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February 3, 2007

Tom James The Tribune Star Sat Feb 03, 2007, 01:02 AM EST

Fort Lauderdale, Fla. — Back spasms limit Mathis in workouts

Back spasms limited the work schedule for defensive end Robert Mathis on Friday as the Indianapolis Colts wrapped up their final full practice prior to Sunday night’s Super Bowl XLI meeting with the Chicago Bears.

Mathis, who led the Colts with 9.5 sacks during the regular season, is still expected to be in Indianapolis’ starting defensive lineup against the Bears.

“He’ll be fine. He left [practice] as a precaution,” Indianapolis coach Tony Dungy said after putting the team through an hour-and-a-half workout at the Miami Dolphins’ training facility in Davie, Fla. In addition to Mathis, cornerbacks Jason David and Nick Harper, safety Bob Sanders and offensive guard Ryan Lilja also missed practice time.

David continues to be bothered by an abdomen injury that has been problematic since the middle of the regular season while Harper is expected to be a game-time decision. He has been nursing a sprained right ankle for the past two weeks and has not practiced since he was injured in the first quarter of the AFC championship game with New England.

“We decided it didn’t make any sense for [Harper] to go out and try to practice,” Dungy said. “We’ll wait to see how Nick feels on Sunday at the stadium.”

Sanders and Lilja were given a day to rest old knee injuries and both are slated to start. The Colts will have a short walkthrough session today at noon. It will be the team’s final pre-Super Bowl workout.

Strong winds play havoc with kicking game — A blustery day forced placekicker Adam Vinatieri and punter Hunter Smith indoors for most of Friday’s workout.

With winds gusting up to 25 miles an hour, Vinatieri and Smith opted to move indoors and did their work in the Dolphins’ practice bubble.

Manning breaks in balls for Sunday’s game

Quarterback Peyton Manning and several members of the Colts’ equipment spent some time during ad after Friday’s practice getting the game balls ready for Sunday.

Instead of having the usual 12 footballs to work on, the league mandates that 54 footballs must be prepared for the Super Bowl.

Castroneves talks to Colts — Dungy invited two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves out for Friday’s practice. Castroneves, who lives in Miami, has become friends with the Indianapolis coach in recent years.

“We like having people come out and talk to the team who have been successful in other sports,” Dungy said. “We’ve done it a few times before in the past. I’ve known Helio for a couple of years. He’s invited me to come out and watch him during qualifications and spent some time with his pit crew [during practices for the 500].”

Conversely, Castroneves’ message to the Colts was to believe in your crew.

“That’s a good message for us,” Dungy said. “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.”

Cameron pulling for home-state team

Former Indiana University football coach Cam Cameron, who was named as the Miami Dolphins’ new coach two weeks ago, shied away from predicting a winner in Sunday’s Super Bowl.

But Cameron, who grew up in Terre Haute and played football and basketball at IU, admitted that he is leaning toward one team in particular.

“Hey, I am from Indiana. So I’ll let you guess which way I might go,” he said Friday. “[Indianapolis is] a class organization. All the way from [team owner] Jim Irsay and [team president] Bill [Polian] down to Tony and his assistant coaches.

“To be able to come back from what they did last year, losing a heartbreaker in the first playoff game and then being able to come back this year with a team that may not be as talented as what they had before and getting to the Super Bowl this year, that says a lot about their character and it says a lot about the kind of players that they have.”

Polian talks with Cameron, Mueller

Cameron was surprised earlier this week when Polian made a surprise appearance at the Dolphins’ coaching offices.

“To have a chance to sit down and pick his brain for a little bit was great,” the Miami coach said. “We sat and talked, along with [Dolphins’ general manager] Randy [Mueller] for quite a while. We talked about how the Colts built their team, the reasoning behind some of their roster moves. It was just a chance to sit down with Bill and talk about football and what it takes to put together a championship football team.”

Super Bowl seems to follow Cam’s job path

When Cameron became an assistant with the Chargers five years ago, San Diego was hosting the Super Bowl. Now in his first couple of weeks with the Dolphins and Miami is the game’s location.

“When I first got to San Diego, I was able to look out the window of my office and watch the Oakland Raiders practice. Now I can look outside and watch the Colts,” he said.

Cameron, Manning have friendship from college

When Cameron was an assistant coach at Michigan, he was sent out to recruit a tall, gangly high school quarterback from New Orleans by the name of Peyton Manning. While Manning opted not to play for the Wolverines, a friendship between the two began.

“I know what kind of person Peyton is and how hard he works at what he does. He hasn’t changed a lot from when I first saw him. He’s as competitive as he’s always been,” the Dolphins’ coach said.

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