SUPER BOWL XXVI : BUFFALO BILLS vs. WASHINGTON REDSKINS : NOTES : Thurman Thomas Says He, Too, Is Bills’ Michael Jordan

Running back Thurman Thomas said the only reason he missed Wednesday’s mandatory media appearance was a scheduling mix-up, but he didn’t exactly put to rest reports that the real explanation was he felt neglected in all the written and televised praise of the Buffalo Bills.

Thomas, the NFL’s Most Valuable Player, who rarely misses a chance to complain that he should receive more respect, reportedly stormed out of the team’s breakfast Wednesday morning after seeing stories on teammates Bruce Smith and Jim Kelly in the newspapers.

He went to his hotel room, ignored calls from league and team officials and missed Wednesday’s hourlong session.

“It was a misunderstanding,” Thomas said Thursday morning. “I was scheduled to go on at 8:30, and I was in the breakfast room until 8:45 and no one came and got me. I got upset, went to my room, had some things to do, some people to call. That’s the reason I missed media day yesterday.”

In 1991, Thomas led all players in yards gained from scrimmage for the third consecutive season and likes to remind everyone of that fact. He apparently was upset by Buffalo offensive coordinator Ted Marchibroda’s description of quarterback Kelly as the “Michael Jordan” of the Bills’ offense.

“I think I am,” Thomas said Thursday, not denying that he was bothered by Marchibroda’s comment. “I guess we have two Michael Jordans, Jim and me.

“That’s not being cocky or arrogant or anything, I just have confidence in my abilities. That’s just the way it is.”

Thomas also seemed perturbed that, because he was third among league rushers behind Emmitt Smith and Barry Sanders, he is known as the best all-around running back, not simply the best back.

“Usually the running back who wins the rushing title is known as the best running back in the National Football League,” Thomas said. “So, I have the title of best all-around back in the National Football League. It’s a title I have to live with.”

This is not Thomas’ first brush with Super Bowl controversy.

After rushing 15 times for 135 yards and catching five passes for 55 yards in the Bills’ Super Bowl loss to the New York Giants last year, Thomas complained that he, and not Giant tailback Ottis Anderson, deserved to be named the game’s most valuable player. He says he remembers that slight.

“It was one of those deals where I thought I outperformed everybody on the football field,” Thomas said.

Buffalo Coach Marv Levy, who missed a media meeting before last year’s Super Bowl, said he understood Thomas’ desire to “concentrate on football” by missing the Wednesday session.

But Levy said he didn’t think Thomas was underappreciated nationally. “I think he gets a lot of recognition,” Levy said Thursday. “He was the MVP of the league.”

Injury report: Redskin quarterback Mark Rypien was expected to return to practice today after suffering a mild sprain of his right ankle during a passing drill Thursday.

“He turned his ankle,” Coach Joe Gibbs said after the workout Thursday. “The trainer says it’s a mild sprain.”

In one of the last drills of the practice, Rypien was working on an inside- the-20 drill when several players fell on him while simulating a pass rush. Rypien apparently limped out of the pile and threw down his helmet in anger.

Rypien had ice on the ankle Thursday night but called the incident “more scary than anything else.”

Wide receiver Ricky Sanders was held out of Thursday’s practice as a precaution because of a sore quadriceps muscle.

The Redskins plan a tribute to paralyzed Detroit Lion offensive lineman Mike Utley. During introductions Sunday, a Redskin player will give a thumbs-up gesture, the signal Utley gave his teammates while being carried off the field after suffering his spinal injury Nov. 17 against the Rams.

“We didn’t want Mike to be forgotten just because we beat the Lions (in the NFC title game),” said defensive tackle Eric Williams, a teammate of Utley’s when both were at Washington State. “It takes someone like Joe Gibbs, a man with the power, to set things in motion.”

Doug Williams, MVP of Super Bowl XXII, the Redskins’ last journey into Roman numerals, said he will watch Super Bowl XXVI from his home in Zachary, La., without bitterness for the team he used to lead.

“I think it’s a lot of the same faces, but a different team,” Williams said recently from Zachary. “The Redskins are more of a dominant team at this particular point, whereas when we played, it was more of an emotional team.

“I’ll tell you, the talent is galore with the guys now. No. 1, that offensive line overall is tremendous. And I think, No. 2, the defense is more of a talented group than we had. They can dominate teams in so many ways now.

“We had to come back and win games so many times. And we just felt we could win. Emotion, camaraderie, we won a lot of games that way.

“We got into a groove where we just felt we would win, no matter the odds.”

Williams, who replaced Jay Schroeder at quarterback midway through that season, was hurt in the first quarter, but re-entered the game and threw four touchdown passes in the 42-10 Super Bowl victory over the Denver Broncos in San Diego. The Redskins scored a Super Bowl-record five touchdowns in the second quarter of that game.

But Williams was hurt for much of the 1988 season and was released in 1989 to give Rypien room to grow.

“Let’s put it this way, I think they denied me the opportunity to be a backup in this Super Bowl,” Williams said. “But you can also look at it, they gave me the opportunity to go to one Super Bowl.

“I’m not angry at all. Sure, I’d like to be part of the team in the ‘fridge in Minnesota. But I’m not mad.

“Coach (Joe) Gibbs allowed me an opportunity to go the Super Bowl and win one. He could easily have not called on me. In that game, all I remember is getting off the turf, getting back in the second quarter and then at the end of the game saying I as going to Disney World.”

The Bills are planning to start Dwight Drane at strong safety and are assuming that starter Leonard Smith will be sidelined because of the leg infection and fever that have kept him from practicing since the AFC title game.

“Our decision on Leonard is mostly made, to tell you the truth,” Levy said. “I doubt very much that he’s going to play. Dwight Drane is experienced, he’s smart, he will not destroy the fabric of your coverages, he’ll put players in correct decisions.

“He may not be as explosive a player as Leonard or as hard a hitter, but I think in terms of responsibility and competitiveness and coolness under fire, we don’t lose anything.”

Redskin rookie tailback Ricky Ervins sounds a little weary of comparisons to Tim Smith, the until-then-unknown runner who set a Super Bowl record with 204 rushing yards for the Redskins in Super Bowl XXII, then disappeared from the league two years later.

“I just wish people would stop comparing me to Timmy Smith,” said Ervins, a USC product. “I’m sure he had a great game, but unlike him, I’ve been playing a lot during the season and I would think that people have heard of me already.”

The Associated Press contributed to this story.