Keep your eyes on these guys

Super Bowl week and all the nonsense that goes along with it is almost here.

The teams fly in on Monday, and Tuesday will feature Media Day, the circus that has little to do with the media or information.

Once the fans start to get real information about the team, it will mostly center on the stars and the obvious story lines.

But once the ball gets kicked off next Sunday night, the players out of the spotlight will wind up having a profound effect on the outcome.

With that in mind, we informally polled six National Football League coordinators and personnel executives to find out which underappreciated players from each team are likely to play a large role in Super Bowl XLIV.

•Daniel Muir, right defensive tackle, Colts: He was cut by the Green Bay Packers in 2008 but went on to start 10 games for Indianapolis this season. Muir played well in the AFC Championship against the New York Jets. He’ll be important because the New Orleans Saints need to run the ball with some effectiveness, and they’ve increasingly gone behind left guard Carl Nicks. Muir will need to hold his own.

•Charlie Johnson, left tackle, Colts: The Saints’ best pure rusher on the defensive line is right end Will Smith, who led the team with 13 sacks. If the Saints are forced to blitz to bring pressure against Peyton Manning, they are going to lose. So Smith has to be a force. Johnson, who played well as a rookie on the right side in Super Bowl XLI, can prevent that.

•Pat McAfee, punter, Colts: Not only does he punt, but McAfee also kicks off. Winning the field position battle against the Saints is almost solely up to him. He had a decent regular season punting with a 44.3 average and 37.8 net, and he is at his best pinning teams inside the 20 (21 of 64 punts did that). The Saints won’t be as explosive against the Colts’ Tampa-2 defense, so they’ll need constantly good field position and/or big returns to hang in a shootout.

•Jermon Bushrod, LT, Saints: He has handled himself well since being forced into the lineup when starter Jammal Brown was lost to injury. But if Bushrod can’t do a decent job against Colts end Dwight Freeney in the early going, the Saints are going to have to help Bushrod. The offense in turn will suffer with fewer receiving options in routes. Any double-teams will single up the equally dangerous Robert Mathis on the other side.

•Scott Shanle, LB, Saints: If New Orleans has any chance at stopping Manning, Shanle is going to have to play better than he did against the Minnesota Vikings. His tackling must be sounder, and he’s going to have to jam any receivers coming across his face. He can’t let the Colts receivers get free releases.

•Tracy Porter, CB, Saints: Left cornerback Jabari Greer should be able to keep Colts receiver Reggie Wayne from doing serious damage. But Porter is going to have to handle Pierre Garcon better than the Jets did.

Keep the names of those six players in mind as you’re watching the game next Sunday. Much of the focus will be on Manning and his counterpart, Drew Brees, but it’s often what happens away from the ball that determines who wins or loses.