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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Greetings from the Super Bowl XLIV press room. It’s a quality set up. The lighting is a little dim, but when one is sitting opposite Tim Graham, that can be a good thing.



Barring delays, the Colts make their official debut in about 90 minutes at their nearby hotel, where we will hear from Jim Caldwell and six players. I’ll bring you all of the necessary commentary as quickly as possible after that.



Players and coaches won’t quite be getting the full media day experience Tuesday, as heavy rain has prompted the league to move the festivities indoors. Instead of lining people up at podiums along a sideline of Sun Life Field, they’ll be inside on the club level. I suspect it will dampen the circus-like atmosphere, but we’ll withhold judgment as to whether that’s a good or bad thing until after.



Offense and defense may be split up, and odds are it will be a more cramped situation than usual. But talking time is talking time, and we’ll get our questions asked.

DAVIE, Fla. – The Saints and their buses just arrived at the Dolphins’ practice facility a little bit ago.



They’re out practicing under the bubble right now and we were just told it will be at least an hour before the media sessions. The heavy rain has really thrown off the schedule for the Saints. Officials are saying the Saints should be available somewhere around 5:30 p.m. ET.



But hang loose a bit and we’ll bring you what Sean Payton and some of the more prominent Saints say in their first official media session for Super Bowl XLIV.

DAVIE, Fla. — The NFL has relocated the Saints’ first media session of Super Bowl week to the Dolphins’ headquarters.



We’re sitting in a meeting room with slogans painted on the walls.



“NO NEGATIVE PLAYS” reads one heading, with mental errors, penalties, sacks and turnovers listed below.



“PROTECT THE BALL!” screams another.



“Know and know you know!” says another.



“We never know who we are until we are called to rise!” another proclaims.



The front of the room features the words “Miami Dolphins” with “smart, tough, disciplined” underneath.



The 49ers hold news conferences in a defensive meeting room featuring the same sorts of slogans.



I wonder how much they help.



Saints coach Sean Payton is scheduled to speak in this room first, followed by quarterback Drew Brees. Come Sunday, they will presumably try to avoid negative plays while protecting the ball and knowing that they know what they know, you know.

MIAMI — We promised a quick decision on Chicago’s offensive coordinator job, and ESPN.com’s John Clayton has delivered. It’s going to be former St. Louis coach Mike Martz, the candidate I’ve considered the best quick-fix option available to the Bears.



I’m currently at the New Orleans Saints’ interview session and will come back a bit later with further analysis. But the bottom line is this: Martz’s experience and past success with quarterbacks will give him as good of a chance as anyone to elevate the Bears’ explosiveness.



He has his own pocks, but the Bears weren’t going to hire the perfect candidate after missing the playoffs in three consecutive seasons. I consider Martz the best they could have done under the circumstances.



More in a bit.

DAVIE, Fla. — Just had a very adventurous ride from Miami up to Fort Lauderdale and over to Davie. We’re having some heavy rain in South Florida and I don’t think the speedometer got above 30 mph on the ride.



Anyway, I have set up in the media room at the Miami Dolphins facility. The Saints haven’t arrived yet, but they should soon and will get some work in the indoor bubble this afternoon before meeting with the media. A league official said the Saints currently are dressing at the University of Miami and will be getting on buses to come up here in a few minutes.



This practice and media session originally was scheduled for the University of Miami, but the rain has forced the Saints to move indoors. League officials and veteran Dolphins PR guru Harvey Greene are scrambling right now to get set up for the news conferences. It’s a tough situation, but Greene is one of the best in the business and he and his staff (which, today, includes Brian Cearns of the Atlanta Falcons) are working frantically with the league to get things set up.



The interview sessions initially were scheduled for 3:45 p.m. I’ve been told they’ll be pushed back somewhat, but not sure how long. As of right now, coach Sean Payton, quarterback Drew Brees, running back Reggie Bush, guard Jahri Evans, safety Darren Sharper, defensive end Will Smith and linebacker Jonathan Vilma are scheduled to be available to the media today.

MIAMI — It was interesting to see Carolina defensive end Julius Peppers grimacing on the NFC bench Sunday night at the Pro Bowl. He appeared to have suffered a mild leg injury — an auspicious start to an offseason journey that promises to be wild.

AP Photo/Nell RedmondUnhappy with his contract situation in Carolina, could Julius Peppers end up in the NFC North?

Peppers is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent, and Peppers agent said over the weekend that he isn’t expecting a long-term deal to materialize with the Panthers. A franchise tag would likely cost the Panthers more than $20 million, a prohibitive cost for most teams.



