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EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — An embarrassed Osi Umenyiora said he overreacted when he walked out of practice on Monday — and he’s paying for it.
The two-time Pro Bowl defensive end with the New York Giants acknowledged he had a minor tiff with his new defensive coordinator, but said his decision to skip practice was probably the worst thing he has done in his NFL career.
Umenyiora on Tuesday declined to disclose the nature of his disagreement with coordinator Bill Sheridan, saying only the issue that set him off was ‘minuscule’ and never should have escalated.
The Giants fined Umenyiora an undisclosed amount of money that the player said would feed a lot of people in undeveloped countries.
“Do I regret it? Absolutely,” Umenyiora said after practice on Tuesday. “It was a very, very bad moral decision on my part and an even worse financial decision on my part. So everything is cool now. I talked to who I needed to talk to and apologized to those I had to apologize to. It was so stupid and trivial for me to do that. Sometimes when you get emotional, things happen like that.”
Umenyiora and Sheridan, the linebacker coach who was elevated to defensive coordinator after Steve Spagnuolo was hired as coach of the St. Louis Rams, have known each other for five years.
“It’s not like he just got here,” Umenyiora said. “He has been here a while and I have known him forever. This is not the first time I’ve had a conversation with him, it’s just so happened that this was the first time I took it that way and it is going to be the last time.”
The Giants did not make Sheridan available for comment on Tuesday.
Coach Tom Coughlin felt the issue was resolved after Umenyiora talked with Sheridan and defensive line coach Mike Waufle.
“I’m very confident it won’t happen again,” Coughlin said.
Umenyiora, who missed all of last season with a knee injury, attended team meetings on Monday morning and obviously was upset with something Sheridan said.
When the team went out to practice, Umenyiora was gone and Coughlin did not know why.
General manager Jerry Reese eventually reached Umenyiora by text message to be sure he was all right.
By that time, Umenyiora said he had returned to the team headquarters where he waited out practice. He later met with the coaches.
“It is not in my character to behave that way,” said Umenyiora, who had six sacks against the Eagles in a game in 2007. “I have never behaved that way, and I don’t plan on behaving that way again.”
What surprised Umenyiora was the publicity the walkout generated.
“I promise you I never would have stepped out of this building if I would have known the repercussions,” he said. “The text messages and people thinking I was dead. I didn’t know it would turn into that, but it did. I know better. I think everybody is allowed one mistake, and this is my one big mistake. I am not going to repeat nothing like that every again.”
Leinart obvious No. 2
TEMPE, Ariz. — Coach Ken Whisenhunt won’t say so officially, but Matt Leinart’s strong preseason performance certainly seems to have erased any doubt that he’s Arizona’s No. 2 quarterback.
Whisenhunt says Leinart deserves a lot of credit because of all the criticism he has faced about his work ethic and off-the-field issues. The coach says Leinart has worked very hard to be a better quarterback and it’s shown up in the preseason.
Leinart has been sharp from the beginning of training camp, and it’s carried over to the preseason games. He says he feels comfortable and confident when he’s on the field.
Rookie Brandstater to start Broncos finale
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — With the Denver Broncos’ top two quarterbacks sidelined by injuries, rookie Tom Brandstater will start the team’s preseason finale Thursday night against Arizona.
Brandstater, a sixth-round pick out of Fresno State, played more than a half in Sunday’s 27-17 loss to Chicago, leading the Broncos to two touchdowns after coming on for the injured Kyle Orton.
Orton gashed and apparently dislocated his right index finger when he struck a defender’s helmet with his passing hand during a follow through.
The Broncos were already without backup Chris Simms, who suffered a left high ankle sprain during an exhibition game the week before at Seattle.
Brandstater saw his first action as a pro when he replaced Simms on short notice and looked overwhelmed, taking four sacks and completing one of his four throws for 1 yard against the Seahawks. But he appeared much more poised in his most recent outing, completing 8 of 12 passes for 110 yards, including a long of 54 yards to fellow rookie Kenny McKinley.
Bengals’ Smith breaks foot
CINCINNATI — Rookie right tackle Andre Smith broke his left foot during practice Tuesday, only two days after he ended his holdout with the Cincinnati Bengals.
The first-round pick sustained a small fracture in the foot during a non-contact drill in his third workout since signing his deal, another major setback to his chances of winning the starting job this season.