MIAMI — Next time, Dwight Freeney says, he might have to take the 15 yards.
Hitting Mark Sanchez instead of leaping to avoid the Jets’ quarterback might have cost Freeney and the Colts a 15-yard roughing-the-passer penalty. It probably would have given Sanchez a headache, too, but Freeney might have avoided his right ankle injury that’s the most talked-about body part this week leading up to Super Bowl XLIV.
Freeney said Tuesday that the third-degree sprain of that ankle, which means a torn ligament, remains a day-to-day proposition. He doesn’t know if he’ll be able to play in Sunday’s game against the New Orleans Saints, or if he will do something he’s never done before — take a painkilling shot — to help him participate.
One thing he knows is that the cause of the injury, which occurred in the fourth quarter of the AFC title win over the Jets, is something he’d kick himself over if it didn’t threaten to worsen the injury. He had beaten tackle D’Brickashaw Ferguson with an outside rush and was about to hit Sanchez, when the quarterback released an incompletion toward running back Thomas Jones.
Freeney leaped to avoid making contact and rolled the ankle as he landed on the turf at Lucas Oil Stadium. So the man who had 131/2 sacks in 2009 to give him 84 for his eight-year career may not be around to harass Drew Brees on Sunday.
“It’s dispiriting; it’s not like it happened in the first quarter or second quarter, something like that,” he said. “It happened with about two minutes left in the game, trying to avoid the quarterback. The game’s over, and all of a sudden it gets rolled.
“It’s funny how it happens with all the rules of avoiding the quarterback: Don’t do this, don’t do that. I remember I was about to hit him and then I was like, ‘Hold up on him, I don’t know what’s going to happen, it’s a gray area.’ And because I avoided him, I ended messing myself up. Maybe next time I won’t.”
He says the chance of injury from holding up on a pass rush to not draw a flag happens a lot. “Fifteen yards if you accidentally slap his helmet; it’s kind of ridiculous, but it happens,” he said.
“Seeing how much you protect the quarterback now, it’s like icing on the cake for the offense if you get hurt trying to avoid the quarterback,” said Robert Mathis, Freeney’s bookend pass-rush partner. “It sucks, but you have to take it for what it’s worth. The league wants the quarterbacks in the game, so you have to abide by the rules.”
Freeney’s injury has initiated an all-out blitz of treatment that has included time in a hyperbaric chamber as well as laser, ice and stimulation sessions. “You name it, I’ve probably done it,” Freeney said. “I wake up every single morning and think I’m healed, and I take that first step and know I need more work.”
He promises he and the Colts’ staff will continue to exhaust every area in trying to get him on the field at Sun Life Stadium. “I haven’t really talked about that; it really hasn’t been part of the discussion,” he said of taking a painkilling shot. “I guess me and the docs are going to have to on Saturday, if it’s ever safe to do such a thing. I’ve never taken a shot for an injury like that, no.
“Come Saturday if they say, ‘We can do this, but it could really be risking your career,’ I’m not going to do that. Hopefully I won’t get to that type of decision.”
One thing Freeney has going for him is his reputation as a quick healer. He has returned from injuries faster than anticipated in the past, something head coach Jim Caldwell hopes will hold true on this occasion. Caldwell admits, however, that without Freeney on the practice field, he really can’t plan on having him Sunday. He is planning a rotation that would include No. 1 reserve Raheem Brock.
“Then if we happen to get an opportunity to get him in there, obviously we will do so,” Caldwell said.
Freeney says he can’t envision himself sitting on the sideline watching his teammates play for their second Super Bowl crown in four seasons. “But if I can’t run, then I can’t play,” he said. “If I know I can run, who knows? I might be able to wear a brace so I could be able to cut more effectively.
“It’s kind of early to call it right now. Obviously the competitor in me says nothing’s going to stop me from going on the field. That being said, you don’t know how the ankle will be come game time.”
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