Comments
Email
Print
Rate:
3/4 (11 Votes)
Presented by
Super Bowl Sunday dawns
Type: Latest News
07 February 2010 7:44 AM - Henry Hodgson
Super Bowl Sunday has dawned in Miami and the New Orleans Saints and Indianapolis Colts have completed their preparations for the biggest game of their lives.
Saturday was the final day of practice for both teams, and both the Saints and Colts ended a good week of work with a walk-through at Sun Life Stadium followed by a chance for families of the players to taste the Super Bowl fever.
"I'm excited, just excited," coach Sean Payton said afterward. "You get to this point and your concerns are 
always the scheduling and the logistics and the travel, and all of that was pretty smooth. So it's good. At this point, everyone's ready. It's been two weeks already, so we're ready to go."
As is customary on Saturdays during the season, Payton invited all sons of players to attend the walk-through. About two dozen did - more than usual - and while the players practiced, the boys posed for a group photo and played touch football on the sideline. After almost everyone had left the field, Payton's 9-year-old son Connor attempted five field goals with a black-and-gold football and with his father acting as his holder. Connor hit the cross bar once and the upright another time before making his last attempt from the nine-yard line.
"There's a lot of challenges with coaching, in regards to family time," Payton said. "Every once in a while, you get one of these opportunities, and it helps make up for it."
For Indianapolis the focus was once again on who was not practicing. Defensive end Dwight Freeney sat out once again, making his absence a clean sweep for the week as he spent Saturday's entire session on a golf cart. Cornerback Jerraud Powers once again did light work, and wideout Reggie Wayne returned to his duties with the first team offense, showing no effects of a minor fat pad injury to his right knee on Thursday.
The light 35-minute walkthrough was held in gentle breezes and the mid 70's, and the Colts moved swiftly through their final tune-up. Freeney spent the session circling different personnel groupings in a cart, wearing his standard practice dress, including cleats. After practice, he exited his cart and walked gingerly into the locker room, however his right ankle was not wrapped and he didn't receive treatment of any form during the short session. Colts coach Jim Caldwell said that Freeney had improved since Thursday, but wouldn't comment on his availability for Sunday's game.
"He's better than yesterday," Caldwell said. "He and Powers both are better than yesterday. It's still day to day."
With the slate of practices wrapped, Caldwell said he was pleased with the week and that all of the work "went according to plan." Caldwell also said the team's overall health had improved during the course of the week, and was pleased with the slightly varying conditions, which included some gusting wind and rain at various times.
"The weather has been great," Caldwell said. "Obviously yesterday we got a little taste of rain, which was good, just in case we have some. A shower could pop up at any time. The wind has been fairly consistent. We got a chance to throw with the wind, against the wind. That's all been good."
"We've done extremely well and been attentive. The [players] have been very, very focused and our practices have been sharp as well. Overall we've been moving in the right direction."
Share WithIn Demand
Loading...
Latest comments
Post a Comment | View All Comments
Post a Comment | View All Comments