Rivera: LB Davis, DE Allen expected to start for Panthers
SAN FRANCISCO — Panthers linebacker Thomas Davis and defensive end Jared Allen will start Sunday against Denver, Carolina coach Ron Rivera said Friday.
Both players said all week they expected to start in Super Bowl 50; they were hurt during the playoffs.
“I really was real pleased with what we got from both those guys. I’m excited about having them back on the football field,” Rivera said. “The only last hurdle, obviously, is the conversation I have to have with the doctors just to make sure and that they’re feeling comfortable. But I’d be surprised if it was anything different.”
Davis broke his right forearm during the NFC championship game against Arizona, a game Allen missed after breaking a small bone in his right foot in the divisional round against Seattle.
DEVELOPMENTS
Thomas’ mom in stands this time: Denver Broncos star receiver Demaryius Thomas’ mother will watch the Super Bowl from the stands at Levi’s Stadium, wearing her orange No. 88 jersey.
The last time the Denver Broncos played in the Super Bowl, Katina Smith and her mother wore jerseys that they had crafted from strips of tape as they watched the game on their prison TV.
Smith was released five years early from a minimum-security prison in Florida last summer as part of President Barack Obama’s push to reduce the prison population of nonviolent drug offenders.
She’d been serving a 20-year sentence after refusing to testify against her mother, Minnie Pearl Thomas, who is serving life.
Thomas still worries about his mother as she navigates modern life outside the lockup.
“I know it’s not easy for her,” Thomas said. “She gets panic attacks sometimes. I understand that. She’s been gone a long time. I do worry about her. I told her she’d be fine. That’s why I’m going to try to keep her in the hotel most of the time up until the game because she was in a long time.”
She will be surrounded by family in the stands. “My daddy won’t let nobody bother her,” Thomas said.
Final practices: The Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers wrapped up preparations with spirited practices Friday and nearly perfect performances from Peyton Manning and Cam Newton.
Both quarterbacks missed just one pass against their scout teams, Newton’s coming on the last play of the Panthers’ 90-minute practice in San Jose, California.
All 53 players on both teams participated in their final practices before today’s walk-throughs and team photos at Levi’s Stadium.
“It’s been a good week,” Broncos coach Gary Kubiak said. “It’s been a good two weeks, really. You see they’re ready. They may be a little mentally tired, just a little bit. They need to go rest for a couple of days and get ready to cut it loose Sunday.”
Panthers coach Rivera said his team’s energy rose during each of the past three days, which he said was typical for his 17-1 team.
“That’s the one thing we’ve seen,” Rivera said. “We’ve seen that buildup. That has been true every week, with the exception of one.”
Montana to handle flip: Former quarterback Joe Montana will get one more throw on the Super Bowl stage — the pregame coin toss for Super Bowl 50.
Montana was a three-time Super Bowl MVP and four-time champion with the 49ers. Joining him for the pregame coin toss will be five other Super Bowl MVPs from Bay Area franchises: Fred Biletnikoff (Raiders, XI), Jim Plunkett (Raiders, XV), Marcus Allen (Los Angeles Raiders, XVIII), Jerry Rice (49ers, Super Bowl XXIII) and Steve Young (49ers, XXIX).
Sunday’s pregame ceremony will include 40 Super Bowl MVPs on the field.
Hall of Famers slated to attend are Terry Bradshaw, Troy Aikman, Larry Csonka, John Elway, Len Dawson, Franco Harris, Joe Namath, John Riggins, Emmitt Smith, Roger Staubach, Lynn Swann and Randy White.
Bart Starr and Chuck Howley will appear via video.
Don Shula leans to Zonk: Don Shula said Cam Newton is pretty hard to tackle.
But the Hall of Fame coach still thinks Larry Csonka was tougher to bring down.
“I don’t think anyone could be tougher than Csonka,” Shula said of the former Miami Dolphins Hall of Fame running back. “Cam has more maneuverability, but Csonka is just going to grind you to the ground.”
Csonka rushed for 1,117 yards in the Dolphins’ 17-0 championship season of 1972 and had 8,081 yards in his career. He had 112 yards in Miami’s 14-7 Super Bowl VII win over the Washington Redskins.
Shula will be at Levi’s Stadium on Sunday to watch his son, Mike, the offensive coordinator for the Carolina Panthers, coach in the Super Bowl against the Denver Broncos.
The 86-year-old Shula said he regularly watches his son’s team on TV from his home in the Miami area from his recliner “cuddled up” in a Panthers blanket with a Dolphins pillow.
Not surprisingly, he said he’ll be rooting for the Panthers on Sunday.
“I’m with Mike all the way — go Panthers,” Shula said.