Enquirer wire services

HONOLULU - After the Carolina Panthers lost the Super Bowl, taking a nine-hour flight to Hawaii was just about the last thing defensive end Mike Rucker wanted to do.

It might turn out to be the best way to forget the sad ending to the Panthers' season. Rucker joined teammates Kris Jenkins, Stephen Davis and Todd Sauerbrun at the Pro Bowl.

Rucker, a fifth-year pro making his first trip to Honolulu, took the 32-29 loss to New England as hard as anyone. He was around for Carolina's 1-15 season in 2001 and developed into a Pro Bowler while his team became a winner.

"It's definitely an unfulfilled feeling," Rucker said. "But after long plane rides, I've had a long time to think about it. Once I got over here and started getting around the fellas, it kind of got my mind off it. It's kind of a therapy for me, trying to get that bad feeling out of you."

While the AFC stars worked out at Aloha Stadium on Wednesday, Philadelphia coach Andy Reid led his third straight season of workouts for the NFC at the posh Ihilani resort on Oahu's west side.

Reid, whose Eagles lost the NFC title game to the Panthers, expects all four Carolina players to be important parts of the team - as long as they shake the post-Super Bowl malaise.

Jenkins is trying not to think about the heartbreaking loss.

"I just know we were so close to getting it all," said Jenkins, a two-time Pro Bowler. "I haven't really sat back and thought about all the good things we did this year, because it's too fresh still. It hurts. My shoulder hurts, too, but I've got time to get everything right now. This is a good time."

BILLS: Coach Mike Mularkey will wait until next week to decide if hiring Sam Wyche as his quarterbacks coach is a prudent move, given Wyche's recent history of health problems, the team said Friday.

Wyche, 58, has been in Buffalo since Tuesday, meeting and working alongside Mularkey and his staff in what has amounted to a job tryout. Mularkey had indicated he would make a decision on Wyche on Friday, but that did not happen.

Since leaving the NFL in 1995, Wyche has battled a rare condition in which the heart is weakened by lack of oxygen. Medication has the condition under control, said Wyche, a former Bengals coach.

KEYSHAWN JOHNSON: Keyshawn Johnson was ordered Friday to stay away from a man who was dating his ex-wife, attorneys said.

John Mahannah Jr., 31, said Johnson threatened to kill him, "beat him to a pulp," made repeated harassing phone calls and chased after him at a funeral both men attended, according to court documents. Four men had to hold Johnson back from attacking Mahannah in public, the document said.

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