giants teammates did to McNabb, the Jets’ most important offensive priority will be protecting quarterback Chad Pennington.
Umenyiora abused Eagles left tackle Winston Justice repeatedly Sunday night. In addition to the six sacks, Umenyiora often got close enough to force McNabb to scramble and hurry his throws. Justice was also called for two false starts. Monday morning quarterbacks have questioned why the Eagles’ pass protection schemes left Justice, who was in the starting lineup for the first (and possibly last) time in his career, one-on-one against Umenyiora for most of the night, but Philadelphia had little choice: The Giants were blitzing from every direction, and if the Eagles had devoted two blockers to Umenyiora, someone else would have been left open to sack McNabb.
It will be the same this Sunday, which is why the Jets will need a big game from Ferguson, the second-year left tackle who has started all 20 games of his NFL career. Ferguson’s 2007 season got off to a shaky start. In the opener, New England Patriots defensive end Jarvis Green pushed Ferguson aside and sacked quarterback Chad Pennington, causing an injury that would force Pennington to miss the Jets’ Week 2 game against the Baltimore Ravens — another game in which Ferguson fared poorly.
But in the last two weeks, Ferguson has displayed the agility and pass blocking skills the Jets saw when they selected him with the fourth pick in last year’s NFL draft. In Week 3, Ferguson was matched up with Miami Dolphins defensive end Jason Taylor, the 2006 defensive player of the year. Taylor didn’t sack Pennington, rarely got close, and was so frustrated after the game that he told reporters, “I suck right now, it’s as simple as that.” In the Jets’ loss to the Buffalo Bills Sunday, Ferguson again squared off against a Pro Bowl defensive end, Aaron Schobel, and again held him without a sack.
Ferguson was unanimously considered the best lineman in the 2006 NFL draft, and his battle with Umenyiora will be a face-off between two of the most talented young linemen in the league. Although the Eagles game was the first time Umenyiora had ever been the focal point of a national TV broadcast, NFL personnel evaluators have long known about his talent. In fact, the 2004 draft-day trade that brought Eli Manning to the Giants and sent Philip Rivers to the San Diego Chargers almost didn’t happen because Chargers general manager A.J. Smith loved Umenyiora so much that he insisted Umenyiora had to be part of the deal, and then-Giants general manager Ernie Accorsi loved Umenyiora so much that he wouldn’t give him up, even if it cost the Giants a chance at their quarterback of the future. (Accorsi held his ground and Smith eventually relented.)
Ferguson will certainly put up a significantly better fight against Umenyiora than Justice did. Umenyiora beat Justice with both speed and power, sacking McNabb by rushing to Justice’s inside, rushing to Justice’s outside, shoving Justice to the ground, and running directly over him.
Although Ferguson outweighs Umenyiora by more than 50 pounds, the bull rush — running straight through Ferguson — is his best strategy for getting to Pennington. Ferguson has quick feet and is at his best when facing fast defensive ends who think they can beat him to the outside. But he’s not particularly strong for an NFL offensive lineman, and Umenyiora might be able to overpower him.
The Giants’ defensive performance against the Eagles showed exactly what head coach Tom Coughlin envisioned when he hired Steve Spagnuolo as his defensive coordinator eight months ago. The Giants’ pass rush came alive so abruptly Sunday night that at kickoff, they ranked 26th in the NFL in sacks, with just four all season. Three hours later they were tied for first in the league, with 16. The Giants’ 12 sacks tied an NFL single-game record, and Umenyiora’s six sacks were one short of the individual record.
It’s not realistic to think the Giants could rush the opposing quarterback that effectively every week. The Eagles were uniquely ill-suited to match up with the Giants Sunday night, with the inexperienced Justice protecting McNabb and Philadelphia’s best offensive player, running back Brian Westbrook, sidelined with an abdominal injury. But it is realistic to think Umenyiora can be an All-Pro defensive end, that the Giants can have one of the best pass-rushing defenses in the NFL this year, and that their opponents will need to have good offensive tackles in place to protect their quarterbacks’ blind sides.
Linemen aren’t stars, so the TV announcers during Sunday’s Jets-Giants game will spend most of their time talking about Chad Pennington and Eli Manning, Thomas Jones and Derrick Ward, Laveranues Coles and Plaxico Burress. But the most important players on the field will be Umenyiora and Ferguson. Expect the winner of that individual battle to win the game as well.
Mr. Smith is a writer for FootballOutsiders.com.