NFL PLAYOFFS / DAILY REPORT : AFC : Beauty of Bills Is Definitely in Eye of Beholder

For calling the Buffalo Bills the “serial killers of the Super Bowl,” columnist Mike Lupica of the New York Daily News made few new friends here.

“Stop the Bills before they kill another Super Bowl,” Lupica wrote before Sunday’s game.

“ ‘Stop the Bills’ is no longer just a smart throwaway line. . . . It is a rallying cry, in 49 states and most of New York as you move east.

“The Bills’ general manager, someone named John Butler, said, ‘I know the media (roots against the Bills), because they want new faces and different stories. But I think the average fan likes us.’

“Maybe Butler was struck in the head by a rogue snowplow. The average fan does not like the Bills.”

Gov. Mario Cuomo of New York, a die-hard Bill fan, responded: “I like Mike Lupica, but this is the end of his credibility.”

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Here’s Butler, the general manager, on his Bills after Sunday’s game:

“Again, they showed just how amazing they are. I absolutely love this team. They are an amazing, amazing bunch of people to get done what they did.

“Thurman Thomas, what other way can you put it other than we have a chance to witness one of the greatest running backs who ever put on a uniform? When you look at an all-around running back, I dare someone to tell me there’s a finer running back in the game. I’d like to know who he is. If he’s still out there, I’ll try and draft him. If he’s retired, I’d wish him the best, because he’ll probably be in the Hall of Fame, where Thurman will be.”

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Owner Ralph Wilson was effusive, too.

“I think it’ll probably be 75 or 100 years--really, I’m serious--before a team wins four consecutive conference championships. Because everybody in football knows how difficult this is.”

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How big are the Bills in Buffalo? The Empire cable TV sports network here features “The Marv Levy Show” Mondays at 8 p.m.; “The Thurman Thomas Show” Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m.; “The Frank Reich Show” Thursdays at 7 p.m., and “The Don Beebe Show” Fridays at 7 p.m.

Reich is the team’s backup quarterback.

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Rookie Russell Copeland aided the Bills’ winning cause with 133 yards in kick returns and the first-year man from Memphis State could be of further use.

“Hey, I’m new to this Super Bowl thing,” Copeland said. “Maybe they’ve been waiting for me.”