INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -For 84 plays, Miami carved up the Indianapolis defense. For 84 plays, the Colts did anything they could to stay fresh – taking oxygen, drinking water, even rotating players.
They couldn’t catch a break Monday night and they won’t get one this week, either.
After the Colts played that muggy marathon in South Florida, the schedule-makers are sending the weary players to Arizona, where heat and fatigue could again be big factors if the stadium roof is open Sunday night.
“You know I actually worked out there and it was like 118 or 110,” former league sacks champion Dwight Freeney said. “They say it’s a dry heat, but an oven is dry heat, too. You’re still in the desert, so you’ve got to drink a lot of water.”
ers – on the field are still being felt in Indy.
Safety Antoine Bethea and defensive end Robert Mathis, both former Pro Bowlers, acknowledged Wednesday they were still sore and tired. Other starters shook their heads as they tried to remember the last time they stayed on the field that long.
So coach Jim Caldwell changed the practice routine, making rest this week’s top priority.
The Colts (2-0) took Tuesday off and practiced without pads Wednesday. Strength and conditioning coaches provided players with specific instructions about what to eat and how to stay hydrated this week.
But it’s only part of the Colts’ bigger battle.
Clearly, Caldwell expects improvement after the Dolphins ran for more than 200 yards and converted 15 of 21 third downs.
“We weren’t pleased by any stretch of the imagination is the best I can say,” Caldwell said. “If we are where we’re supposed to be and we do what we’re supposed to do, I think you’d see a little different style of play.”
The Colts will be short-handed against the high-scoring Cardinals, the defending NFC champs.
go Sunday, veteran Freddy Keiaho will likely play in the middle and Philip Wheeler will likely replace Session on the outside.
Cornerback Kelvin Hayden, who signed a $43 million contract in February, didn’t practice Wednesday or Thursday after hurting his hamstring late in the Miami game, and Indy’s other cornerback, Marlin Jackson, has been limited primarily to nickel package duty as he recovers from two surgeries on his right knee since last October. Also out is Bob Sanders, the 2007 NFL defensive player of the year, who had offseason surgery on his right knee.
Worse yet, forecasters are calling for temperatures topping 100 degrees on Sunday.
The good news is that it’s a late afternoon kickoff, local time, and if the roof is closed, the heat won’t be as much of a factor. Indy hasn’t played in Arizona since 1990.
Yet Freeney thinks the Colts are doing all the right things.
“It’s hard to rest on a short week, but Coach does a good job of kind of changing the practice up a little bit,” he said. “You rest a little bit when you get home, maybe put your feet up, that kind of thing.”
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