Colts to attend James Dungy's funeral

Indianapolis, December 26 (AP) - The Indianapolis Colts still don't know when Tony Dungy will return as coach.
     
They do know they will be grieving with him Tuesday at the funeral of his 18-year-old son, who died in his Tampa, Fla., apartment last week, an apparent suicide.
     
"I think it will be great for coach Dungy and I think it will be great for our team, our coaching staff and those people in the building who work with him day to day," Jim Caldwell, who is running the Colts in Dungy's absence, said Monday.
     
Caldwell has been in almost daily contact with Dungy and trying to keep the Colts in their routine. That included a scheduled three-day break even after a second straight loss Saturday, 28-13 at Seattle.
     
But discussion of playoffs, losses or the need to win another game to avoid a three-game skid heading into the playoffs has been overshadowed by Dungy's five-day absence. He left the team Thursday after his James Dungy was found dead. A preliminary autopsy report indicated he took his own life.
     
The death has pushed football into a secondary role for Indy, which spent much of the past two months fielding questions about the possibility of becoming the second NFL team to complete a perfect season. Their quest ended at 13-0 when they lost 26-17 to San Diego on Dec. 18. Four days later, Dungy returned to Tampa.
     
Caldwell, who has never been an NFL head coach, has changed little.
     
He treated Saturday's game as an exhibition, benching about half the defensive starters, Pro Bowl receiver Marvin Harrison and injured right tackle Ryan Diem. He replaced other prominent players, such as two-time MVP Peyton Manning and receiver Reggie Wayne, after two series. That was Dungy's plan.
     
On the long flight home, Caldwell described the mood as somber and quiet.
     
"That's what you would expect," Caldwell said. "It was rather quiet. I think there were a lot of people, like myself, who wanted to reminisce and reflect, and it was time for reflection."
     
On Monday, Colts coaches went back to work.
     
Again, Caldwell said, Indianapolis intends to treat this week's regular-season finale against Arizona as a preseason game although he did not give any injury updates.
     
The one big change comes Tuesday morning. About 200 Colts players, coaches and team officials are expected to fly to Tampa on the team plane for James Dungy's funeral. Visitation was scheduled for Monday evening.
     
The trip is not mandatory but Caldwell believes most players will attend. He has also been passing along condolences to Dungy's family from others, including all of the Seahawks coaches and NFL referees at Saturday's game.
     
"There certainly will be a large group going down," Caldwell said. "I think he (Dungy) certainly has had a feel for the number of people across the country who respect him and support him."
     
Tuesday's trip has forced Colts coaches to make some personal adjustments. Typically, Caldwell said coaches would review film and plot first-down scenarios on Monday and use Tuesday to install a game plan. With the compressed week, though, coaches were doing both Monday.
     
But given the circumstances, nobody was complaining.
     
"The focus should not be on me because what I have to do certainly is not near as difficult as what Tony and Lauren are going through," Caldwell said. "He's a very well organized individual and he looks ahead quite often and puts things in place for us to follow and that's basically all we have to do."
     
Caldwell said he is prepared to run the team as long as necessary.
     
"Our owner, Mr. Irsay, and our president, Mr. Polian have given him as much time as he needs, and that's up to him," Caldwell said. "I talked to him today and he's doing as well as can be expected."
     
(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)