MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Well, Dwight Freeney has the first sack of Super Bowl XLIV. Go figure. So much for the bad ankle.

Freeney sacked Drew Brees to snuff out the Saints’ first decent drive of the game, bulling his way right through LT Jermon Bushrod, then tossing the QB to the ground. The Saints ended up staying in field-goal range and cutting the deficit to 10-3, but this was a huge play (Bushrod is going to need a chip or help of some kind with more regularity, it seems).

This is a pro-Saints crowd, and had they scored a touchdown there, it might have gotten kind of wild in here. You have to give Saints coach Sean Payton credit for getting back to basics to attack a Colts team that isn’t that big in its front seven (smaller, quicker guys are the norm). Indy is playing a ton of Cover-2, and the Saints are using a lot of jumbo packages in the run game, bringing in an extra tackle to attack with power. It makes all the more sense given how badly the Saints need to get a ball-control game going to keep Peyton Manning off the field and give their defense a breather.

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