PRO FOOTBALL / DAILY REPORT : AROUND THE NFL : Elway, Reeves Trade Long-Range Barbs

With John Elway and Dan Reeves now separated by thousands of miles, they no longer find a reason to hold back their feelings for each other.

In Thursday’s editions of the Rocky Mountain News, Elway, Denver’s quarterback, said working for Reeves, his former coach, was “hell” and that he wouldn’t be at training camp if Reeves was still around.

“It wasn’t worth it to me,” Elway said. “I didn’t enjoy it. It wasn’t any fun, and I got tired of working with him.

“The first six years, seven years were OK. . . . The last three years have been hell. I felt like they never did anything offensively to make us better.”

Reeves, now coach of the New York Giants, had a terse reply.

“Let’s just say it wasn’t heaven for me either,” he said. “I hope maybe one of these days he’ll grow up and mature a little.”

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Defensive lineman Michael Dean Perry boycotted practice in a feud with Cleveland Brown Coach Bill Belichick, who fined the three-time Pro Bowl defensive lineman $4,000.

Perry, who has chafed under Belichick’s defensive schemes, wasn’t taking calls from reporters and didn’t respond to a request for comment left at the player’s message board.

Belichick said he last talked with Perry on Wednesday. The 6-foot-1, 290-pound Perry threw his hands up during practice while talking with Belichick, walked off the field and left camp.