Proud Moment Before The Super Bowl

Dungy, Smith Meet For Final Time Before Super Bowl XLI. The cameras flashed, and Tony Dungy beamed.

Next to the Colts' head coach Friday morning was the Vince Lombardi Trophy, and on the other side of the trophy was his close friend, Lovie Smith.

Outside the Miami Beach Convention Center, the morning sun shone.

Inside, the national media gathered around the coaches from the two teams participating in the NFL's biggest game.

Super Bowl XLI was two days away.

All in all, Dungy said, this was pretty close to perfect.

"That was a very proud moment, an awesome moment," Dungy said Friday during his final press conference before the AFC South Champion Colts (15-4) play the NFC Champion Chicago Bears (15-3) in Super Bowl XLI at Dolphin Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla., Sunday at 6:25 p.m.

The pride, Dungy said, came from several sources.

One was the pride he felt from he and Smith being the first two African-American head coaches to coach in the Super Bowl.

Two was that which he felt in that the other coach in the picture was Smith, a close friend Dungy hired as a linebackers coach with Tampa Bay in 1996.

Three was that which he felt in the way he and Smith approach their profession, a calmer, less-volatile approach than was once seen in the NFL.

"Not only because of what that symbolized for African-American people, for African-American coaches, for the country in general," Dungy said, "but more than that, because of who I was standing with and the type of person I know Lovie is and the way he runs his team.

"It's just a very, very proud moment for me."

Sunday's Super Bowl will be the first for the Colts since they moved to Indianapolis from Baltimore in 1984.

"I think it's been a great week for our team, for our city," Dungy said. "I think it's been great for the NFL. Everything I've heard come out of this week has been positive. I think both teams have shown you the type of young men they have on their team, the type of players, the type of organizations they are.

"And I think it's been tremendous."

Friday's press availability at the Convention Center marked the final time Dungy and Smith were to be available before Sunday's Super Bowl, and their picture together was a fitting end to a week made notable by the mutual respect and admiration of the coaches, and by extension, the organizations.

Smith and the Bears, Dungy said, approach football much the same way as the Colts - striving for consistency in difficult times, and doing so with class on and off the field.

The coaches have spoken often this week of their admiration for the other, and with the game less than 72 hours away, they spoke briefly before Smith's press conference at 8:30 a.m. Friday.

"We talked about how things were going briefly," Smith said. "And again, Tony and I will be friends long after Super Bowl Sunday, and we're going to share a lot of good things together later on."

While the two are close, and while neither particularly wants to see the other lose under normal circumstances, both said winning Sunday is obviously the primary goal.

"Well, whenever you get into sports in general, whether you're playing, whether you're coaching, there's going to be a winner and a loser," Smith said. "I think in time, you have an opportunity to win, but any given Sunday, there's one winner, and that just goes with the territory. We realize that. As much as anything what I like to see going into each game is that both teams play their best ball and whoever the winner is after that, I like to see a situation where both teams have their best players available, the Colts and, of course, we have the same thing.

"So I can live with the results from there."

Dungy earlier this week compared playing against the Bears and Smith to playing a brother or a son in one-on-one basketball. He recalled hearing a story about Michael Jordan

playing his son, wanting to let them win, then not being able to let himself lose.

Dungy, like Smith, said the fact that a close friend is on the other sideline won't influence his desire to win.

"It's really no different than any other ballgame," Dungy said. "You know there's going to be one winner, we're looking forward to that being us and you have to be able to accept it if it's not. But if we don't win the ballgame, I will be extremely disappointed. I'll be happy for Lovie

Smith. Probably happier for him than I would be for most anybody else that I play against, but it really doesn't change.

"We're focused in and dialed in and our responsibility is to our organization, to the State of Indiana, and our team, and that's our focus and no different than any other game."

In other Colts news, Dungy said he expects cornerback Nick Harper to be a game-time decision Sunday.

Harper sustained an ankle injury in the AFC Championship Game against the New England Patriots. He is listed as questionable on the injury report, and is the only active Colts player whose status for Sunday is considered uncertain.

"Everybody else is in pretty good shape," Dungy said. "Everyone practiced yesterday, took their normal turns. We haven't had any problems with anyone else. Nick Harper has been rehabbing on a treadmill, that type of thing, hasn't done any practicing yet. Our doctors feel pretty confident that he's going to be able to go.

"What they aren't sure of is how long he'll be able to go at top speed. That's a decision we're going to have to make on Sunday after Nick warms up. I think he'll be very honest with me. He wants to play, but he knows we've got guys that will do the job if he's not able to go. I think that will be a game-time decision. But everyone else is fine and ready to go."

The Colts' injury report reads as follows:

Harper (ankle, questionable), linebacker Keith O'Neil (rib, questionable), safety Bob Sanders (knee, questionable), cornerback Jason David (abdomen, probable), defensive end Robert Mathis (back, probable).

Mathis, the 2006 Colts' sack leader, left practice with back spasms.

"He'll be fine,'' Dungy said after the Colts' third practice at the Miami Dolphins practice facility, a one-hour, 34-minute workout conducted in 86-degree heat. "He left [practice] as a precaution.''

Two other Colts did not practice Friday according to the Pro Football Writers' Association pool report, but neither is expected to miss Super Bowl XLI. Dungy said he planned to give safety Bob Sanders and guard Ryan Lilja the day off to rest.

Also in practice, quarterback Peyton Manning broke in footballs for the coming game, and he and the Colts' ballboys and equipment staff were busy because of the special football rules for the Super Bowl.

Instead of having 12 footballs available for each offensive team, as is the case during the regular season, the NFL mandates that 54 balls be ready to be put in play during the Super Bowl. It's thought that only a dozen or so will be used, but the Colts have to work the balls in anyway, so Manning and the Colts' staff worked before and after practice to break the balls in.

Dungy will bring the Colts back to the Dolphins facility 27 miles north of Miami for one more short walkthrough practice Saturday at noon. He chose not to have the team work at Dolphin Stadium because "we never work out at the stadium on Saturday, and there was no reason to change our routine.''

Dungy invited friend and two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves to practice Friday and had him talk to the team for five minutes afterward. Castroneves' message, Dungy said, was to "believe in your crew. That's a good message for us. Since he's won the big one, I thought he would be a good person to talk to our team, since we're trying to win the big one. He talked to the team about sticking together and getting it done.'' - By Colts.com