NEW YORK — It was back to business at the Super Bowl.
With the wackiness of media day out of the way, the Seattle Seahawks and Denver Broncos hit the practice field Wednesday for their first full workouts this week leading up to Sunday’s big game.
Seattle running back Marshawn Lynch got his usual Wednesday off, the only Seahawks player not to participate as the team practiced indoors at the New York Giants’ team facility in East Rutherford, N.J.
This is the day we rest Marshawn,” coach Pete Carroll said. Wednesday is always a rest day for him. We’ve been doing that for years, and it’s always worked out great.”
Wide receiver Doug Baldwin was a full participant after being held out of all three practices last week with a hip injury. Defensive tackle Brandon Mebane was also a full participant after an ankle injury slowed him last week.
The Broncos worked out in pads for nearly two hours after a 30-minute walkthrough session, practicing on the synthetic turf outdoor field at the New York Jets’ training facility in Florham Park, N.J.
It was great,” Broncos coach John Fox said after a practice in which the temperature dipped to 21 degrees. We’re pretty much weather-proof. We practice in this stuff all the time.”
Here’s a quick look at a few of the other Super Bowl story lines from Wednesday:
MUM MARSHAWN: A question about Skittles, his favorite candy, couldn’t even get Lynch to be chatty.
The Seahawks running back abruptly ended his media availability — again — walking away from a throng of reporters while escorted by a member of the New Jersey State Police after about 7 uncomfortable minutes in which he answered just a few questions.
Lynch created a stir at media day Tuesday by talking for only 6½ minutes. He writhed in his seat and leaned his head back at times Wednesday as a few dozen reporters tried to get Lynch to open up during the players’ 45-minute availability at the team hotel.
I really don’t have too much to say, boss,” Lynch said in a tone barely above a whisper. I really don’t. I appreciate it, but I don’t get it. I’m just here so I won’t get fined, boss. That’s the only reason I’m here.”
It didn’t appear Lynch would be fined by the league, for either Tuesday or Wednesday.
SECURITY ISSUES?: Federal and local authorities have heightened security and studied intelligence about recent attacks on mass transit in Russia, even though there have been no specific terror threats against the Super Bowl.
Trains, buses and cars taking fans from New York and parts of New Jersey to the stadium and back again are going to be scanned, they’re going to be checked, they’re going to be swept,” said Col. Rick Fuentes, head of the New Jersey State Police.
This year’s Super Bowl has the distinction of relying on mass transit to take up to 30,000 fans to the game, so the deadly bombings in the southern Russian city of Volograd have raised worries here. Fuentes added that the suicide attacks on a trolleybus and a train station that killed more than 30 people within weeks of the Winter Olympics also prompted a series of meetings among the planners for Super Bowl security.
ROAD TO THE SUPER BOWL: Times Square has transformed from the Crossroads of the World to Super Bowl Boulevard.
The popular tourist spot in midtown Manhattan now includes a toboggan run, the centerpiece of a Super Bowl-themed outdoor street fair. Hundreds of people watched as the shiny silver Vince Lombardi Trophy made its debut in a glass case, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio joined the crowd for the unveiling of giant lighted Roman numerals XLVIII.
As a big football fan and even bigger fan of the Big Apple, I could not be more thrilled at what’s happening with Super Bowl Boulevard,” de Blasio said.
PURSUING PEYTON: This Super Bowl could have featured Peyton Manning as the quarterback of the Seahawks.
In March 2012, coach Pete Carroll and GM John Schneider waited in a private plane in Denver, wondering if Manning would accept a request to meet with the brain trust of the Seahawks to see if that could be a potential landing spot for the free agent quarterback.
But, as Carroll recalled, the entire process was brief.”
We tried to get involved with that to see if there was a next stage to the process,” Carroll said, and there wasn’t.”
Manning decided to go to Denver, of course, and the Seahawks ended up drafting Russell Wilson.
WEATHER WATCH: It appears MetLife Stadium won’t be covered in snow for the Super Bowl.
It’ll still be plenty cold on Sunday, but the bone-chilling temperatures many were concerned about might not be too much of a worry, either.
According to the National Weather Service, Sunday’s high temperature is expected to be 38 degrees — which would make it the coldest of the 48 Super Bowls. With the opening kickoff scheduled for about 6:30 p.m., the mercury could drop into the 20s by the time the game ends.
I was expecting unbearable cold,” Broncos safety Duke Ihenacho said. It’ll be cold, but it’s nothing we haven’t seen in Denver.”
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AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org
