The pain of losing a Super Bowl never really disappears. It drives players who have experienced it to get back and get it right.
Ricky Proehl has been to four Super Bowls as a player, going 2-2. He won and lost with the Rams, lost with the Panthers, and got the second ring in his final NFL season, 2006 with Indianapolis.
He's at the big game again as Carolina's wide receivers coach, buoyed by memories of earning those rings, haunted by remembrances of the two failures.
"Anger, disbelief, shock," Proehl said Wednesday of his reactions to walking off the field a Super Bowl loser.
"And then they rush you off like it's a cattle drive so they can set up a stage for the winning team. You sometimes don't even get a chance to congratulate the winners.
"It's painful."
Proehl has relayed those sentiments to some Panthers, emphasizing just how good the opposite feelings are.
"You are on top of the world, on top of your profession," said the former receiver who played for six teams in a 17-year career, the first nine of which he didn't reach the postseason.
"You start out with a common goal and you're going with guys to attain a dream, and then you are hoisting the Lombardi Trophy. Everyone in this league should be able to feel that feeling with their teammates."
But only four players who will suit up Sunday have had that joy, and just one current Bronco: Peyton Manning with the Colts.
Carolina's Michael Oher and Ed Dickson earned rings with Baltimore, Roman Harper with New Orleans.
And the guys who have fallen short, including Manning, have used that letdown as motivation.
"We got beat by a hot team and a better team that night," he said of the 43-8 whipping Seattle put on Denver two years ago. "It was disappointing. It was a tough pill to swallow."
Kubiak sends home player
Broncos coach Gary Kubiak says he's disappointed he had to send home one of his practice squad players who was caught up in a prostitution sting a few miles from the team hotel.
The Broncos sent safety Ryan Murphy home after he was questioned by authorities during a sting in San Jose on Tuesday.
Santa Clara County Sheriff's Sgt. James Jensen said Murphy, 23, was detained and questioned Tuesday and released after investigators determined he was not involved in any criminal activities.
The Broncos sent him back to Denver anyway because they said it would be best for the team to prepare for Super Bowl 50 without him.
"Yeah, there's disappointment, but it's been dealt with and we've moved on," Kubiak said Wednesday. "I dealt with it yesterday and obviously disappointed for the young man, but we're focused on what we have to do football wise, we're on work this morning with our meetings and getting into our routine. So we've moved on."
Etc.
• Defensive end Jared Allen, who missed the Panthers' win over Arizona in the NFC Championship Game because of a broken bone in his right foot, was a limited participant in practice on Wednesday.
"Jared's was really about rest," coach Ron Rivera said.
• Broncos defensive lineman Antonio Smith plans to play in the Super Bowl despite learning of his father's death Wednesday.
Smith told the Denver Post he learned about his father's death Wednesday in a phone call from his mother.
Marty Christopher Williams, 55, who had been incarcerated for more than 20 years, had recently undergone heart surgery, Smith told the newspaper.
