Notes on a Scorecard - Jan. 21, 1991

Oh, well, at least cold weather didn’t beat the Raiders. A hot football team did. . . . You knew the Raiders were in trouble when Buffalo quarterback Jim Kelly conducted a two-minute drill successfully at the start of the game. . . .

Los Angeles teams have been outscored, 81-6, in conference championship games the last two seasons. . . .

The Bills resemble the San Francisco 49ers of 1988 and ’89. . . .

Bo Jackson was lucky he didn’t have to play. . . .

Poor Dave Adolph. The Raiders’ defensive coordinator does a great job most of the season and goes virtually unnoticed. Then his team gives up 51 points in the AFC championship game and we see a close-up of him on the sidelines every five minutes. . . .

NBC commentator Bill Walsh called the Buffalo weather “perfect for football.” So what does that make 60-degree, dry weather? . . .

Don’t blame this disaster on Jay Schroeder. It was a team defeat. . . .

The Raiders might be a year away, as Al Davis told Walsh, but the trouble is that the Bills aren’t exactly ready for the old-age home, either. . . .

This will be the first Super Bowl between two teams representing the same state although the Giants play their home games in New Jersey. . . .

Referee Jim Tunney bowed out nicely in a game free of controversy and not slowed by a lot of instant-replay reviews. . . .

Coach Marv Levy can’t be accused of pouring it on, but the Bills’ fans can be. Just about every one of them stayed until the end. . . .

Jim Kelly and Thurman Thomas seem to be getting along a lot better.

Now the Raiders know how the Denver Broncos used to feel. You can have a terrific season, but some people will remember only the last game you played. . . .

Before next season’s game against Buffalo at the Coliseum, Art Shell ought to show his team tapes of the Bills dancing, laughing and jiving on the sidelines Sunday. . . .

The only weakness the Bills exhibited was conversion kicking, although seven out of eight usually won’t get you beaten. . . .

Thank God we won’t have to hear the word “three-peat” again or, at least, until the NBA playoffs. . . .

Only one week under the microscope, instead of the usual two, should help Buffalo in its Super Bowl debut. . . .

The New York-San Francisco rematch was far more entertaining than the first match despite the winning team’s inability to score a touchdown. . . .

The Giants might be even more formidable if they showed as much imagination on first, second and third downs as they do on fourth. . . .

How would you like to have a nice, pressure-free job like field goal kicker? . . .

The two most relieved people in all of San Francisco when Matt Bahr kicked the game winner must have been Giant back Maurice Carthon, who dropped Dave Meggett’s pass in the end zone in the first quarter, and cornerback Mark Collins, who muffed Joe Montana’s fumble at the San Francisco 28-yard line in the fourth quarter. . . .

However, Collins needn’t apologize for the job he did on Jerry Rice. Next up for Collins is Andre Reed. . . .

Jeff Hostetler and Steve Young brought to mind the argument that the second most important position in pro football is second-string quarterback. . . .

A Young-Jim Kelly matchup in the Super Bowl would have been a rematch of a wild Los Angeles Express-Houston Gambler game in the United States Football League. . . .

George Seifert is a candidate for Mr. Blackwell’s next worst-dressed list with that gray sweat shirt the San Francisco coach wore Sunday. . . .

One turnover and, sure enough, it leads to the decisive three points. . . .

The 49ers have won 20 consecutive road games, but have lost three of their past four home games. . . .

CBS play-by-play announcer Pat Summerall: “Matt Millen was the intended defender.”

The NHL all-star game once again turned hockey into a non-contact sport. . . .

Two indoor sprints aren’t conclusive, but, somehow, Ben Johnson doesn’t look like the same sprinter he used to be. . . .

Nice to see UCLA in white at Pauley Pavilion again. . . .

There has to be a spot for Danny Manning in the Clipper starting lineup. . . .

If Meldrick Taylor used the safety-first tactics in the 12th round against Julio Cesar Chavez that he did against Aaron Davis Saturday, he would have beaten Chavez, too. . . .

George Foreman has given his ninth child, George V, the nickname of Red. “As in red light,” papa George explained. “You know, no more kids.” . . .

Super Bowl prediction: Buffalo 24, New York 13.