SUPER BOWL XXV / NEW YORK GIANTS vs. BUFFALO BILLS : NOTES : Kelly-Taylor Wrestling Match Is a Beauty

Those ever-vigilant Super Bowl paparazzi caught what must have have been a magic moment at the Dollhouse, a local topless bar: quarterback Jim Kelly of the Bills and linebacker Lawrence Taylor of the Giants wrestling playfully while judging a beauty contest the other night.

The photo made the front page of the Tampa Tribune sports section, showing Taylor’s arm around Kelly’s throat.

But Taylor said that just because they were joking then doesn’t mean he won’t be trying the real thing on Sunday.

“We were just having fun together, that’s all,” Taylor said. “I’ve known Jim for a while, and we used to have a lot of fun at the Pro Bowl.

“You’ve got to remember, it’s not like it’s the Gulf crisis here. We’re not fighting a war. It’s just a football game. After the game’s over, we all go home and shake hands, and we’re still friends.”

OK, so who won the beauty contest?

“Not Lawrence,” Kelly quipped.

Taylor, who hasn’t been known to yield glory to anyone, has been telling everybody this week that yes, indeed, Buffalo defensive end Bruce Smith is the best defensive player in football.

“I truly believe right now Bruce Smith is playing probably his best game,” Taylor said. “He’s the premier defensive player in the league this year.

“He played better than any other defensive player in the league this year. He poses more problems than any other defensive player in the league.”

So what does Taylor, who used to be the consensus best defensive player in the NFL, think his status is now?

“I’m not Superman any more,” Taylor said. “I can’t jump tall buildings. I’m Clark Kent now. I can handle that. But Clark Kent still has some talent. Especially when it comes to crunch time. And it’s definitely crunch time now.”

Taylor on life after football, whenever that might be: “When I’m through here, I want to swing a club and raise sheep. That’s what I want to do.”

Raise sheep?

“Well, right now all I know is that I want to win a football game. What I do two years from now, three years from now, that will take care of itself. I’ll take care of the present. The future will take care of itself.”

But Giant inside linebacker Pepper Johnson says Taylor loves hearing all this talk that after 10 seasons, he is slowing down.

“I don’t think by any means he’s on the downside of his career,” Johnson said. “Everybody starts saying LT is out, then I look over at him, and I see a look in his eyes, and he’s ready to start picking up the tempo again.”

Buffalo running back Thurman Thomas, who led the league in total yards from scrimmage this season with 1,829, cannot forget that there were seven running backs taken in the 1988 draft before the Bills selected him in the second round with the 40th pick overall.

Hmmm, wonder what he thinks about Gaston Green, whom the Rams made the 14th pick overall that year--the third running back taken--and who has gained a total of 451 yards in his three-year career.

“Gaston Green? I’ve probably gained more yards in one game than Green has in his career,” Thomas said.

Solid point, but, well, not quite accurate. Thomas’ single-game rushing high is 214 yards, which is more than Green gained in his first two years combined.

On a conference call with writers covering the Super Bowl, in conjunction with his selection as the NFL player of the year, 49er quarterback Joe Montana made his first public comments since he was injured in the 49ers’ 15-13 loss to the Giants in the NFC championship game.

In the fourth quarter, Montana was blindsided by defensive end Leonard Marshall and did not return. He underwent surgery this week for the insertion of screws in the finger he broke on his throwing hand.

The hit also bruised Montana’s sternum, causing so much pain that Montana said he didn’t notice the broken finger until much later.

“I’ve been fortunate throughout my career not to have a lot of injuries,” Montana said. “This is my first broken bone.

“Right now I feel pretty good about the year I had and that I can still play. I’ll be around for another year or two.”

The last-second loss ended the 49ers’ chance to become the first team to win three consecutive Super Bowls, snapped their string of postseason victories at seven and dented Montana’s aura of postseason invulnerability.

“It is a little bit strange, especially losing the game that way--when we had control and should have won,” Montana said, referring to running back Roger Craig’s fumble in the final minutes of the game that set up the Giants’ game-winning drive.

“We basically gave it away at the end. If we got blown out, it wouldn’t have been as difficult.”

New York running back Ottis Anderson got one vote for the Pro Football Hall of Fame earlier this week.

It came from Giant Coach Bill Parcells and elicited this response from Anderson, 33:

“That’s a nice gesture by my head coach. But remember, that’s the same guy who left me unprotected the last two years.”

It’s true that Parcells risked losing Anderson to Plan B free agency each of the last two seasons. But he gave his veteran running back a huge endorsement.

“He’s a guy I’ve grown to admire very much since I’ve gotten to coach him and know him personally,” Parcells said. “He’s willing to do whatever we think he needs to do to help us win. Help young players, encourage them, run the ball 40 times. He doesn’t care. Whatever we want, he does.

“Ottis should go to (the Hall of Fame in) Canton. He has too many pelts on the wall. We wouldn’t be here without him.”

Anderson, acquired from the Cardinals in a 1986 trade, said his motivation is his birth certificate.

“Once you get to a certain age, coaches figure your better days are behind you,” he said. “I’m hanging around trying to prove them wrong.”

Asked if he felt Giants’ defensive coordinator Bill Belichick was ready to become a head coach, Parcells said yes.

“I hope some day Bill, or any of my coaches, gets the opportunity to be a head coach,” Parcells said. “But I’m not running any auction here.”

Belichick reportedly is in the running for the vacant Cleveland Browns’ job.

The NFLPA, no longer a labor union but now a trade association, said it would continue to fight for total free agency and would not attempt to bargain for a contract with the owners.

“We have abandoned our bargaining relationship with the owners,” Executive Director Gene Upshaw said. “We are out of the collective bargaining business. It’s over. We’ll never go back. If they want to talk, they know where to find our antitrust counsel. They can talk to them.”

The union has been without a contract since the unsuccessful 1987 strike.

Richard Berthelsen, the association’s general counsel, said player salaries last year approached 60% of the league’s revenue, higher than either basketball or baseball. Still, the NFLPA figures that players could benefit even more from total free agency.

The players’ association continues to press the league on legal fronts, action Berthelsen said was made possible by ending its union status.

Still pending is antitrust litigation filed last April by eight players, among them New York Jet running back Freeman McNeil and Green Bay Packer quarterback Don Majkowski, which the NFLPA said is scheduled to go to trial in August. The league has appealed the suit.

When Kelly was drafted by the Bills in 1983--before he signed with the USFL’s Houston Gamblers--Kelly was quoted as saying he cried.

Asked what he thought about Buffalo, Kelly replied: “If you had asked me in 1983, I would not have said anything good. But that’s because I hadn’t been to Buffalo and I didn’t know what it was like.

“It is not as bad as everyone says,” he continued. “In the summer, it is beautiful. In the winter, it’s cold, but so is New York, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. We just get a little more snow. But I’d rather take snow than a windy day . . . any day.”

The Associated Press and the Baltimore Evening Sun contributed to this story.