The final-day scene was pretty much as normal.

Players jogged from the practice field, laughing and smiling. A few stopped to sign autographs and one or two stopped to speak to the media.

The crowd at Cook Stadium cheered.

This was the end of Colts Training Camp 2007 – the end of the beginning.

To Dungy, it wasn’t necessarily a happy day.

“I really wish we could stay about five more weeks,” Dungy said Sunday morning after the last practice of training camp at the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.

“I’m really not looking forward to going back at all, but I am looking forward to playing some games at home. It will be nice to get in the dome.”

Players felt somewhat differently.

“It doesn’t get better than this in training camp – we get to go home,” Colts center and nine-year veteran Jeff Saturday said, adding, “I think we’ve had an excellent camp, maybe one of the best since I’ve been here. I feel like we have a pretty deep football team. Guys are flying around. Young guys are showing up and playing well.

“I’m excited about this season at hand.”

The Colts typically break camp a day or two before the second preseason game. Because the second preseason game this season is at home in the RCA Dome in Indianapolis against the Chicago Bears Monday, camp broke on a Sunday morning of the third week rather than a Thursday, Friday or Saturday.

“I think we’ve laid the foundation with some good, hard work – some good concentration,” Dungy said. “Our veteran guys, I thought, did a great job of demonstrating to our young guys how it’s done. I thought our coaches were very much attention-to-detail, so it was good.”

Asked what the Colts hadn’t accomplished in camp, Dungy thought for several seconds, then remembered this past Thursday.

That day, Dungy had called the Colts’ practice sluggish, speaking to players afterward about the need for concentration. It was one of only four or five times in his Colts tenure Dungy said he could recall such a practice.

Three days later, it was still on his mind.

“I probably would have preferred to have that one day where I said it wasn’t good enough,” he said. “If we’d had perfect days, really, with energy and crispness the whole time, that would have been ideal.”

With about half of the Colts’ practice days coming with temperatures in the 90s, Dungy said weather played a role this year.

“The weather, being so hot, we had some situations where you had to cut back and guys we had to hold a little bit,” Dungy said. “So, maybe we could have had a little bit cooler weather and just a little more sharpness, but other than that, we did pretty good.”

Said middle linebacker and defensive captain Gary Brackett, “I don’t think you’re ever where you want to be, exactly. We still have some work to do. Obviously, we still have some things to iron out, but we still have three more preseason games to get ready for the regular season.”

Also on Sunday, the Colts announced nine players will miss Monday’s preseason home opener against Chicago:

Cornerback Michael Coe (groin), safety Brannon Condren (groin), offensive tackle Gabe Hall (knee), linebacker KaMichael Hall (hamstring), defensive tackle Tom Johnson (calf), safety Bob Sanders (Physically Unable to Perform, shoulder), linebacker Victor Worsley (hamstring), defensive tackle Ramel Meekins (groin) and linebacker Tyjuan Hagler (knee).

Running back Kenton Keith, who missed the preseason opener and who is competing with DeDe Dorsey and Clifton Dawson at backup running back, is expected to play, Dungy said.

“The games kind of confirm what you see in practice,” Dungy said. “We haven’t had that confirmation, but Kenton has done well in practice. We’re looking forward to watching him play, but we’ve seen a lot in practice and that to me is the biggest thing anyway.”