Yesterday, we brought you Jared Allen‘s strategy for taking things slow during Pro Bowl week, but don’t miss him wired for sound and wearing a helmet cam during Pro Bowl practice.

HONOLULU — The Peyton Manning void is being felt beyond the football field here in Hawaii.

Long known as a practical joker, Manning, an 11-time Pro Bowl QB, has been known to add a certain levity to the proceedings. His best-known prank, according to those who have seen it in action, is to sign a few meals under the room of some unsuspecting rookie or Pro Bowl newbie.

But with Manning not around — this is the first time since 2002 he hasn’t been voted to the Pro Bowl — the practical joking has taken a backseat to sun tanning and paddle boarding.

That doesn’t mean the first-timers aren’t on high alert here.

“I’m hoping that nothing like that happens,” Bengals rookie QB Andy Dalton said.

“I was already told not to give out your room number,” Saints second-year TE Jimmy Graham said. “I’ve probably had 10 guys ask me for my room number. I’ve given them all fake numbers, so somebody’s got a crazy bill, I’m sure.”

Steelers WR Mike Wallace has been in the league for three years, but this is his first as a Pro Bowler, and he’s not about to let his guard down.

“Everybody’s been pretty cool, but they just told me in the huddle that they’re going to get me,” Wallace said after Thursday’s practice. “I’m about to start ducking them. I’m about to stop hanging around these guys and just hang out with my family.

“They asked me for my room number. I told them I didn’t know. I told them I’ll let them know later.”

– Aron Angel

Cam Newton muffed his only punt-return attempt Thursday, then scooped it up and looked to break some tackles. (Perry Knotts/NFL)

HONOLULU — When Cam Newton goes long to catch a deep pass in Sunday’s Pro Bowl, remember where you heard it first.

Yes, you read that correctly.

The Panthers’ rookie QB was hamming it up with the military personnel on hand for Thursday’s practice at Hickam Air Force Base and was the star of the show.

Newton was sent out to return an Andy Lee punt, which he proceeded to drop, much to the dismay of the hundreds looking on. Newton later closed the practice by lining up wide and catching a nicely thrown ball, about 50 yards down the sideline, from Aaron Rodgers.

“Did you see that?” Packers WR Greg Jennings said afterward. “He looks really fluid and natural. It’s kind of scary.”

But Jennings doesn’t intend to lose “valuable” practice time to Newton.

“As a receiver, we’re the prima donnas,” Jennings said. “Cam, you can’t take reps from us. But there might be something that we can throw out there.”

Is Jennings forecasting a secret weapon?

“We’ll see,” he warned.

– Aron Angel

HONOLULU — You can’t escape Tim Tebow. Not even at the Pro Bowl, where the Broncos QB wasn’t even invited.

No, Tebow didn’t make a surprise appearance here in Oahu (unless the NFL has some plan we’re not aware of). But last night’s NFL-sponsored Luau at the Marriott Ihilani included some Tebow Time.

The league went with a surfing theme, bringing a number of current and legendary professional surfers on stage to discuss their craft, including 21-year-old “Soul Surfer” Bethany Hamilton.

Hamilton, best known for her work as a professional surfer in the wake of a shark attack that took her entire left arm, told last night’s crowd of Pro Bowlers and their families that she has a little crush on, you guessed it, Tebow.

Hamilton was bummed to find out Tebow wouldn’t be here this week.

“I’m hoping someone here can help me get in touch with him,” she noted.

No word on if she was successful in her quest.

– Aron Angel

Only two active players have more than one Super Bowl ring. Tom Brady has three, and Ben Roethlisberger owns a pair. A Giants win in Super Bowl XLVI would give Eli Manning his second.

With a handful of past Super Bowl winners in Hawaii, NFL.com’s Jeff Darlington caught up with a few quarterbacks to talk about their quest for the next one.

“Once you get there, there’s this little bit of a sigh of relief,” Saints QB Drew Brees said. “We won. We did it. But then, it’s right back to focusing on how to get back for another.”

What’s it like practicing with a whole different group of players?

“We all run the same plays,” Rivers says. “We just call it different.”

True to the Pro Bowl, the AFC closes out practice with “Relax on 3. 1, 2, 3 … Relax!”

The NFL said Wednesday it will set up a computer on each sideline for the Pro Bowl, where players will be encouraged to use Twitter to communicate with fans, teammates and even opponents during commercial breaks and when their offensive or defensive unit isn’t on the field.

HONOLULU — The Pro Bowl can be a lonely place for a rookie, as evidenced by Jeff Darlington‘s observation on Cam Newton dining by himself last night.