So George of Florida wondered: “Now that it appears that Julius Peppers will probably be a free agent in the offseason, what are the odds that the Bears will pursue him to bolster their defensive line?”



Theoretically, we I think we can expand this conversation to more than one NFC North team. With the expected loss of pending free agent Adewale Ogunleye, and the death of Gaines Adams, the Bears certainly have an opening for a pass-rushing defensive end in their 4-3 scheme.



But what about Green Bay? Last week, we discussed the possibility — however fantastical — of San Diego’s Shawne Merriman making his way to the Packers. But what about Peppers as a replacement for Aaron Kampman in the Packers’ 3-4 scheme?



Acquiring Peppers certainly wouldn’t follow the Packers’ recent personnel practices under general manager Ted Thompson. But last season, Peppers expressed interest in playing as a 3-4 linebacker. It’s not often that a player successfully makes that transition in the latter stages of his career, but Peppers might be the type of exceptional athlete who could do it.



As for the Bears, I think it’s something they would have to give strong consideration to given their lack of other available assets. You typically need to take pass-rushing defensive ends high in the draft, but the Bears don’t pick until the early portion of the third round. They don’t want to give up any additional draft picks to move up, and so paying Peppers a truckload of money might be one of their few legitimate options.



It’s hard to know exactly where the Bears are headed defensively until they hire a defensive coordinator, but we know they will keep the basic concepts of the Tampa-2 scheme. Peppers would be a great fit regardless. Will it happen? I wouldn’t rule it out.

MIAMI — Hall of Fame voters will consider nine 2010 finalists with ties to current NFC West teams.



I’ll be presenting the case for Cortez Kennedy during the proceedings Saturday as the geographic representative for the Seattle market.

Al Messerschmidt/Getty ImagesFormer Seahawks defensive tackle Cortez Kennedy is a candidate for the NFL Hall of Fame.

Two things about Kennedy have jumped out during my research:

• Kennedy was a great every-down player. Kennedy played at least 90 percent of the defensive snaps from 1991 to 1996, including 97.22 percent in 1994. He was a force against run and pass alike, not just a situational player or one-dimensional player.
• Kennedy and Hall of Famer Randy White are the only defensive tackles in NFL history with at least 150 starts, 50 sacks and eight Pro Bowls.

I’d like to use this forum to solicit your thoughts on Kennedy and the eight other finalists with ties to current NFC West teams. I’ll single out a note or two on each player here to help get the conversation going (while fully recognizing that some of these players enjoyed most of their success for teams outside the division):

• Jerry Rice, 49ers WR. Arguably the greatest player in NFL history.
• Roger Craig, 49ers RB. One of three players in NFL history with 8,000 yards rushing, 4,900 yards receiving, 70 total touchdowns and four Pro Bowls. Marcus Allen and Marshall Faulk are the others.
• Richard Dent, 49ers DL. One of three players in NFL history with at least 135 sacks and 35 forced fumbles. Bruce Smith and Chris Doleman are the others.
• Charles Haley, 49ers OLB/DE. One of 10 players in NFL history with 100 sacks, 25 forced fumbles and five Pro Bowls.
• Rickey Jackson, 49ers linebacker. One of five players in NFL history with at least 125 sacks and 40 forced fumbles. Bruce Smith, Derrick Thomas, Doleman and Jason Taylor are the others.
• John Randle, Seahawks DT. One of five players in NFL history with185 starts, 135 sacks and seven Pro Bowls.
• Don Coryell, Cardinals coach. Helped change the way teams played offense in the passing game, which helped revolutionize how defenses responded.
• Emmitt Smith, Cardinals RB. All-time NFL rushing leader.
• Russ Grimm, Redskins guard (and current Cardinals assistant coach). Arguably the best player on the most famous offensive line in NFL history.

AP PhotoColts defensive ends Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis hope to make an impact in the Super Bowl — even if they don’t record a sack.

MIAMI — In the visitor’s locker room at M&T Bank Stadium on Nov. 22, Dwight Freeney was perfecting his head-shaking and shrugging.



He’d recorded at least one sack in eight straight games, but in a 17-15 win over the Ravens he was shut out for the second week in a row. This time, not only no sacks but no tackles. Robert Mathis didn’t have a sack either, and coaches’ tape boosted his tackle total from zero to two.



Look at the stats and read no impact into them if you like, Freeney was saying, but the effort the Ravens had put forth to pitch such a shutout had a big influence on the game.



And so it’s been in two playoff games as well. The two Pro Bowl pass-rushers have no sacks and the Colts have just one in two games. But Indianapolis gave up only 20 points total in wins over Baltimore and the Jets.



