"Uh-oh. This changes everything, maybe even the fate of the Colts-Saints Super Bowl.

We're talking here about Dwight Freeney's ankle, soon to be the most closely monitored ankle since Curt Schilling and the bloody sock.

Or Barbaro, although I'm thinking euthanasia is highly unlikely in this case.

Even if defensive end Freeney plays with a Grade III ankle sprain Sunday when the Indianapolis Colts take on the New Orleans Saints in Super Bowl XLIV, he will not be vintage Freeney, not even close. The doctors can tape him up like a mummy and give him enough anesthetic to numb up a yak, but he's not going to have his usual explosion, his usual speed, his usual leverage. This is his right ankle, remember, his plant foot.

This is not good news six days before the Super Bowl, not good at all. It doesn't necessarily mean the Colts are going to lose; they're way too resilient to let a single injury derail them -- unless it's Peyton Manning, of course, and then we might as well pack up and go home. But Freeney's injury just made Sunday's game a lot more difficult.

Welcome to As the Ankle Turns.

"Dwight is playing and he'll be 100 percent by Sunday," linebacker Gary Brackett said confidently Monday.

Then he smiled.

"I have no clue," he said.

"But if anybody can come back from an injury, it's Dwight. He's had all kinds of strange things this year. He's supposed to be out 10 weeks, he plays seven days later. He's not a guy I count out as far as playing Sunday. Dwight has Wolverine-type characteristics. He recovers very speedy."

He'd better.

Maybe you've heard the New Orleans Saints aren't the Baltimore Ravens or the New York Jets. They can score points. They can pass the ball and run the ball. They led the NFL in points scored, were fourth in passing and sixth in rushing. Getting in quarterback Drew Brees' face was going to be a challenge even before the Freeney injury; the Saints were fourth in the league in fewest sacks allowed and third in fewest hits allowed on the quarterback."