And we’re off! Yours truly is out of the live rotation at the Super Bowl this year, but I’ll be blogging away on this year’s big game on a regular basis from the Pro football Weekly home base all week, and for my first entry, I find myself focused on Colts DE Dwight Freeney, who, according to various sources, will either somehow find a way to gut his way through an ankle injury on super Sunday that sounds like much more than a minor body tweak, or actually end up being down for the count on Super Sunday.

If the latter happens and one of the game’s super sackers is out of commission, will that make things a lot more difficult on the Colts to the point where they actually might lose to the Cinderella Saints? Sorry, all you dreamers out there in football cyberspace. Fairy tales won’t come true for New Orleans regardless. Yes, Freeney would be sorely missed if he doesn’t play. But something tells me he will find a way to still make his presence felt on game day, even if he’s at less than full strength, which is very likely. And even if he doesn’t play, I still like the Colts, although perhaps not enough to pick them to cover the spread, which I can see dropping down to five points courtesy of the Freeney Factor.

In case you didn’t know, the Colts are 9-3 overall with Freeney out of the lineup. Yes, they did lose a playoff game two years ago to the Chargers when he was out with a foot injury. But first-year head coach Jim Caldwell has done a great job of getting different players to step up their games in emergency situations, and I can definitely see Raheem Brock, who has been really good under the radar as of late, doing just that if Freeney is on the sidelines. My original prediction in the print edition of Pro Football Weekly was Colts 31, Saints 20. At the moment, I’m thinking maybe Colts 31, Saints 25. I could easily change my mind more than a few times before game day, but I’m sticking with the Colts to reign supreme in South Beach.

Freeney or no Freeney.