Everywhere Man

In Umenyiora, New York found a bookend, and soul mate, for Michael Strahan. Like Umenyiora, Strahan was raised overseas, in Germany. And like Umenyiora, Strahan played college football in relative obscurity, at Texas Southern. As a rookie Umenyiora was asked to perform a skit impersonating a veteran teammate. He chose to mimic a Strahan sack. The reviews were glowing—except from Strahan.

"I don't think he liked it," Umenyiora said. "I actually thought he was really mean at first. But the more we talked, the more we realized we are almost the same person."

With Strahan rushing from the left and Umenyiora from the right, opponents have not known whom to double-team. In Week 4 the Eagles assigned primary responsibility for Umenyiora to 6' 6" left tackle Winston Justice, who was making his second start, in place of injured veteran William Thomas. Watching on television, Thomas was concerned. "When you're going up against Osi, he lines up really wide, about three or four feet away from you," Thomas says. "He gets down low in that sprinter's stance and takes a running start. If you don't get off the ball fast—really fast—he's already around you."

That night Umenyiora was the second coming of Lawrence Taylor. He raced around Justice for one sack, then another, and another. Philadelphia tried chipping him with a running back. They slid their protection toward him. But he kept finding quarterback Donovan McNabb. The 6' 3", 261-pound Umenyiora got so tired from sacking McNabb that he needed an IV before halftime.

On the way to the locker room for the treatment, he saw Taylor standing on the sideline. The two had never met. Umenyiora nodded. Taylor nodded back. "It was an amazing moment," Umenyiora says. "It was like I had his spirit inside of me." He finished the night with six sacks, one short of the NFL record.

That game inspired hope in New York and fear in the Patriots, a fear that was realized with the Giants' historic upset in Super Bowl XLII. And now Umenyiora has one more game to play. He is going to the Pro Bowl, and his parents are coming along. His mother saw him play for the first time in October, when the Giants faced the Dolphins in London. His father will be watching too—assuming, of course, it's not too cold in Hawaii.

After that Umenyiora plans to return to Lagos and to Ogbunike. He will be greeted as a prince and a chief, but he is not comfortable with those titles. He prefers to be known simply as a Brit, an African and a Southerner, the havoc wreaker who comes at you from everywhere.