But if Newton is looking for dinner company, he needs to look no further than his own offensive teammates.

Wide receiver Steve Smith and center Ryan Kalil are both here, and to make things even better, Smith brought the rest of the Panthers’ receiving corps with him to Hawaii.

“I wouldn’t be here without those guys,” Smith said after Wednesday’s practice, “So I just wanted to do something nice for them, bring them out here and show them Hawaii.”

A classy move, no doubt, by Smith, who actually was able to save the cost of one plane ticket on Panthers rookie Kealoha Pilares, who’s from the island and lives here during the offseson.

Smith said he and his teammates plan to use Pilares’ knowledge of the local terrain to their advantage.

“Us guys, we get to experience his culture,” Smith said. “We’re mainlanders, as he calls us, so we get to show him around the mainland. Now it’s his turn to show us around his island.

“We knew he was already going to be here. Today or tomorrow, we’re going to go to the North Shore and just experience — not the touristy spots — but this beautiful place and see the parts that if you didn’t know, you wouldn’t find them.”

– Aron Angel

HONOLULU — A little business in between the fun here in Hawaii …

Vincent Jackson is all smiles Wednesday during Pro Bowl practice. (Marco Garcia/Associated Press)

While reports suggest A.J. Smith now is “comfortable” exploring a long-term deal for Vincent Jackson, the Chargers wide receiver said he has yet to speak to the general manager himself.

“There hasn’t been any communication as far as contracts go,” Jackson said after Wednesday’s Pro Bowl practice. “If that’s their feeling, that’s great. I would like to stay in San Diego. Obviously, that’s my home, that’s where I was drafted. I’ve got some good guys around me -– Philip Rivers (Antonio) Gates, Ryan Mathews. It would be a great place for me to stay, so we’ll see if that works out.”

Jackson, who earned $11.4 million this past season as the team’s franchise player, said he’d prefer to avoid the tag again.

“That’s something that’s out of my control,” he said. “I can’t concern myself with how that goes. I’d love to have a long-term deal, just to have security of where you’re going to be for a while. That’s a decision that they have to make.”

In the meantime, Jackson, like everyone else, is just happy to be in Hawaii.

“This is beautiful,” he said. “It makes California seem like Colorado right now.”

– Aron Angel

HONOLULU — 49ers punter Andy Lee put it best when he said, “There must be something in the water” in the Bay Area.

San Francisco 49ers kicker David Akers (left) and punter Andy Lee during practice. (Perry Knotts/NFL)

That’s the only explanation as to why, for likely the first time ever, the kicking units for the NFC and AFC each come from two teams from one area: 49ers and Raiders.

Lee is here with 49ers kicker David Akers and long snapper Brian Jennings.

“It’s awesome to be here with my guys and to have my long snapper here,” Lee said. “For Dave to have his long snapper here, so it’s his rhythm that he’s been used to all season, it’s a really unique thing to share this with those guys that you spent all season with.”

Raiders kicker Sebastian Janikowski, amazingly making his first Pro Bowl appearance in 12 seasons, is here with punter Shane Lechler and long snapper Jon Condo.

“It’s fun,” Lechler said. “We’re going to see if one of these golf courses can let us get a six-some out here because we’re going to go play, us against them, and put a little money on the line.”

Lee said he keeps up with his counterparts across the Bay, making this week’s experience even sweeter.

“I’m friends with them, Dave’s friends with them,” Lee said. “Of course, there’s competition in anything. You wouldn’t be playing this game if you didn’t want to be the best. Of course, there’s competition there, but it’s friendly competition.”

While offense and defense were on the field “banging helmets,” Lee spent the early part of Wednesday’s practice on the sideline with Akers and Jennings, playing catch with some kids. That led to the question: Is there a better gig than being a long snapper at the Pro Bowl.

“Yeah,” Lee said. “The punter.”

– Aron Angel

NFL Network’s Fran Charles and Tom Waddle caught up with Packers LB Clay Matthews and CB Charles Woodson on Wednesday to talk about the “consolation prize” of a Pro Bowl trip.

According to Woodson, the key to making it to the Super Bowl is peaking at the right time.

“I think the momentum aspect was the biggest change. Because we basically started our playoffs the last two games of the regular season,” Woodson said of the Packers’ championship run last year. “This season, we had everything wrapped up, had a little time off. We came in and played against a team that was hot, the way we were hot the year before.”

That team would be the Giants, who defeated the Packers 37-20 in the divisional round and have ridden their own momentum to the Super Bowl, trying to repeat Green Bay’s run from a year earlier.

