Goodell’s NFL doesn’t have short-term plans for L.A.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell delivered his first Super Bowl address Friday, but he shed little new light on the prospects of putting a team back in the Los Angeles market.

“We need to find a solution in Los Angeles that works for both the community and the NFL,” he said in a refrain he and his predecessor, Paul Tagliabue, have said for years.

“It’s important for us to be in Los Angeles long-term, but we have survived quite well without Los Angeles, and Los Angeles has survived quite well without the NFL. But I think we would be better together. I want to find a way to do that that would be best for all parties.”

Goodell, who answered questions for about an hour, spoke on several other issues.

On the potential for testing players for human-growth hormone: “There is no reliable test for HGH right now. We are investing money to develop that test. I don’t know if it will be a blood test or urine test. We are going to pursue both.”

On the push of retired players to bolster pension plans: “I am very concerned any time you see one of our former players, and the men that helped make this game great, have the medical issues that they’re having.”

On the news that Green Bay quarterback Brett Favre will return next season instead of retiring: “Brett hasn’t called me lately. I think he’s obviously just been an incredible performer for the NFL, and if it’s true it’s great news for the league.”

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Indianapolis defensive end Robert Mathis, the team’s sack leader this season, left the Colts’ final full workout Friday because of back spasms and was put on the injury report as probable.

It was not immediately apparent how Mathis was injured, but Coach Tony Dungy said he didn’t think Mathis would miss the Super Bowl.

“He’ll be fine,” Dungy said after a 1 1/2 -hour workout at the Miami Dolphins’ practice facility. “He left [practice] as a precaution.”

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It isn’t often that Dungy invites someone to speak to his team before a game, but he has done that for Sunday. And it isn’t a football expert.

The Colts coach has asked Helio Castroneves, the championship Indy Racing League driver, to give his players a pep talk.

“Helio and I have gotten to become good friends,” Dungy explained. “He actually let me in his pit when they were getting ready for the Indianapolis 500. And it’s the same type of thing.

“I want him to address the team a little bit about what it means to win the biggest game in your sport. And he’s also a big Colts fan, so it will be a win-win situation for us.”

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Chicago Coach Lovie Smith credits his success in part to his mother -- because she wouldn’t let him use the word “Can’t.”

“It helped quite a bit,” Smith said. “As you’re young and growing up, you believe what your parents tell you, and my mom said that I couldn’t say it around her. ‘There’s no such word as can’t.’

“And you start buying into that, having a chance to grow up in an environment at Big Sandy [Texas], where we won just about every football game. It helps you to picture winning wherever you are.”

sam.farmer@latimes.com