SAN JOSE, Calif. — When Ron Rivera’s Carolina Panthers take the field on Sunday at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., he will become the second Hispanic coach to lead his team in the Super Bowl.
He will join Tom Flores, who guided the Raiders to two Super Bowl victories in the 1980s.
Rivera met Flores for the first time at a charity golf event last summer, giving him more appreciation of the accomplishment.
“I grew up a Raiders fan, looking up to guys like Tom Flores, John Madden and Jim Plunkett,” said Rivera, who played football not far away at Seaside High on the Monterey Peninsula and then at the University of California in Berkeley. “They had some great players and great teams during that period. …
“It was really special (to meet Flores), really cool.”
Even though he is here on business, Rivera has been able to spend time with his family and hopes to get enough Super Bowl tickets for everyone who wants to see his team take on the Denver Broncos.
“I feel like I have come full circle in my football career, starting out here in Northern California and now coming back to coach the Super Bowl,” Rivera said.
“My parents still live on the Monterey Peninsula, and my brother is a retired San Jose policeman. I feel very fortunate that they are here to share this.”
–Panthers linebacker Thomas Davis, who underwent surgery on his broken right forearm the day after the NFC Championship Game, said the injury won’t keep him out of the Super Bowl.
Davis, who said he had a metal plate and about 11 or 12 screws placed in the wrist for stability, went through the Panthers’ full practice Monday and even took a few knocks on the wrist.
“I bumped it a few times and it felt OK,” Davis said. “It’s a broken arm, and the worst that could happen is that I could break it again.
“I wore a pad on it (in practice), but that’s not what I will wear in the game. Guys on the training staff are working on a couple of things, and we will see which one works best.”
When asked what the chances were of him playing and how effective he would be, Davis said: “100 percent. But if I felt I was hurting my team, I wouldn’t play because I would not put this team in jeopardy.”
Davis was asked if anyone told him about Los Angeles Rams defensive end Jack Youngblood playing in Super Bowl XIV in 1980 despite a broken leg.
“Nobody mentioned it to me, but I saw it on TV the other day on the NFL Channel,” Davis said. “Hey, it’s the Super Bowl and you have to play if you can.”
Said Rivera: “He told the team he’s going to play, and they believe him.”
–Heading into Super Bowl 50 against the Broncos on Sunday, Ricky Proehl is already familiar with euphoria and disappointment from the big game. Now the receivers coach for the Panthers, Proehl is part of some major Super Bowl trivia.
Twice as a player, he scored the tying touchdown late in Super Bowl games against New England, only to watch the Patriots counter with drives that set up Adam Vinatieri to kick game-winning field goals.
This, of course, is the same Ricky Proehl who scored what turned out to be the game-winning touchdown on a pass from quarterback Kurt Warner in the St. Louis Rams’ 11-6 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 1999 NFC Championship Game. That 30-yard score with 4:44 remaining in the game catapulted the Rams to their Super Bowl win over the Tennessee Titans.
His next two trips turned out differently.
Two years later, Proehl scored on a 26-yard pass from Warner with 1:37 remaining to tie the game at 17. Vinatieri then kicked the game-winning 48-yard field goal as time expired.
Another two years later, Proehl did it again, this time with the Panthers. He scored on a 12-yard pass from quarterback Jake Delhomme with 1:08 left to forge a 29-29 tie. But Vinatieri did it again, this time from 41 yards out with four seconds remaining.
“What really hurt that time,” Proehl said Monday, “is that (Patriots coach Bill) Belichick said later they would have taken a knee after the ensuing kickoff.
“They were gassed, and had lost several defensive players in the game, including (safety Rodney) Harrison.”
Unfortunately for the Panthers, John Kasay kicked the ball out of bounds and the Patriots started from their own 40, prompting the strategy to change. New England overcame an offensive-pass-interference call on wide receiver Troy Brown, and quarterback Tom Brady completed four consecutive passes for 47 yards, the final 17 on a third-and-3 play that moved the ball to the Panthers’ 23-yard line to set up the winning kick.
Still, Proehl has fond memories of those Super Bowls and is thankful to be in one as a coach. He also likened this team to the one he was on with the Rams. He always remembers an incident in 1999 when the headliners on the team’s offense — Warner, running back Marshall Faulk and wide receivers Isaac Bruce, Torry Holt and Az-Zahir Hakim — were gathered together to do a cover photo shoot for a national magazine. To a man, they all said they wouldn’t do it without Proehl.
“That was a great group,” Proehl said of the Rams. “Just like this one. They remind me of those days with the Rams. They care for each other, enjoy each other and respect each other.”
–The Sports Xchange’s Howard Balzer contributed to this notebook.