Teams close to full health
Coach Ron Rivera said he expects linebacker Thomas Davis and defensive end Jared Allen to start for the Panthers on Sunday in the Super Bowl.
Davis missed the second half of the team’s NFC championship game win over the Arizona Cardinals with a broken right forearm. He had surgery to have 12 screws and a plate inserted into the arm and will wear a protective brace Sunday.
Allen missed the Arizona game with a small broken bone in his foot, but has had three weeks to recover.
Rivera said Friday “we are pleased with what we got from both of those guys. I’m excited about having them back on the football field. ... I believe they will be given the ‘all clear.’”
Both participated in all drills in practice Friday and — along with fullback Mike Tolbert (knee) — are listed as probable.
For Denver, all 10 players on the injury report also practiced fully and are listed as probable: Quarterback Peyton Manning (foot), tight end Owen Daniels (knees), linebacker Todd Davis (shoulder), cornerback Chris Harris (shoulder), linebacker Brandon Marshall (ankle), guard Evan Mathis (ankle), safety Darian Stewart (knee), guard Louis Vasquez (knee), safety T.J. Ward (ankle) and linebacker DeMarcus Ware (knee, back).
Manning hires investigators: Peyton Manning’s legal team used private investigators to look into the source of the Al Jazeera documentary that suggested the quarterback used human growth hormone in violation of NFL rules, according to the Washington Post.
The newspaper reported that two men hired by lawyers for the Broncos quarterback had visited the parents of the documentary’s main source before the documentary aired late last year.
Manning has strongly denied the report that aired in December accusing him of using HGH in 2011 during his recovery from major neck surgery, calling it “completely fabricated, complete trash, garbage.”
Namath to donate brain: Super Bowl III MVP Joe Namath said there’s still not enough research on traumatic brain injuries to make any conclusions about the dangers of football.
“We talk about it in football a lot,” Namath said Friday at Super Bowl’s radio row. “But I’m going to tell you something, there’s children out there falling down on a daily basis. There are mothers, there’s fathers, there’s people in car accidents.
“We don’t know enough about traumatic brain injuries at this time. What we’re trying to do is learn more about it and learn how to help people that have had traumatic brain injuries, not just football players.”
To that end, Namath said he plans to donate his brain for research after he dies.