Osi Umenyiora has giant influence on Falcons

Jim Corbett | USA TODAY Sports

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — Each day after practice, Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan and defensive end Osi Umenyiora find each other inside the team's workout room, doing what the best players do.

"I mess with Matt, saying, 'Nobody sees this part of your game. All they see is, oh, Matt Ryan signed this $103 million contract extension,'" Umenyiora told USA TODAY Sports. "But they don't see all the hard work he puts into it to be rewarded like that. He's a tremendous leader, a great quarterback who I've always admired from afar."

On the other hand, Ryan chases what Umenyiora has experienced twice. So it didn't take long for Ryan, 28, to ask the question of the former New York Giant who won two Super Bowls:

"One of the first things I asked Osi was, 'What does it take? What do we have to do differently to win a Super Bowl?'" said Ryan, whose team lost the NFC Championship Game 28-24 to the San Francisco 49ers in January. "Osi said, 'There's no magic. You just have to remain consistent and continue to work.'

"We do that," Ryan said. "We have a culture around here where we work hard day in, day out. And we're very consistent with what we do. You've just got to trust in that process to help get to where we want to go."

Umenyiora, who has 75 career sacks, received a two-year, $8.5 million deal to upgrade a middling Falcons pass rush. He embraced the chance to push the team over the hump while turning his offseason home into a full-time residence.

"What could be better than winning the Super Bowl championship in the place where I've lived the last 14 years and plan to live the rest of my life?" Umenyiora said. "It's a great organization that has shown great confidence in me. I just want to pay them back for that."

Umenyiora, 31, has doubters, especially after the Giants turned him into a part-time player last season, when he had six sacks and 32 tackles. The six sacks were his fewest for any of the six seasons in which he played 16 games.

"There was talk out there whether there was gas left in Osi's tank," Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff said. "That's not a concern at all. He has a great first step, with explosiveness off the mark. He has the ability to turn the corner, and his hand use is second to very few in this league.

"He's been even more than expected from a leadership standpoint."

Umenyiora is the new leader of a younger pass rush that has moved on from John Abraham. Umenyiora is mentoring rookies Malliciah Goodman and Stansly Maponga as well as Cliff Matthews (third year) and Jonathan Massaquoi (second year). Umenyiora is the veteran defensive line coach Ray Hamilton often calls on to lead pass-rushing drills, and he leads his defensive linemates in sprints the way former Giants pass rusher Michael Strahan taught him.

The Falcons say he's been better than expected against the run, and he has shown versatility by dropping into coverage. Umenyiora even has intercepted Ryan in practice.

"Osi is definitely going to take a pick to the house,'' linebacker Sean Weatherspoon predicted.

Umenyiora asked coach Mike Smith if he could come in two hours earlier than the 8 a.m. start of offseason workouts.

"Very quickly, another defensive end decided to come in at 6 a.m.," Smith said. "Then we had a small group of guys following Osi. Guys hearing their best years are behind them, that's motivating him.''

Can he provide the needed upgrade for a pass rush ranked No. 28 in the NFL?

"He's been disruptive this preseason. I think he can be a double-digit-sack guy,'' Smith said. "Osi's come in and very quickly become a leader. Now it really depends on what the other guys around him do. How good they're going to be, that's what this preseason is all about."