It's not one for which Matt Giordano said he wants to be remembered, necessarily, but one aspect about it makes him proud.

Giordano? The Colts' third-year reserve safety?

The guy’s got some speed.

And if people around the NFL didn’t know it before, they did after the first play of Super Bowl XLI. On that play, Chicago Bears returner Devin Hester scored on a kickoff return, but what the casual fan may not remember about one of the season’s most memorable plays is this:

As Hester crossed the goal-line, Giordano tackled him.

From behind.

“Everyone said I ran him down, and all of my friends are saying I should have caught him at the five,” Giordano said during the team’s recent summer-school session, which concluded in mid-June at the Colts’ Training Facility in Indianapolis.

“I really didn’t make much of it during the game or anything. That was my job, so I was just trying to do my job.”

Giordano, a fourth-round selection by the Colts in the 2005 NFL Draft, said while he would remember the play more fondly had it not been a Chicago touchdown, it did help show what he long has believed:

That he has good speed. Big-time speed, even.

Giordano, a two-year starter at the University of California-Berkeley, was timed at 4.52 and 4.58 seconds in the 40-yard dash at his on-campus Pro Day in 2005. But he sustained a torn pectoral muscle that day, something he said hampered his speed.

“I’m not very proud of the time that they have for me as my 40,” said Giordano, who added of his Pro Day injury, “I still ran, and I think that’s why my time was so slow. I believe I’m faster than my 40 time says. I think I can hang with most of the guys in the NFL.”

In two seasons, Giordano has more than hung around in the NFL.

As a rookie in 2005, he played extensively on special teams, playing in 15 games and recording eight special teams tackles.

Last season, he was one of the Colts’ top special teams players, recording nine tackles in that area while playing more extensively on defense.

He finished the season with 25 defensive tackles. He also had an interception and a pass defended, and in December, he played a key role in one of the Colts’ most important victories of the season.

Having lost two consecutive games, and three of their last four, the Colts played host to Cincinnati in a nationally-televised game on Monday Night Football. Safety Bob Sanders, a Pro Bowl selection in 2005, was out with an injury, and rookie Antoine Bethea and second-year veteran Marlin Jackson were out, too.

Giordano made his first NFL start at safety, and he and veteran Dexter Reid played well enough for the Colts to hold Cincinnati - one of the NFL’s top-ranked offenses last year – to 278 total yards, 145 passing.

“It gave me a lot of confidence,” Giordano said. “That was just an answer to my prayers, to go out there and just to play. It really built a lot of confidence going into the postseason, and heading into this season – now I know I can play with the first string.

“I’m looking forward to contributing more on defense this year.”

Toward that end, Giordano said he’s “evaluating my weaknesses from last season and I’m trying to turn those into my strengths. And I’m trying to take my strengths and make those even stronger. There are a lot of things I could have done better after last season, after evaluating last season. Hopefully, I can improve on those and be a better football player for this team this year.

“I feel like I got a little better. Hopefully, I’ll make another step like that this year. That’s what my goal is, to keep improving every year. You can never be content at this job. The day you’re content is the day somebody’s going to be breathing down your neck to take your job.

“I’ll continue to improve and I hope to make another big step my second season coming into my third.”

Late in the Super Bowl, Giordano made another memorable play – this one with a positive outcome for the Colts.

With just under five and a half minutes remaining, Jackson was injured making a tackle for a 1-yard loss. On the ensuing play, a 4th-and-9 situation from the Chicago 47, Giordano substituted for Jackson.

Grossman threw over the middle to tight end Desmond Clark.

Giordano hit Clark hard, knocking the ball away and giving the Colts possession at the Bears 47.

“It’s a thing that (Colts Head) Coach (Tony) Dungy really expects and demands from all of us,” Giordano said. “If someone goes down, the next person is supposed to step up. They’re supposed to do the same job as that other person, or they’re supposed to do even a better job.”

That’s the sort of depth that Dungy said is necessary in the defensive backfield, an area that – despite the off-season losses of safety Mike Doss and cornerbacks Jason David and Nick Harper – Giordano said should be better and deeper next season.

“I’m real excited,” he said. “I think we have a great DB (defensive-backfield) core. We’re all experienced and new guys who are coming in are going to contribute a lot. We’re going to have to make big strides this year and be one of the best secondaries in the league.”

THE SAFETIES

Bob Sanders

Fourth NFL season

5-8, 206

Iowa

Acquired: Second Round, 2004

Sanders, the Colts’ first selection in the 2004 NFL Draft, has developed into one of the NFL’s top players at his position. . . . He was a key figure in the Colts’ run to Super Bowl XLI, returning to play all four postseason games after missing all but four regular season games. . . . He finished the regular season with 30 tackles, 20 solo, with one forced fumble, one interception and one pass defensed. . . . He started all four postseason games, finishing with 22 tackles, 17 solo, and one forced fumble, two interceptions and four passes defensed. . . . He made the Pro Bowl in 2005.

Antoine Bethea

Second NFL season

5-11, 203

Howard

Acquired: Sixth Round, 2006

Bethea, one of the NFL’s top defensive rookies last season, alternated between safety positions, starting 14 games at strong and free safety. . . . He finished the season with 105 tackles, 64 solo, two passes defensed and one interception. . . . His tackle total ranked third on the team. . . . He started four playoff games and had 18 tackles, 17 solo, with four passes defensed and two interceptions.

Matt Giordano

Third NFL season

5-11, 200

California

Acquired: Fourth Round, 2005

Giordano, a special teams player during most of his first two seasons, started one game at free safety last season. . . . He finished the season with 25 tackles, 19 solos, one pass defensed and one interception on defense. . . . He also had nine special teams tackles, eight solos. . . . He also appeared in all four Colts postseason games, with one pass defensed and eight special teams tackles, including five solos.

Brannon Condren

Rookie

6-1, 205

Troy

Acquired: Fourth Round, 2007

A two-year starter, Condren opened 25 of 47 games in col