HONOLULU — Based on the way he was hobbling around during the Steelers’ playoff loss earlier this month, Ben Roethlisberger‘s appearance at this week’s Pro Bowl has to be considered some kind of bonus … for the fans. The Steelers might not be thrilled with the idea of their banged-up QB running around during an all-star game.

But Roethlisberger, who walked with a slight limp during Wednesday’s practice, swears he’s well enough to play.

“Not bad,” Roethlisberger said about his ankle. “Lots of time to rest. Still a little swollen, but it’s all right.”

No word on whether or not Mike Tomlin has put in a call to AFC coach Gary Kubiak about Roethlisberger’s playing time. But Big Ben didn’t seem concerned while forecasting what he expects to be a cameo appearance.

“We’ve rested it long enough now,” he said. “Coaches know. It’s not one of those games where I’m going to have to scramble away from people. It’ll hopefully be a quick in and out.”

Cut to Jared Allen nodding in agreement while taking a knee.

– Aron Angel

HONOLULU — Let’s be honest: Nobody comes to the Pro Bowl trying to win a parking spot as the best practice player of the week.

As such, Vikings DE Jared Allen, who only knows one speed during the regular season, says slowing things down during Pro Bowl week is an art form he has perfected over the years.

“You don’t want to be the guy that’s the jerk, out-hustling everybody else,” Allen said Wednesday, following the NFC’s first practice of the week.

Allen said the same rule applies for Sunday’s game.

“You kind of play it by ear,” he said. “If one of their offensive players decides he wants to ramp it up, you’ve got to ramp it up. If you’re behind, you might have to ramp it up.”

But Allen also acknowledged that everyone is well aware that the winning team receives a bigger paycheck at the end of the day, noting, “They keep raising the prize money, so eventually it’s like a game check.”

To that end, Allen said the action usually becomes more intense as the game progresses

“If their defense decides to go crazy, we have to look out for our offense,” Allen said. “So it’s kind of like everybody’s playing a chess match to see who’s going to strike first … and then it’s on.”

Allen is one of the NFL’s biggest characters. We’ll surely have more from him as the week goes on, staring with some exclusive miked-up material from Wednesday’s practice session, complete with helmet cam and all.

The always self-deprecating Allen had this to say while letting some of his teammates know his practice antics would be featured on NFL Network: “The NFL is going to lose ratings with me miked up.”

HONOLULU — Speaking Tuesday at the Pro Bowl news conference, Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie said the state “will do everything we can” to keep the NFL’s all-star game, a notion heavily supported by players on hand.

“This is a unique place to get away,” Chargers WR Vincent Jackson said. “It’s still the U.S., but you kind of feel like you’re in a foreign country. They obviously do a great job with the accommodations out here. It’s great for the family, so I hope they keep it out here.”

Vikings DE Jared Allen is on his fourth Pro Bowl roster, including two years ago when the NFL stopped a 30-year run in Hawaii and decided to experiment with holding the game in Miami.

“When it was in Miami, it was kind of just like, eh, we’re in Florida,” Allen said. “So coming across, everybody’s on vacation, more relaxed, less stressful. It’s really family oriented over here, which is cool. It’s kind of like your reward for success instead of going to a city that you got to all the time.”

Panthers WR Steve Smith suggested he wouldn’t even be here if the game wasn’t held in Hawaii, and Allen couldn’t agree more.

“That’s a lot of players’ attitude, I think. If it’s in an NFL city, you’re in those cities quite often,” Allen said. “I found in Miami, you’re at the hotel signing autographs 99 percent of the time. It was just kind of chaotic, guys weren’t showing up, you had a lot of alternates in and out. Over here, it’s kind of what everybody looks forward to. Even if you had a crappy season, ‘I made it to Hawaii.’ I like it. It’s been a tradition. They started it here, they should keep it here.”

It almost seems wrong that Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger, a two-time Super Bowl champion, is here for just the second time in eight seasons, the last time coming after the 2007 season.

“I think it should stay here,” Roethlisberger said. “I think guys like coming here and getting a little vacation. You know, you get a paid vacation. That’s what this is. It’s an opportunity, and guys should be rewarded for their work during the season.”

– Aron Angel

Pro Bowl players come in all shapes and sizes (the hot topic around here is just how big Panthers rookie QB Cam Newton is in person).

NFL.com’s Jeff Darlington takes a look at the different mix of personalities participating in this year’s game, as evidenced by the three QBs on the NFC’s roster.

“From the unacquainted rookie (Newton) to the young star (Aaron Rodgers) to the veteran family man (Drew Brees), it didn’t take much Tuesday to recognize how different life currently is for each of the NFC’s three Pro Bowl quarterbacks in Hawaii this week,” Darlington writes.