PRO FOOTBALL : Trading Kelly, Thomas Could Be Bills’ Wakeup Call

Ernie Accorsi has two words of advice for Buffalo this offseason: Don’t overreact.

Accorsi speaks from experience as the former general manager of the Cleveland Browns. The Bills have been frustrated in their efforts to win the Super Bowl, but the Browns, under Accorsi, experienced the frustration of never reaching the big game. Before hitting bottom with a 3-13 record in 1990, Cleveland won four American Football Conference Central titles and reached the AFC Championship Game three times in a five-year period.

“Frankly, we did too much, made too many changes, just trying to shake things up,” says Accorsi, who resigned after the 1991 season.

One example Accorsi gave was the trade that sent running back Ernest Byner to Washington in exchange for running back Mike Oliphant. You’d have to have the memory of an elephant to remember Oliphant. Byner has been a big contributor to the Redskins.

Other advice Accorsi has for the Bills is to somehow, some way, put the bitterness of three consecutive Super Bowl defeats behind them.

“I remember clearly (in 1990) when Mike Gottfried (the former coach at the University of Pittsburgh) came in here and observed a few days during training camp,” Accorsi says. “Finally, Mike pulled us all aside and told us, ‘You guys are in a dangerous state of mind. There’s a real loser mentality here and that’s wrong.’ Mike was absolutely right, but we still couldn’t shake it.”

Accorsi, who lives in Baltimore and remains tuned in to the NFL, says the Bills have enough talent to win another AFC title.

But the team’s mental state remains iffy.

Nevertheless . . . Accorsi’s advice notwithstanding, the Bills need to do something dramatic to awaken their senses. The firing of General Manager Bill Polian was the wrong message.

Here’s our advice: Trade Jim Kelly or Thurman Thomas, or both.

Now that would be regarded as overreacting under any scenario. Yet it must be done by the Bills.

Kelly’s Super Bowl performances, particularly the last two, have a lot of general managers and scouts questioning his commitment to the game.

“I either see a quarterback who isn’t that smart or one who doesn’t study his craft,” one general manager says.

Kelly’s preparation for the Dallas Cowboys continues to raise questions. He is adamant that it was his best week of practice before a Super Bowl. On the other hand, sources within the organization say Kelly was distracted by the social temptations of Super Bowl week. One organizational source says Kelly’s game-day concerns included making sure the equipment managers rotated his baseball caps representing products he endorsed for when he came to the sideline.

So, strange as it may sound, the Bills probably can’t get tremendous value for Kelly, 33, because these are no secrets among general managers. But with Frank Reich clearly capable of quarterbacking the Bills on a full-time basis, Buffalo should explore the market for Kelly.

But Thomas might be more practical to trade. He makes about $2.5 million less than Kelly, and the Bills know they have a running back in Kenneth Davis who would be productive.

The Green Bay Packers, who are in need of a versatile back such as Thomas, might be a good fit. There are at least six teams that would have to look seriously at an offer for Thomas.

The Bills could not produce a Herschel Walker-type deal with Thomas, however. Those days are over. Funny, despite the great successes of Thomas and Emmitt Smith, the only back who commands the type of value the Cowboys got in the Walker trade is Detroit’s Barry Sanders. And he’s not on the market.

It is unlikely that Kelly and Thomas can coexist anymore. One can feel the tension building again between the two stars. The team surely feels it.

So trade one or both. Then get on with business.

THERE HAS BEEN a thaw in the cold war between the NFL and colleges coaches, thanks to a special meeting February 6 in Dallas.

Some frank talk about underclassmen between the NFL’s college relations committee and the college coaches’ representatives paved the way for the coaches’ decision to finally release game films they had been withholding from the NFL.

“It was a tremendous meeting,” says Ken Herock, Atlanta vice president of player personnel and a member of the NFL committee.

ON THE SIDELINES: It wouldn’t be a surprise to see New England Patriot Coach Bill Parcells sign New York Giants quarterback Phil Simms and still draft Washington State quarterback Drew Bledsoe with the first pick in the draft, especially if he can’t get the value he wants for the top choice.