"Somehow, the Indianapolis Colts knew Dwight Freeney would play. A man doesn't spend 17 hours a day rehabbing a swollen right ankle for nothing. Freeney didn't even take a cortisone shot Sunday before he took the field against the New Orleans Saints. Didn't talk to his teammates about the pain. And when he spun around in his trademark whirling-dervish move, it appeared as if everything would go right for the Colts.

Three hours and Saints three touchdowns later, Freeney braced himself against the shoulder of a PR guy in a suit and limped off into the night. He defied sports medicine and all the early reports that said there was little chance he'd play in Super Bowl XLIV with an ankle that at times last week looked as if it had a donut wrapped around it. Freeney played all four quarters Sunday with a low ankle sprain, but clearly wasn't himself as the clock wound down in a 31-17 loss to New Orleans. "