HE’S BEEN BUFFALOED : Jim Kelly Once Said He’d Never Play There, but He’s Enjoying Life With Bills

The Bills’ 1986 season was like a lot of football seasons in Buffalo: The most memorable thing about it was the weather.

“We played a game against the Steelers when the wind was averaging about 40 m.p.h. and gusting up to about 60,” Jim Kelly said. “I think I threw for like 98 yards.

“Against Cleveland, it was like 35 degrees and pouring down rain.”

But to play quarterback in Buffalo, which Kelly once said he would never do, one must learn to cope.

“It definitely hurts, but I’m here and I’ve gotta make the best of it,” he said. “We have a super team and are trying to turn things around. I’m here to play.”

Kelly was on the phone from training camp at Fredonia State in western New York, where the Bills are regrouping from a 4-12 campaign. That was their best season in three years and says succinctly how things have been in Buffalo lately. Saturday night, the Bills will be at the Coliseum to solicit a progress report from the Raiders.

Kelly has been there before. As a member of the Houston Gamblers, he scorched the Los Angeles Express one February afternoon in 1985, passing for 574 yards and 5 touchdowns, a United States Football League record that will stand forever.

Kelly, who preceded Bernie Kosar and Vinny Testaverde, was the first in a line of hot University of Miami quarterbacks who have aroused scouts’ passions in the 1980s. The Bills chose him in the first round of the National Football League draft in ‘83, but he chose to play indoors at Houston rather than outdoors at Buffalo, which seemed a wise choice at the time, since he was getting no wind, no snow and a quarterback’s dream of an offense.

Operating in Coach Mouse Davis’ wild scheme, Kelly passed for 83 touchdowns in two years and hardly ever had to hand off.

But when the USFL boarded up its windows, Kelly’s future reverted to Buffalo.

“Never,” he said, and he stuck to his oath right down to the moment the Bills offered him $8 million to spend the next five years there.

Suddenly, blizzards didn’t seem so bad.

Still, Buffalo and the Bills were not his heart’s desire. “I would have liked to have played for some other teams,” Kelly said.

One was the Pittsburgh Steelers. Kelly grew up in the Pittsburgh suburb of East Brady.

Another was the Raiders. Kelly, who has some street fighter in him, liked the Raiders’ style. He was reportedly seen wearing a Raider cap around Bourbon Street during the ’86 Super Bowl week in New Orleans.

“But things didn’t work out that way,” he said. “I guess I don’t have the powers of Brian Bosworth.

“If I’d have sat out another year I would have become a free agent. People definitely were trying to work out a trade, but I really see where I am now and I have no complaints.”

Considering his locale, Kelly has managed to maintain a high level of national visibility. He hasn’t gone as far as moving to Buffalo year round, preferring Houston, but competed in the Superstars competition and appeared with David Letterman and Oprah Winfrey, which is pretty big stuff for Buffalo.

“I’m enjoying the people here,” Kelly said. “It’s just unbelievable. Last year, we were 4 and 12 and averaged 68,000 fans. The people are just super up here.

“It was hard on me last year because that was the first losing season of my life. I hope it’ll be the last. I want to get more attention than from just signing. I want to bring this team up and start winning.

“When you look back, you see where the Giants were a few years before they won the Super Bowl, where they’ve come from.”

Kelly was one of six quarterbacks drafted in the first round in ’83. Three of the others--Denver’s John Elway, New England’s Tony Eason and Miami’s Dan Marino--have already played in Super Bowls, while Kansas City’s Todd Blackledge and the New York Jets’ Ken O’Brien have struggled.

“The two years’ (USFL) experience helped,” Kelly said of his career. “The type of play was not the same--well, as far as a quarterback goes, it was. Jim Kelly has to hit his receivers no matter who or where it is. I read my coverages just like I have to now. The main thing I saw was the (lack of) experience. The difference wasn’t too much for me.”

Despite signing with the Bills about two weeks before the ’86 season opened, Kelly started all 16 games and completed 59.4% of his passes for 22 touchdowns, with 17 interceptions.

According to Coach Marv Levy, who succeeded Hank Bullough in midseason, “Kelly has the ideal temperament for a quarterback. He’s very tough-minded, (with) a lot of confidence--not just bravado. He’s able to have things go wrong and keep his cool, and he’s tough.”

That helps if one must perform in Buffalo.

“You always hear so many negative things about Buffalo,” Kelly said. “But after being here and experiencing it, it’s not as bad as everyone said it was.”

Raider Notes The Raiders may be entering their mean mode. Midway through Wednesday afternoon’s practice tight end Todd Christensen and wide receiver Dokie Williams exchanged words about some mixed-up pass routes. They soon made up, but later, free safety Vann McElroy and running back Ethan Horton twice had to be held apart when McElroy took Horton down hard on consecutive plays during a run drill. Coach Tom Flores stepped in to speak to both players and sent McElroy to the sideline to cool off. “It was a pretty spirited practice,” Flores said, apparently pleased. “The tempo picked up.” . . . Wide receiver James Lofton twisted a leg when he fell while reaching back for a pass near the end of the practice and went immediately to the trainer’s room. “It’s nothing serious,” Flores said, “but as a precaution we put ice on it right away.” . . . There will be only single, afternoon practices today and Friday. . . . Flores said Rusty Hilger will start at quarterback Saturday night against Buffalo, but he is undecided on a plan for Ed Luther and/or Marc Wilson in the second half. . . . Several players have missed one or two drills with a 24-hour stomach virus that is going around camp. . . . Defensive end Bob Buczkowski, the club’s first-round draft choice last year, returned to camp from his longer battle with a virus, “but he’s still weak,” Flores said. . . . Gardner Williams, a free agent cornerback from St. Mary’s, was cut. He is the son for former Raider safety Howie Williams . . . Rookie running back Steve Smith, the team’s leading rusher against San Francisco last week (3-30) remained out with a strained groin. . . . Cornerback Lester Hayes, out all week, said his left foot hurts on the outside of the joint between the foot and ankle. “I was backpedaling before the game (against San Francisco last week) and stepped in a soft spot,” Hayes said. “My foot just turned over.” Hayes said he will miss this week’s game but be ready for the Cowboys at Dallas Aug. 30.

Mark Pattison swears it’s true. At 25, he grew an inch. The Raiders list the wide receiver at 6-foot-2, which was true when he finished the season with them last year. But now, he says, he is 6-3. “I swear, I don’t know the reason,” Pattison said, although he thinks it may have something to do with an off-season training program that dropped his weight from 198 to 192 and increased his 40-yard speed from 4.6 to 4.5 seconds. . . . Jim Plunkett, who will be 40 Dec. 5, is still listed as “physically unable to perform” after off-season arthroscopic shoulder surgery but continues to zip passes to volunteer receivers after practice.