• Vote: Would Freeney missing the game change your pick to win?
• Rank 'Em: How do you rank the best players on both teams in Super Bowl XLIV?
• Chat: "First Take" NFL analyst Drew Bennett, 12 ET | Scouts Inc.'s Gary Horton, 4 ET

*Other than the guy in all the commercials, obviously

It's only Monday, which means the only Super Bowl availability we're really stressing about at the moment is TV Azteca's Inez Gomez Mont, but it's clear what the dominant story of Super Bowl week in Miami will be. And honestly, who doesn't want to spend the next six days talking about Dwight Freeney's ankle and hyperbaric chambers? Or perhaps given that it's the Super Bowl, a hyperbolic chamber would be more appropriate.

ESPN NFL bloggers Paul Kuharsky and Pat Yasinskas peg the pass rush as a deciding factor in Sunday's game. And while Freeney had fewer tackles this season than teammates Jamie Silva and Eric Foster, whose names you probably won't be hearing this week, but you could make a case the pass rusher is not only the team's most valuable defensive player but its most valuable player not named Manning.

“

This is annoying, Freeney doesn't make this Defense, it's a team effort. Why is this getting so much coverage, there aren't more important things to talk about?

” -- Hawkey1337

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Does that mean the Colts should have rested their starters until the SuperBowl?

” -- Duhard