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Indianapolis Colts DE Dwight Freeney (Darron Cummings/AP Photo)
MIAMI – As of Monday evening, the news on Indianapolis Colts DE Dwight Freeney was that in a very real sense, there was no news.
Not as far as Colts President Bill Polian saw it, anyway.
Freeney, the Colts' five-time Pro Bowl defensive end, has become the biggest early story of Super Bowl week, with media reports speculating that he may not play in Super Bowl XLIV against the New Orleans Saints on Sunday because of an ankle injury sustained in the AFC Championship Game against the New York Jets on July 24.
The Colts listed Freeney as questionable last week with an ankle injury, and Polian said Monday there was no change from that status.
“There isn't 'a latest,''' Polian said on his weekly radio show Monday on 97.1 Hank FM in Indianapolis. “As late as (Monday) afternoon on the plane just before we arrived I spoke with our doctors and our trainers and they reiterated to (Colts Head) Coach (Jim) Caldwell and myself what they have told us all week: he has a low ankle sprain, not a high-ankle sprain, which is far more severe.
“It's a basketball-type sprain, which means you sort of roll it to the outside. The prognosis with a 'normal' person would be 2-to-3 weeks. Dwight is a notoriously fast healer because he works so hard to get himself ready. As a result, they say he's 50-50 – which is questionable. That's the way we've listed him since last Monday or Tuesday – whenever we were required to file a report.
“That's the way I presume we'll continue to list him.”
Various media outlets have reported that Freeney has a torn ligament and that he is doubtful to play or be productive Sunday.
“I can't speak to anything but what the doctors who have read the MRI and the trainers who have actually had their hands on Dwight have to say,” Polian said. “Their record of correctness in prognosticating how players will do is phenomenal. That's one of the reasons we've been able to manage the roster as well as we have over the course of this and other seasons. There's no reason for me to believe that what they're telling us is not right on the money.
“We'll see. He's 50-50. We'll know on Sunday.”
Polian on Monday also discussed:
* On the top two seeds from each conference making the Super Bowl: “Sometimes, the seeds can be a little bit skewed because of schedule or perhaps early-season injuries and things of that nature. A team can get healed up and come down the stretch well such as we did the year we won the Super Bowl and (safety) Bob (Sanders) got healthy at the end. We made some changes in the defensive lineup and got that improved a bit. Sometimes, the seeds can be misleading. I think in this particular case, they were not misleading. These two teams got here because their records indicated they were the two best teams in the conference. Both teams played that way during the playoffs. “
* On the status of WR Anthony Gonzalez: "He will be in good shape for next year. He's rehabilitating. His offseason home is down here, so he has been down here virtually the the whole month of December and January rehabbing. He's working hard at it. I'm sure come the OTAs in the spring, in the summer school, he'll be ready to go.”
* On improving next season with the return of injured players: “We should be if anything maybe improved next year. Now, that doesn't guarantee anything. Every year is a new season and every team has its own journey and writes its own story. But we should have the vast majority of those injured guys back and that will help greatly. And, of course, the fellows who have played in their stead will also be in good shape. Anticipating what might be a question from some people, Bob would not be ready to play now. He has been away too long and there would be too much of a conditioning issue to put him out there now. He may be healed from the surgery well enough where you might take a chance, but the conditioning level is too low. You can't be away from football virtually for a year and then come back. That's very difficult. That was the reason we put him on injured reserve. It was just about this time when he would have healed up, but no one anticipates you'll go this far, No. 1, and No. 2, his having been out all of that time, timing and issues like that would have come into play. You don't want to put a player out there who is not 100 percent and ready to go. That's why we have training camp. Even if he healed this week, he would still probably need two or three more weeks to get conditioned and ready to play football. That's the reason we put him on injured reserve – (linebacker) Tyjuan (Hagler) is in the same exact boat. (Cornerback) Marlin (Jackson) will be a long time yet before he's ready to go back on the field yet – probably next summer. Anthony is going to require a little more time. I don't think we were premature in making those injured reserve moves.”
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