Osi Umenyiora has been convinced.
In July, he said he’d only refer to Redskins rookie quarterback Robert Griffin III as “Bob” until he proved himself in the league.
Now, he’s calling him “Sir.”
“His name is Sir Robert Griffin,” the Giants defensive end said, via Jenny Vrentas of the Newark Star-Ledger. “That is what I refer to him now. I mean, look at what he’s done. Look at the way he’s performed as a rookie. You don’t see players come into the league and perform like that at that stage in their career, so all the respect in the world goes to him, and he is a phenomenal football player.
When asked why he doesn’t refer to Tom Brady by the same honorifc, Umenyiora said he was merely righting a wrong.
“That’s different,” Umenyiora said. “I opened my mouth and said when he does anything in the league, we will call him his name. And he has definitely earned it, whatever he wants to be called, for sure.”
Umenyiora has been impressed by many things, but called RG3’s 76-yard touchdown run last week “ridiculous.”
Earlier this week, Giants teammate Jason Pierre-Paul urged Griffin “Don’t bring it to my side.”
Umenyiora has a similar wish, for different reasons.
“I hope he doesn’t come to my side,” Umenyiora said, laughing. “Hopefully, they will be able to go somewhere else. I don’t want no parts of that. He is just a phenomenal football player, and they are a good team, and we’ve got our work cut out for us.”
While the respect is real, and earned, the Giants have proven that among the things they’re best at is the royal snow job, and you get the sense Umenyiora wants to make sure he does his part to keep RG3 from earning any more titles.