Colts DE Freeney missed practice along with CB Powers

As we had expected, the ankle injury did not allow the Indianapolis Colts defensive end Dwight Freeney to practice while the team had their first practice in South Florida. Among the 19 players the Colts listed on the injury report, Freeney and injured cornerback Jerraud Powers were the only two who sat out Wednesday’s practice.

Freeney, the All-Pro defensive end, has a torn ligament in his right ankle and is listed as questionable for Sunday’s game against the New Orleans Saints. And Powers had a left foot injury. While Freeney was not seen on the field, Powers was on the sideline in his No. 25 Colts jersey watching four-time league MVP Peyton Manning complete all nine passes and throw for a touchdown against the scout team’s nickel defense.

“We’ve played 22 games this year,” Coach Jim Caldwell said. “I want them to be nice and hungry come Sunday. If they need pads this time of year …”

Being asked whether Freeney and Powers are to play this Sunday, Caldwell said he was unsure. He did not expect Freeney to play the game but remained optimistic about Powers’ playing status.

Favre will play his 11th Pro Bowl game

This year as one of the representatives for the Minnesota Vikings, Brett Favre will play for the eleventh time in Pro Bowl game as the backup quarterback of the NFC team along with Green Bay Packers Aaron Rodgers, with New Orleans Saints’ No. 1 quarterback Drew Brees to be the starting quarterback.

Actually Favre was just one of the eight Vikings who will play for the NFC team. Running back Adrian Peterson, the league’s top scorer among non-kickers, will be in the NFC backfield, and wide receiver Sidney Rice will also play the All-Star game along with defensive end Jared Allen, guard Steve Hutchinson, defensive tackle Kevin Williams, special teamer Heath Farwell and tackle Bryant McKinnie.

The Dallas Cowboys and the Philadelphia Eagles will meet for the NFC east title this Sunday and each team has six players on the NFC roster. The Saints have five. Carolina Panthers Julius Peppers will earn $1.5 million as he will play his fifth Pro Bowl. With 10 1/2 sacks, he was voted to be an NFC starter.

As for the AFC, six players in Indianapolis Colts jerseys will be in the team, with Peyton Manning to be the starting quarterback in his 10th all-star game. He will be backed up by the New England Patriots Tom Brady and San Diego Chargers Philip Rivers.

Six injured Colts starters missed practice

The Indianapolis Colts practiced Wednesday without six starters, who were nursing different injuries. Pro Bowl defensive ends Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis were among the six injured starters, remaining uncertain for this Sunday’s game against the New York Jets.

Freeney is having abdomen problem and Mathis injured quad, but both played last week’s game against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

The practice report has more significance this week because Coach Jim Caldwell said he will decide who to play based, in large part, on who is healthy.

Other starters who sat out were: receiver Pierre Garcon with hand injury, left tackle Charlie Johnson with foot injury, cornerback Jerraud Powers with injured hamstring and linebacker Clint Session with knee injury. And the most important guy wearing No. 18 Colts jersey was listed again with an injury to his backside but anyway took full part in the practice.

Passing stars of Week 14

Again, the No.9 black New Orleans Saints jersey is a hot pursue online now as Drew Brees continued with his perfect performance, throwing 296 yards and three touchdowns, he helped the New Orleans Saints win their 13th straight win and remain one of the only two unbeaten teams.

The Houston Texans quarterback Matt Schaub had 365 yards passing and two touchdowns to lead his team to a 34-7 win over the Seattle Seahawks, proving he was the right choice on the team’s starting quarterback.

Peyton Manning did not give a perfect performance this week, but his team still remains unbeaten by beating the Denver Broncos 28-16. Again the quarterback had another milestone in his NFL career, passing Warren Moon for fourth on the NFL’s yards passing list with 49,513 passing yards.

Three-time MVP Peyton Manning was on Colts’ first training camp practice

As the Colts began their first training camp practice on Monday, they have three-time MVP Peyton Manning and No. 1 draft pick Donald Brown on field. Both were wearing red practice nfl jerseys.

The practice was held on the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology field, where Manning had been for the first time since August 2007. Last season he had an injury on knee and unwent a surgery, thus missed all of the training camps.

As for Brown, he was the Colts’ No. 1 draft pick and it was also the first day he was playing on the practice field after agreeing to a contract with the Colts for unsigned players are not permitted to practice.

To new coach Jim Caldwell's gladness, everyone reported to camp on time without any distraction.

Colts QB Manning now understands Indianapolis' plan

After he talked with team president Bill Polian and Caldwell, Colts QB Peyton Manning said he now understands Indianapolis' plan -- with or without recently retired assistants Tom Moore and Howard Mudd.

"I feel like I have a good grasp of what's going on right now in terms of who's here," Manning said on Friday. "There still are some unknowns out there. I feel like we will be in a good situation and that coach (Jim) Caldwell will handle things accordingly."

Moore and Mudd were the only offensive coordinator and offensive line coach Manning has worked with in his NFL career. After they retired last month to avoid losing money because of a change made to the league's pension plan, Manning complained about a lack of communication with the front office. Now the discussion witth Polian and Caldwell seemed to help alleviate some of Manning's concerns. Although he did not get all of the answers he wants, but finally he is now not so upset and will likely perform normally in practice and coming season.