Working on small details in their last practices, the Indianapolis Colts and New Orleans Saints entered Super Bowl weekend trying to keep a normal routine ahead of the biggest game of their lives.
“Guys are going to be anxious. They haven’t been able to play in a couple weeks,” Colts coach Jim Caldwell said. “We’ve done what we would normally do. Our guys have been extremely attentive. They have focused on the little things.”
“We had a great week of work. My goal is to have that same enthusiasm and fun for Sunday’s [today’s] game and I don’t think that will take much prodding,” he said.
Caldwell and Super Bowl 44 rival coach Sean Payton of the Saints made their final public comments on Friday ahead of tonight’s National Football League championship spectacle at Sun Life Stadium.
The Colts are seeking their second Super Bowl title in four seasons while the Saints, in the first Super Bowl of their 43-year history, want a title to lift spirits in a city still rebuilding from Hurricane Katrina’s 2005 devastation.
“When we meet and talk, there’s not this ‘We’ve got to win one for the city’ speech,” Payton said. “That feeling permeates throughout the team. Fans remind us how important it is. Giving them something to be proud of is important.”
Payton also swears by following the routines of the regular season, the same basic weekly plan that helped the Saints begin the season 13-0 just as the Colts opened 14-0.
“You try to stay on routine. That’s what is important. Work has gone well. The distractions they have managed well,” Payton said. “People will be nervous and wound up but we will manage that fine.”
“Games like this come down to execution, the details — all the little things that really allow you to win games and potentially could cause you to lose games. I think they understand that,” he said.
The only real mystery of Super Bowl week remains the health status of Colts star defensive end Dwight Freeney, trying to recover from a torn right ankle ligament suffered two weeks ago. No answer is likely before today.
“He is trending in the right direction,” Caldwell said. “He’s getting better. We will see how he is at the end of the day.”
Freeney, who made 13.5 quarterback sacks this season, hopes to take a chance on playing, but the Saints also figure to attack him if he does. Should Freeney become a liability, reserve Raheem Brock will step into a starting role.
“The swelling is down. It’s starting to feel a little better and look more like an ankle,” Freeney said.
Caldwell is trying to become only the third rookie coach to win a Super Bowl title, although he was on the staff of Tony Dungy when the Colts beat Chicago in the 2007 Super Bowl.
While Saints star quarterback Drew Brees guides the NFL’s most prolific scoring attack, it is resourceful Colts counterpart Peyton Manning who could cement a rare place in history as a multiple Super Bowl winner.
“He has clearly established himself as one of the best to ever play the game,” Caldwell said. “He has already done a tremendous job and I don’t think anything will diminish what he has established in his career.”
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