HOUSTON (AP) – New England linebacker Tedy Bruschi is getting treatment on his injured right leg three or four times a day, and he hopes to be able to practice for the Super Bowl.

Bruschi, who has scored three touchdowns on defense this season, hurt his calf in the AFC championship game against Indianapolis.

“He’s a lot better than he was last week,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said Sunday. “He’s doing everything to get ready. He’s a great competitor, a football player, and he will do all he can to be ready to play.”

Rings and things

A trio of Carolina Panthers pulled out their most cherished piece of jewelry Sunday.

Three players who won Super Bowl rings with other teams had them on their fingers when they headed for Houston, then laughed about how they were thinking alike.

“I don’t know why we all broke them out,” said center Jeff Mitchell, who got his ring with Baltimore. “We just kind of showed up with all of them on.”

Receiver Ricky Proehl flashed his championship ring from St. Louis. Tight end Jermaine Wiggins wore his reminder of New England’s title two years ago. Offensive lineman Matt Willig was the only Panther with a Super Bowl ring – he got his in St. Louis – who didn’t bring it along.

Coach John Fox also had a ring on his finger – his NFC championship ring from the 2000 season, when he was defensive coordinator of the New York Giants. He held out his arm and showed it off to reporters Sunday night.

“It’s about the first time this one’s been out of the box,” Fox said.

Not so super

The Super Bowl last came to Houston 30 years ago and it was, by almost all accounts, one of the worst ever.

The Miami Dolphins defeated the Minnesota Vikings 24-7 in a game that Sports Illustrated writer Tex Maule famously described as having “all the excitement and suspense of a master butcher quartering a steer.”

On a foggy, cold day at Rice Stadium, Larry Csonka ran for 145 yards and the Dolphins capped their second straight championship season.

The good news: The game took only 21/2 hours.

Praising Brady

Patriots quarterback Tom Brady has heard plenty of praise since he led his team to a Super Bowl victory two years ago. But being compared to Joe Montana?

“It’s such a stretch,” Brady said. “He’s the greatest quarterback of all-time.”

The comparison, however, came from none other than Bill Walsh, who coached Montana to four Super Bowl wins with the San Francisco 49ers.

Walsh said Brady has poise like Montana did, which is why Brady is a winner despite lacking the physical gifts of some more classic quarterbacks.

“When a guy like Bill Walsh says something like that, you go “Wow, really?”‘ Brady said. “But I know there’s a long way to go.”

Head or tails

Former Houston Oilers running back Earl Campbell and former Raiders offensive lineman Gene Upshaw are among the six Hall of Fame members from Texas who will participate in the pregame coin toss for the Super Bowl.

The others are Ollie Matson, Don Maynard, Y.A. Tittle and Mike Singletary.

Texas has produced 24 of the 221 players in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Kiddie corps

The NFL has chosen high school junior Drew Stal to report on Super Bowl events for its web sites.

Stal, the sports editor of the Kinkaid (Texas) High School newspaper, will file a report from media day Tuesday on NFLHS.com and Superbowl.com.

Also moving into the media corps is Houston Texans kicker Kris Brown, who will write daily features that will be posted on the web sites. Brown played at Carroll High School in Southlake.

NFLHS.com is a popular web site for high school football fans.

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GLOBAL JUNIORS: Talk about a tough task: A group of teenage football players from Mexico, Canada, Japan and Russia will take on an academic All-Star squad from the Houston area in the NFL Global Junior Championships this week.

Two games will take place, on Wednesday and Saturday.

Five All-Star teams from three continents will participate on the first day, and the best teams will play for the titles on Saturday.

The Texas team will be made up of academic All-Stars who posted a minimum grade-point average of 3.0.

AP-ES-01-25-04 2110EST