For the third time in his career, Atlanta Falcons defensive end Dwight Freeney is preparing to play in the Super Bowl. To put it mildly, he’s not a fan of waiting so long to play.
In fact, Freeney can’t stand the two-week buildup to the Super Bowl. He bluntly said that “I think the process honestly sucks” before elaborating.
“Because you’re waiting two weeks,” he said, via Michael David Smith, Pro Football Talk. “It’s not like a bye week where you get take your mind off of football for just a second, do whatever you want to do. No, it’s like you’re focusing on the game for two weeks straight. You just can’t wait until it gets here, partially just so you can stop talking about it and just do it. I think that’s the agonizing part about this whole entire process. It’s just that wait until the Super Bowl. That’s the pain, the pain is the wait until you get there.”
The obvious advantage of the extra week is that it gives players more time to heal. Nagging injuries — like the one Julio Jones has experienced for much of the season — are less likely to be a big factor on Super Bowl Sunday.
But Freeney’s point is also undeniable. No player getting ready to play in the Super Bowl can possibly be expected to take it off of his mind for two weeks. So, we get a lot of what Freeney is talking about, guys just waiting in bitter anticipation.
Interestingly enough, the NFL used to rotate between one and two weeks between the conference championships and the Super Bowl. In that time, the Super Bowls played without a bye week tended to be better games. Since the 2003 season, the Super Bowl has always been played with a week off. That brought a reversal of trends. Several Super Bowls in that time have been among the most exciting in history.
But whether it’s a good Super Bowl or not, the two week wait can be brutal. The good news for Freeney is that he’s not alone. It’s brutal for the fans, as well.