DE-DWIGHT FREENEY(On if being named to the All-Pro Team was an award he was hoping for) 1-6-05
"I wasn't really thinking of that. I was just trying to perform to the best of my abilities and help my team out and play better than I did last year. That's kind of what my goals are. But this is a tremendous honor. Twenty-two guys out of the league, and only two defensive ends, that's big. That's real big."
DE-DWIGHT FREENEY(On why his numbers picked up the last month of the season) 1-6-05
"I think it's just kind of what happened. That's just how football is. I was playing great ball in November. Numerically, it just wasn't there. Sometimes you get the sacks, sometimes you don't. Sometimes I'm grabbing on the quarterback, he's falling, and he just throws it away. And sometimes when I grab him, he just drops. As far as December being better than November, I'm not necessarily sure I was a better player."
DE-DWIGHT FREENEY(On only receiving less votes than QB-Peyton Manning and S-Ed Reed) 1-6-05
"I didn't realize that. Like I said, that's big. There are so many great players out there, linemen, you name it. There are a lot of great players out there, so to even hear that, that's big."
DE-DWIGHT FREENEY(On the defensive line having an advantage playing on turf) 1-6-05
"I think it is kind of different from guy to guy. When you are on turf you don't have worry about the ground slipping out from under your legs. If you are a speed guy, you can be at top speed. It is a little bit of an advantage for me because with the good surface, you don't have to worry about snow, rain, anything like that. Especially when speed is my thing. At the same time, when you play outside, the other guy is getting slowed down, too, when it's on snow, rain, grass. So, it is kind of relative."
DE-DWIGHT FREENEY(On the advantage crowd noise gives the Colts defense when playing at home) 1-6-05
"That's what it is – home field advantage. You don't have to worry about the crowd noise. That's why they always say throughout the league how important that is, especially in the playoffs when you have that 12th man. It makes it a little more difficult for the (opposition's) offense to perform, snap counts and all of that."
DE-DWIGHT FREENEY(On whether he believes he has a lot left after an outstanding regular season) 1-6-05
"Oh, yeah. I would say that if I had a goal, one of the goals would be to win the Super Bowl. One of my goals is to win the first playoff game."
DE-DWIGHT FREENEY(On how Denver QB Jake Plummer compares with other mobile quarterbacks) 1-6-05
"He is a crafty type of mobile quarterback. Kind of like the Brett Favre mold. He is not the fastest guy out there, but he finds the holes to run."
DE-DWIGHT FREENEY(On how much better he feels about this defensive unit going into the playoffs compared with a year ago) 1-6-05
"This is the third year for most of us being together, so I feel we are a little more comfortable with understanding what we should do."
DE-DWIGHT FREENEY(On what it means being named AFC Defensive Player-of-the-Month) 1-6-05
"That is a great honor, especially with so many guys out there playing their hearts out. December happened to be a real good month for me. The playoffs mean more, performing in January, etc. Hopefully, I will get January Player-of-the-Month."
DE-DWIGHT FREENEY(On being in the playoffs all 3 years of his NFL career) 1-6-05
"The playoffs kind of speak for themselves. You have so many teams who are at home right now watching us play. You have 20 teams at home. At the same time, a lot of guys have not made the playoffs in their careers. I've heard things like Dick Butkus and Gale Sayers haven't even been in the playoffs or if they have, they've seen it like one time. It is a blessing to be in there. At the same time, we have to take care of business. There is a sense of urgency to go out there and play hard."
DE-DWIGHT FREENEY(On why Denveris so effective running the quarterback boot and play action) 1-6-05
"That is what they are. They make everything look the same. The blocking scheme is pretty much the same on their running plays and their passing plays. That is why it is so hard to play just against the boot. If you play the boot, they are going to run the ball. If you play the run, they are going to boot. You have trust in the scheme you are going to play for that week and hopefully we will make some plays."
DE-DWIGHT FREENEY(On how Denverbeat the Colts in Indianapolisduring the 2003 regular season) 1-6-05
"They are so good at what they do. The zone blocking, the cutting, everything like that. If you are off by one step, and it takes just one guy out of the 11 to be out of the gap for a run to break. It is very important for us to have good gap protection."
DE-DWIGHT FREENEY(On playing the run first against Denverbecause it is so good running the ball) 1-6-05
"Every week we have to play the run very well. If a team establishes the running game they can milk the clock and stop our offense from getting out there. It makes us more tired because we are out there more plays. Definitely, our goal going into the game is to stop the run."
DE-DWIGHT FREENEY(On the uncomplimentary things said around the country about the Colts' defense compared to the team's offense) 1-6-05
"If you look at it, probably most defenses in the league would be the Achilles heel to this offensive team. This team has a great offense. We are No. 1, I guess, across the board, so if you put any defense with us, you would say the weakness of the team would be the defense if you had to pick one. At the same time, we definitely want to go out there and be the No. 1 defense week in and week out. It hasn't happened. As we go into the playoffs, if you have guys saying this is the weakness of our team, as a defense we are not going to like that. We are going to try and step up."
DT-LARRY TRIPPLETT(on what the Colts have to do to minimize QB-Jake Plummer) 1/6/05
"All we can do is really just play our defense and play our schemes. And hopefully, we'll put him in a situation where he has to make a bad throw and try to capitalize like that."
DT-LARRY TRIPPLETT(on getting a one-on-one chance at the quarterback) 1/6/05
"We like it that way. Defensive linemen here, when we see the quarterback in our eye, that's what we want. We want to get close to them as much as possible. But the thing about Jake (Plummer), he can make people miss in the open field. He can make plays."
LB-CATO JUNE(on if he takes it personally when he hears the Colts have a great offense and a suspect defense) 1/6/05
"I don't take it personally. I take it as a challenge for us to go out there and show everybody that we're a competitive defense, a defense that gets the ball, gets the ball back, and a defense that makes stops and keeps p
