Osi praises Brees despite teammate Rolle's lecture

The other day Antrel Rolle went on a mini-rant scolding his New York Giants teammates for gushing over opponent Robert Griffin III before the team played the Washington Redskins.

Yesterday, despite Rolle's call for his team to get "back to being nasty," Osi Umenyiora was downright complimentary towards Drew Brees — the quarterback the Giants will face this Sunday.

Drew Brees "is one of the best quarterbacks in the league," the Giants defensive end wasn't afraid to say out loud — whether or not Rolle liked it or not.

It may not exactly be the pregame "hugs and kisses" that Rolle believed was showered on RG3, but it didn't sound like the "nasty attitude" he was hoping for either.

Rolle jumped all over his teammates after the Giants critical 17-16 loss to the Redskins and was under the impression that the Giants had lost their edge by being nice to Griffin III before the NFC East showdown.

Umenyiora, on the other hand, doesn't any correlation between praising a player before the game and what takes place on the field.

"There's definitely no carryover for that," said Unenyiora.  "I think a lot of times you like to build somebody up only to tear them down.  You don't want to give anyone bulletin board material.  You don't want to say, 'Oh, these guys suck' and he comes out and throws for 13 touchdowns on you.  So if anything you want to err on the side of caution and say how good he is and then go out there and knock his head off."

Asked what he thought about Rolle giving notice that the Giants "need to start giving more credit after the game as opposed to before the game," Umenyiora was diplomatic.

"That's Antel's opinion," said Umenyiora.  "But at the end of the day, if a guy's a good player I'm going to call him a good player, period."

Rolle might have only been trying to compel his team to introduce rookies like RG3 to the rough and tumble NFC East, and not be the division's version of the Welcome Wagon.

Brees is another case.  The New Orleans Saints quarterback in an NFL veteran with a Super Bowl ring.  He has earned the respect of defenses around the league.

"We're playing Drew Brees," said Umenyiora.  He's one of the best quarterbacks in the league.  I'm going to say he's one of the best quarterbacks in the league.

"If anybody has a problem with that, I guess they can take it up with me in private."