Super Bowl champion
Sweet Home grad helps Colts win Super Bowl XLI
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

Keith O'Neil, center, a 1999 Sweet Home High School graduate, celebrates with his family on the field after helping the Indianapolis Colts win Super Bowl XLI. Also pictured far left, is his father, Ed, his brother, Kevin, his wife, Jill, Kevin's wife, Jill, his mother, Nancy, his sister, Colleen, and his sister-in-law, Jaeme Eddie.

Days after helping the Indianapolis Colts win Super Bowl XLI, Keith O'Neil, a 1999 Sweet Home High School graduate, still can't believe the experience is over.

"I don't think it has really sunk in," O'Neil said in a phone interview last week. "It's funny. I keep reminding myself that the season is over and we won the Super Bowl. It's unbelievable."

O'Neil, a special teams player, started on kickoff return, punt and punt return in the Colts' 29-17 victory over the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI held on Feb. 4 in Miami, Fla.

He did not record a tackle but was pleased with his performance, which included a big block on the Colts' second kick return of the game late in the first quarter.

O'Neil almost didn't play, as a broken rib he suffered during a kickoff in the AFC Championship against the New England Patriots kept him out of practice for a week. He was finally cleared to practice on Jan. 31.

Keith O'Neil is all smiles with the Vince Lombardi Trophy after helping the Colts win Super Bowl XLI.

"When it first happened, I told the doctor to tell coach (Tony) Dungy and our special teams coach (Russ Pernell), 'I'm going to play,'" O'Neil said. "If it's just a pain thing, I can play through it."

"That Wednesday practice was painful, but it got a little bit better each day," he added. "It still hurts now, but I proved to the coaches that I could practice and with doctor's approval that I could play."

Playing with the injury wasn't as bad as O'Neil thought.

"I think a lot had to do with adrenaline," he said. "There were times when I felt it, but it was the kind of pain that goes away. It wasn't that constant pain. It's something you have to play through. It's the Super Bowl, so you pretty much do anything to play."

The game didn't start out well for the Colts. The Bears' Devin Hester took the opening kickoff 92 yards for a touchdown, and Chicago would eventually take a 14-6 first-quarter lead. But the Colts took a 16-14 lead into halftime and never trailed again.

Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy, left, poses with Keith O'Neil and the Vince Lombardi Trophy after the game.

"The opening kickoff was almost a nightmare," said O'Neil. "I couldn't believe it, but it was early enough in the game that we stayed confident, started moving the ball, got ahead of them and it was pretty much in the bag. I think offensively, they never really moved the ball on our defense at all. I also believe that if we would have played them at the RCA Dome (Colts' home field) or in different weather conditions (constant, pouring rain), it could have been a lot worse for them."

O'Neil said he never played an NFLgame where it constantly rained.

"It limited our offense," said O'Neil. "There were 12 game balls, and I could remember the quarterbacks complaining about how the balls were water-logged. It made it tough to pass. But Dominic (Rhodes) and Joseph (Addai) had outstanding games. They ran at will in the second half, and they couldn't move the ball at all on our defense. The weather should have benefited the Bears, but I believe we were destined to win."

A little rain also did not stop Keith's family members from leaving their seats.

"I had a Keith O'Neil jersey on with a Colts' T-shirt underneath that was blue because of the dye coming off the jersey from the rain," said Keith's father Ed, a former NFLplayer for the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers. "My wife (Nancy) had a poncho that was soaked through. It didn't matter what happened. We weren't leaving."

Pregame

Keith O'Neil knew he was playing in something special as soon as he heard of the security measures that were being taken. At a security meeting early in the week, he found out that United States Marine snipers would surround the Colts' practice facility, which was held at the Miami Dolphins' facility. In addition, four F-18's and six Black Hawk helicopters flew over Dolphins' Stadium, the site of the Super Bowl. There was a 30-mile circular no-fly zone around the area.

"That kind of set the tone," said O'Neil. "We were doing something that was Level 1 national security. It was almost overwhelming. That's a cool feeling to know that you're really that important."

There was also Media Day, which O'Neil said was "more than I could ever expect." He said he was asked to read cards in English but make it sound like German for German television. He was also interviewed by the NFLNetwork.

"It was a crazy day but fun," he said.

O'Neil's family took away their own Super Bowl experiences.

Ed O'Neil, who was attending the game with 15 other family members, remembers walking into Dolphins' Stadium and seeing Keith in an action photo mounted on the side of one of the stadium walls. Ed and Nancy also ran into the parents of Chicago Bears' quarterback Rex Grossman, Dan and Maureen, whom they hadn't seen since 1984 when Ed coached at Indiana University. Ed said Keith's father-in-law Doug Eddie was walking on the beach the night before the Super Bowl and saw Paris Hilton in a Bentley with a police escort.

Ed O'Neil said the emotion in the days leading up to the Super Bowl was the hardest but most exciting part for him.

"I never thought that your heart would pound so hard for so long," he said. "I've been in what I thought were big games in college, even big games in the NFL, and coaching in games that had a lot of effect on young player's lives… Then there was the 50 buses that loaded up at 1 p.m. (the day of the game) and having a police escort all the way to the stadium, stopping traffic on interstate highways. The emotion of everything was something I'd like to do again."

At the Super Bowl, the O'Neil family said they saw Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, Lynn Swann, an NFLHall of Fame receiver with the Pittsburgh Steelers, and entertainers Justin Timberlake, Ashton Kutcher, Bruce Willis, and Demi Moore.

"I'm standing waiting for Nancy to come out of the ladies' room, and Jim Kelly walks right in front of us," Ed added. "He had dark glasses and a ball cap on. If you're not a Buffalo Bills' fan, it looked like Joe Smith was walking down the corridor."

Postgame

The O'Neil family was drenched head to toe, but it was all worth it when they each got a hug from Keith after the game.

"The best part was bringing your family down on the field after the game, including my wife (Jill), who has been by my side for the four years I've been in the NFL," said Keith O'Neil.

Keith O'Neil said the 30-minute postgame celebration with his teammates in the locker room is a feeling he'll never forget.

"Hopefully, we can do it again," he said. "At the two-minute mark, I thought 'this is everything I've done in my life to get to this moment.' To know that you're a Super Bowl champion, no one can take that away from you. Now I know why they play the game."

After a team postgame party, which included the team's families, the Colts boarded a plane and went straight to the RCA Dome for a parade and rally.

Keith heard that the Colts will be getting their Super Bowl rings in June.

After a few vacations, Keith will start off-season workouts for the 2007 season. Meanwhile, Ed will return to Florida in March, but in Tampa as defensive coordinator with the NFLEurope's Frankfurt Galaxy. After three weeks of practice, the team will leave for Europe in early April.

e-mail: pnagy@beenews.com