It’s Time for Rams and Bills to Take Some Physical Shots

It was bound to happen sooner or later, a prime-time game week that wasn’t awash in a sea of soft soap and cliches.

Maybe tonight’s battle between the Rams and Buffalo Bills won’t be lost in the trenches after all.

Bill quarterback Jim Kelly started it last Monday, less than 24 hours after his left shoulder separated under the rush of Indianapolis Colts’ end Jon Hand, who raced by Bill right tackle Howard Ballard as if he was standing still.

Well, Kelly suggested Ballard was standing still, and that his next move should be out of town. “I think four out of our five positions on the line are very solid,” Kelly told local reporters, all but spelling out Ballard’s name.

More words were spoken before Buffalo Coach Marv Levy stepped in Thursday and asked Kelly to play peacemaker.

“I think Jim and one or two of the other players addressed it in a healthy way,” Levy said. “Jim was very concerned about how it came out and the impact on the team. I don’t muzzle our players so you can’t talk. I try to counsel them to use good judgment. Did Jim use real good judgment in this instance? Probably not, he was hurting, and he saw himself out. Do I retain any anger toward him? Hell no, I love Jim Kelly.”

Ballard is quarterback Frank Reich’s problem tonight. Kelly will be sidelined for at least three weeks, leaving Reich to make his first National Football League start against the unbeaten Rams.

Reich has been in the league five years, but barely has one full game’s worth of numbers.

“Last week I threw my first NFL touchdown pass, if that tells you something,” Reich said.

Now do you see Kelly’s point?

Meanwhile, across the continent, Coach John Robinson couldn’t get the muzzle on tailback Greg Bell fast enough.

Bell spent three mostly bitter seasons in Buffalo from 1984 to ’87 before his trade to the Rams, yet by the time Bell was silenced, he called Bill nose tackle Fred Smerlas and others “rednecks,” all but accused Buffalo’s team doctor of malpractice, called the general manager a liar and the head coach a con artist.

Did Bell mention Ronnie Harmon, the former first-round draft choice the Bills promised would make everyone forget about Bell in Buffalo? Harmon, as Bell points out, will be mopping up for starter Thurman Thomas tonight.

“Now that you’ve seen Ronnie Harmon play, would you spend a first-rounder on him?” Bell asked.

The fearless Smerlas, who dubbed Bell with the nickname “Tinker” in Buffalo, gathered some thoughts about his former teammate and said: “Tinker is a stinker.”

Robinson hasn’t had such a live wire at tailback since Eric Dickerson. But Dickerson understood the value of not mouthing off about opponents, especially nose tackles.

Robinson, a master of media control, didn’t care much for Bell’s comments, and later in the week asked Bell to cool it.

“We would rather not have some major issue,” Robinson said. “But if there’s a riot and they’re coming, I will point out that I didn’t say anything. I love Buffalo.”

So, we have Bills angry at Bills, Rams angry at Bills, and probably some Rams angry at Rams. But the game on the field still boils down to the Bills without Kelly, their physical and spiritual leader, who threw 11 touchdown passes through five games before his injury. Kelly threw only 15 last year in leading Buffalo to the AFC East title.

No one is denying Reich knows the Bills’ playbook.

“Frank, mentally, can certainly handle any of the things we ask of him,” Levy said.

But 41 total passes thrown in five years does not a great quarterback make. For years, Reich has prepared each week as if he were playing a mind game that would make any psychologist proud.

“A lot of people have said that it might be one of the tougher things to do mentally,” Reich said. “And I guess it is, but I think you grow accustomed. It’s been five years for me in Buffalo, and this is the first game I’ve started.”

Reich received an encouraging phone call this week from close friend Boomer Esiason, a former teammate at Maryland and now his business partner in a boot company.

But Boomer could only offer advice, not his left arm.

“My biggest thrills have really come in preseason,” Reich explained. “Even so, that can’t be that much of a thrill, because you’re not always going against the first team, so up to now, this will be my biggest moment.”

Meanwhile, the Rams, despite some obvious advantages in the wake of Kelly, forge nervously into the land of the unbeatens.

“They’ll play their best game of the year,” Robinson assured. “They have to.”

Ram Notes

The Mickey Sutton Fan Club update: Three weeks ago, the former Ram faced his old teammates as a Green Bay Packer. Sutton has since been released and picked up by Buffalo, and he will be returning punts tonight. . . . Through five weeks, Ram receiver Ron Brown has three rushes for 17 yards but is still looking for his first reception.

Buffalo linebacker Cornelius Bennett’s numbers are down this season, and many believe it’s due to the loss of inside backer Shane Conlan, out of the lineup since Sept. 18 because of a knee injury. Bill Coach Marv Levy said: “I do feel Shane Conlan’s presence as an inside player spilled more outside toward Cornelius, toward the run and the pass.” Bennett had 103 tackles and 9.5 sacks last season. This year, he has only 22 tackles and one-half sack. . . . Tonight’s most interesting matchup is Bills’ All-Pro defensive end Bruce Smith vs. Ram left tackle Irv Pankey, who has missed the last two games because of a back injury. . . . The Rams are 17-14 on Monday night.