Dwight Freeney was certainly more associated with the Indianapolis Colts during his Pro Football Hall of Fame career than the other four teams for which he played.
Freeney was selected by the Colts with the 11th overall pick in the 2002 draft and played 11 seasons in Indianapolis followed by two with the Chargers, one with the Arizona Cardinals, one with the Falcons and then his career ended after playing for the Seahawks and Lions in 2017.
However, that brief tenure with the Cardinals in 2015 was as significant a representation of his greatness as an undersized NFL edge rusher than any other.
The Cardinals were on the way to a 13-3 regular season and defeated the Lions 42-17 in Week 5. However, linebackers Alex Okafor and Kenny Demens were injured in that game and a reinforcement was needed.
Freeney wasn’t playing because no team had been willing to make it worth his while with a contract, so he spent a lot of time playing golf. Most noteworthy, as related in a Sports Illustrated story that year, he told himself as Week 5 ended, “If one more week goes by and I don’t get that call, I’m retiring.”
He got that call from the Cardinals the next day and signed immediately. It was a one-year deal worth a prorated $870,000, plus incentives for sacks: $200,000 for four and then $100,000 for every sack from five to 12.
Freeney reflected on that time during a conversation in Canton Friday when he told Cards Wire, “I was sitting there and I hadn’t got a phone call yet. I’m on the golf course and I’m kinda liking it. That’s when Bruce Arians called me and said, ‘We need you.’”
Arians was the offensive coordinator and interim head coach with the Colts in 2012, which was Freeney’s last season with the franchise.
Freeney continued, “Bruce is a guy that I would do anything for. He’s a straight shooter. He called on me and I went there and I didn’t miss a beat. I had eight sacks and it made me feel like I could still do this thing for a couple more.”
The previous season, he had only 3.5 sacks in 16 games, but had 53 pressures and eight quarterback hits. Then-general manager Steve Keim said at the time, “He may not have been finishing, but he was disruptive as hell.”
Disruptive he certainly was with the Cardinals. In his second game, the first sack came on Monday Night Football against the Ravens.
He ended up playing 11 games and had those eight sacks, nine quarterback hits and five tackles for loss. The sacks earned him $600,000, which was slightly more than the prorated salary of $598,125 he received. Freeney also had a sack in the Cardinals’ overtime win over the Packers in the playoffs.
The biggest was late in a Dec. 10 victory over the Vikings, a game Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon remembers to this day. Gannon was an assistant defensive backs coach for the Vikings and when asked his recollection of Freeney earlier this week, he said, “Had sack-fumble to win it, didn’t he? Place was rockin’. It was Thursday night. The place was electric. I know they were really good that year. Bruce had ‘em rolling. But I remember that was a short week. We were pretty good that year; went to the playoffs. Arizona was really good.
“And we came here and I remember it being very, very loud. Very loud. Good fans. It was a tight ballgame.”
Cardinals offensive coordinator Drew Petzing was a Vikings offensive assistant then and Gannon added, “Drew has a way better recollection than me. He could probably tell you what the play was, who was open, who got beat, this guy should of did that. I don’t have the kind of recall like he does. I remember we lost and it was a long trip home. But I remember they were good and the place was jumpin’.”
Kicker Chandler Catanzaro had given the Cardinals a 23-20 lead with 1:28 to play, but Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater completed his first four passes (for 46 yards) of the drive to move the Vikings to the Arizona 31-yard line. It was then third-and-10 with 13 seconds remaining following two incomplete passes.
Freeney used his patented spin move on tackle Matt Kalil, forced a fumble, and Calais Campbell recovered. Game over.
Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer wanted to get closer for a game-tying field goal even though kicker Blair Walsh had been successful from 44 and 54 yards in the game.
“Oh, they were in field-goal range for sure,” Arians said afterward. “You know, it was a great play by him and that’s why he’s going to the Hall of Fame. We brought him here to get pressure on the plays he plays, and he did a great job.”
Zimmer explained he hoped for a sideline pass to get closer and go out of bounds to stop the clock. He said, “We told them, ‘Can’t complete the ball inbounds,’ because at 12 to 13 seconds is right at the time that you can spike the ball and get the clock stopped. Can’t complete the ball inbounds and you can’t take a sack.”
So much for that strategy.
As Freeney said after the game, “It was funny because I spun three times in that series. The first one, he blocked me, so I said, ‘Nah, he’ll never expect another one.’ Second one I spun, I got killed, so then I came with the third. I’m like, ‘He’ll never expect a third one,’ and I actually got in there. I made a good move and we had good coverage in the back end.”
Campbell said, “Dwight’s been huge. He studies the game — he loves the game. He’s always looking at film and coming to me and other guys and telling us how we can make plays and win games. That last play of the game, he called a play, a stunt for us to do because he knew it was going to work, and he made a huge play.
“Any time you can assess the situation and call a good play, a good stunt, and then hit home, that’s huge. That’s a big-time play. That’s a playoff play. That’s a championship play. It was huge.”
Safety Tyrann Mathieu added, “He was running up the sideline all game saying, ‘Let me get the quarterback,’ and that was the perfect time for him to step up and make a play.”
It was, of course, reminiscent of his career, in which he totaled 125.5 sacks, 107.5 with the Colts. Quarterback Payton Manning would often tell him at the end of a game, “End this. This is your time.”
Former Colts tight end Dallas Clark told The Athletic, “In a one-score game, he was Michael Jordan with the ball in his hand and a few seconds left. We’d all sit on the sideline, knowing exactly what was about to happen.”
Freeney concluded of the near walk-off sack against the Vikings, echoing Clark’s words, “I have had one of those. Those are the greatest feelings for a defensive lineman honestly. It is no different than two seconds on the clock and you’re a basketball player and you shoot a three to end the game, or ninth inning, two outs and you hit a home run.
“It’s one of those types of feelings that you can’t duplicate.”
And now, he will have the joyous feeling of entering the halls of Canton on Saturday. A feeling that can never be duplicated.
For the very first time, Hall of Famer @dwightfreeney trades in his suit jacket for a Gold Jacket. Courtesy of @HaggarCo.
Hall of Famer Bruce Smith helped Freeney put it on for the very first time.#PFHOF24 pic.twitter.com/xr2ShrWw0l
— Pro Football Hall of Fame (@ProFootballHOF) August 3, 2024
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