Now Freeney’s status is in question for the Super Bowl because of an ankle injury that’s reportedly quite serious. If he plays, he’s unlikely to be himself and could work as a situational pass-rusher. That changes the dynamic for sure.



But in the playoffs, the Colts have echoed Freeney from Baltimore. He and Mathis don’t have to be recording sacks to be playing effectively.



“They are doing some other things besides getting the glorious sacks,” Jim Caldwell said. “They are still defending the run. They are still taking care of their assignments, in terms of their gap control. Sometimes, teams come out with a little different sort of a focus. Don’t think they don’t plan to get that ball out of their hands quickly. Three-step drop, we see quite a bit of that, and the reason being because of those two guys on the end.



“Now that helps us overall, even though it might not show up on the stat sheet. But when a guy is going back and they’re throwing quick, short passes, that means there are very few things going deep over our head or deep in the seams because they’re a little nervous. The other thing it does is that they end up keeping extra people in to take care of those guys. When they do that, we have fewer receivers to defend. So, although you may not see quite the games you’ve expected, I think they still have a tremendous impact on the outcome of the ballgame.”



With Freeney out or limited, the Saints will have to worry about him less and won’t likely give left tackle Jermon Bushrod as much help against Raheem Brock. Some see that as a big game-changer, others think it won’t be a deadly development.



Mark Simon of ESPN Stats & Information tells me in the five games this season when Mathis and Freeney didn’t have a sack, discounting the Buffalo finale when the Colts really didn’t play to win from the start, the Colts gave up an average of 236 passing yards and 1.4 passing touchdowns a game. With a sack from them, those numbers were 213 and 0.9.



I asked Ken Moll of Scouts Inc. and a coach who has game-planned against the Colts this year for their thoughts on what it means if the Saints can keep Freeney and Mathis quiet.



Moll: “The Colts have only generated one sack (Gary Brackett) in the postseason after racking up 34 during 2009. Freeney and Mathis are arguably two of the best pass-rushing tandems in the league, racking up 23 sacks between them (during the season) but have been held at bay thus far. There are a couple of reasons why this has been the case. The first being both teams are heavy run-first offenses with short controlled passing games and the other being extra blockers (tight end or backs) chipping on one or both of these edge rushers. Yes, Freeney and Mathis still had a huge impact in those postseason contests as offensive coordinators have to limit what they do (especially in the passing game) and the attention given to them frees up other defenders to make plays.”



The coach: “The way we look at it, they can influence a game even if they are not getting sacks. You’re accounting for them usually with two guys on each of them. So if you’re accounting four for those two, it should free some of those other guys up to make plays. And either you’re getting one or two guys less into the route, three-man routes instead of five man routes, or they are freeing up one of those other guys to get pressure.”



With Freeney limited or out, Raheem Brock will be very important. If they leave him alone with Bushrod, can he win in a way that makes them play him more like they would with Freeney? If not, how much damage can that extra guy on a route do in the season’s biggest game?

MIAMI — Miami Dolphins folk hero Zach Thomas, after a career marked by repeated concussions, is donating his brain to the Boston University School of Medicine, which has conducted groundbreaking research on football-related trauma.



Thomas was named to the NFL’s All-Decade team Sunday. He played linebacker for 13 seasons. He attempted to make it 14 last year, but the Kansas City Chiefs cut him after he suffered another concussion in training camp.

“I would like to make sure the game of football survives,” Thomas said in a story by Palm Beach Post reporter Hal Habib. “The scientific findings to date are clear that repetitive trauma to the head results in [chronic traumatic encephalopathy] in many athletes. I want to do my part to help the researchers understand this disease and to discover treatments and an eventual cure.

“This is not just about professional athletes who may know there are risks to the game. This is about making sure that the game is safe for all of those children playing the game today and in the future.”

Thomas was a hard-charging, overachieving tackle machine for the Dolphins. But that reputation gave way later in his career. The Dolphins released him after he missed most of 2007 with a concussion that was soon followed by residual affects exacerbated by a rear-end auto collision on his way home from a game.



Rather than think of a great player, many observers feared for Thomas’ safety, knowing that one more concussion could be devastating for him.



“They labeled me with that, as prone for concussions,” Thomas said after the Dolphins cut him and he joined the Dallas Cowboys in 2008. “Everybody just thinks I’m some guy out here that’s punch drunk, running around.”



Thomas was one of 19 active or retired players to join the Boston University registry. Others with AFC East ties include former Buffalo Bills offensive lineman Conrad Dobler, former New England Patriots cornerback Michael Haynes and Patriots tight end Don Hasselbeck.