Career of Indianapolis Colts DE Dwight Freeney has moved well past statistics and numbers

Indianapolis Colts DE Dwight Freeney
Darron Cummings/AP Photo

One thing you seldom see on this Examiner page is links to stories such as the one here about Indianapolis Colts DE Dwight Freeney.

Not that stories such as Freeney participating in the NFL's Take a Player to School Day Tuesday don't merit mention. It's just this page typically focuses on football -- the wheres, whys and whats of what happens on the field -- with off-field stories left to other pages and other sites.

This story is an exception not necessarily because of specifics, although the reaction of Indianapolis Public School No. 63 fourth-grader Jareal Smith upon spending a good part of Tuesday with a four-time Pro Bowl defensive end does warm the heart. Here's why it's an exception:

Because this story says much about a player who in recent years not only has become one of the Colts' best players -- and one of the elite defensive players of his era -- but who also has turned into one of the NFL's most-likeable players not only on the field, but off of it.

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Freeney since joining the Colts in 2002 has been an elite pass rusher. He has made four Pro Bowls, led the NFL in sacks in 2004, and is the Colts' all-time sacks leader. He not only leads the Colts in sacks this season with seven, and not only has a sack in seven consecutive games dating to last season, he also is one of the best of his or any era at producing momentum-changing, turnover-forcing plays. He has 77.5 career sacks and 36 forced fumbles, and with 15 quarterback pressures this season, he statistically has disrupted opposing quarterbacks nearly four times per game.

"He is doing a tremendous job," Colts Head Coach Jim Caldwell said. "He is really becoming a dominant force. You know when he’s on the field and if the quarterback has to hold the ball anytime at all, he is going to be somewhere close. He’s playing at a very high level. He brings such a great combination of speed power and strength. He is very tough to handle.”

But Freeney's story in recent seasons has moved past numbers.

Numbers don't measure toughness, or desire. Blessed as he is with quickness, leverage and speed, those attributes are rarely mentioned with Freeney. But in early October, Freeney sustained a quadriceps injury, after which it was widely reported that he would miss anywhere from 2-to-4 weeks to the entire season. He didn't practice that week, but he played against Seattle. He also registered a sack. Colts QB Peyton Manning afterward called the performance "inspiring."

Numbers don't measure the off-field stuff, either. And while the participation in the Take a Player to School Day prompted that thought and this post, there's more. This past summer, Freeney worked with ESPN on this "Unmasked" segment a few months after appearing on Dr. Phil in a segment about women who pursue wealthy men. These things don't make him a saint, of course, but for the past several months I keep thinking of Freeney, "Here's a guy who knows the NFL's not going to last forever, and who's making a point to enjoy it."

Maybe that shouldn't make him unusual, but in a sense, it does. You see plenty of NFL players who seem to not appreciate their position until it's over. Freeney absolutely is savoring the moment, and it seems particularly true the last two seasons -- since he returned from a 2007 foot injury that some originally speculated might end his career.

In November of 2007, Freeney limped from a soggy field in San Diego with a LisFranc injury in his foot. Many speculated he might never return, and if he did, he'd never be the same. He made the Pro Bowl last season, since the season finale last season, he hasn't gone a game without a sack.

Freeney, with a few exceptions, always has been fairly media-friendly. In a bigger market, he'd be a bigger name, and on a team without a superstar quarterback for the ages, perhaps he would receive more recognition. He is, by nature, a likeable, friendly guy who always particularly has enjoyed discussing the nuances of his craft, of pass rushing. Now, though, when he speaks of Sundays, it's rare that he doesn't speak of them not as necessary events at the end of a fall week, but as opportunities, things to be taken advantage of and appreciated. That was his theme after he returned to play against Seattle -- that there are only so many opportunities a player gets to play in the NFL. Since his injury in 2007, he said, he has realized that even more.

As one of three unbeaten NFL teams and a Super Bowl favorite, the Colts will get a lot of attention in the coming weeks. Much of that attention will deservedly go to Manning, an all-time great who is playing at perhaps the highest level of a Hall of Fame career. But those watching the Colts might take time to appreciate a player on the other side of the ball who fits the same description, and who in recent seasons has moved well past statistics and numbers.

*** A REVIEW OF COLTS PRESIDENT BILL POLIAN'S WEEKLY RADIO SHOW: TE DALLAS CLARK SHOULD GO TO THE PRO BOWL HERE. AND AN UPDATE ON WR REGGIE WAYNE. HERE.

*** COFFEE WITH THE COLTS. A NEXT-DAY REVIEW OF RAMS-COLTS. HERE.

*** COLTS 42, RAMS 6. INDY FOOTBALL REPORT EDITOR JOHN OEHSER'S GAME STORY. HERE

*** THE TOP FIVE SEASONS OF COLTS QB PEYTON MANNING. HERE

MAGNIFICENT SEVENS: WEEKLY COLTS THOUGHTS . . .

Magnificent Seven I: Seven training camp thoughts and observations

Magnificent Seven II: On the Colts' defensive tackle position and WR Reggie Wayne

Magnificent Seven III: On the Colts' running backs and offensive line

Magnificent Seven IV: On the Colts' offense, OG Ryan Lilja and WR Anthony Gonzalez

Magnificent Seven V: On S Melvin Bullitt and QB Peyton Manning

Magnificent Seven VI: On RB Donald Brown and the start of the season . . . at last

Magnificent Seven VII: On WR Reggie Wayne, the OL and blitzing

Magnificent Seven VIII: On WR Reggie Wayne, QB Peyton Manning and DE Dwight Freeney