A surprisingly troubled Giants preseason continued Monday when defensive end Osi Umenyiora left practice with what coach Tom Coughlin called an unexcused absence. A report on nj.com says Umenyiora left because of a disagreement with new defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan, and the same report now quotes Umenyiora's agent saying he is expected back for Tuesday's practice.On Monday night, Umenyiora took full responsibility for his disappearance.
"I made a mistake by leaving the facility today. I was wrong," Umenyiora said in a statement . "I came in here this afternoon and met with coach Coughlin, coach Sheridan, coach Waufle and apologized and explained why I left the building; that will remain between us. I have no problem with defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan or any of our coaches. That's the end of it, as far as I am concerned."
The original nj.com report cites a person familiar with Umenyiora's reason for leaving practice as saying Umenyiora was upset that Sheridan criticized him for a mistake he made in Saturday's exhibition loss to the Jets. The person said there was no confrontation between the two.
According to nj.com's Mike Garafolo:
"The person informed of Umenyiora's reason for leaving said the two-time Pro Bowl selection hasn't gotten off to a great start with Sheridan, the former linebackers coach who replaced Steve Spagnuolo after the former coordinator was hired as head coach of the Rams in January. The person said Umenyiora had not expressed his frustrations with Sheridan before Friday.
'He didn't speak to me before he left,' coach Tom Coughlin said.
Someone who spoke with Umenyiora this afternoon said he did eventually talk to Coughlin over the phone. The outcome and tone of that conversation was not immediately clear."
It's unlikely that they traded knock-knock jokes, though. Coughlin has been grumpy since the start of training camp about injuries that have hampered his ability to put his whole team on the field and really work out the benefits of all their defensive depth. A week ago, Coughlin ripped into his team in a conference call, saying it was time to stop reading and hearing about how good they were supposed to be, and start playing like it. Saturday night against the Jets, he watched his receivers drop balls and Jets rookie QB Mark Sanchez light up his first-team defense in the first half.
Now, one of his star defensive players walks out on practice.
Certainly, this could be an innocent flare-up, one that will be water under the bridge now that Umenyiora's talked it out with his coaches. But as deep as the Giants are on the offensive line, Umenyiora is an important piece of their defensive puzzle. His return from the injury that kept him out for the entire 2008 season is one of the reason the Giants are considered one of the preseason favorites to win the Super Bowl, and if he's going to get upset, stomp around and skip out on practices ... well, that's not good.
I think it's fair to assume that Osi will at least get some kind of fine. And jeez, if he was upset about being called out in a meeting, how's he going to take that?
