SUPER BOWL XXVIII / BUFFALO BILLS vs. DALLAS COWBOYS : Getting Even : Bills’ Thurman Thomas Takes Out His Long-Held Dislike of the Media on His NFL Opponents

They attacked at dawn, armed with notebooks, tape recorders and cameras.

They invaded a plush hotel in a peaceful suburb of Atlanta, doggedly pursuing their prey.

It was Thursday morning of Super Bowl week. The sun was rising as the media army covering Super Bowl XXVIII entered the headquarters of the Buffalo Bills.

As they passed through the lobby, few noticed the figure stretched out in a chair, head down on his chest, a baseball cap pulled low as he appeared to doze.

Thurman Thomas was resting up for another battle with the media.

Yes, his biggest battle will come today against the Dallas Cowboys.

But Thomas often makes those conflicts look easy compared to the ones he has off the field.

Last Sunday in the AFC title game against the Kansas City Chiefs, Thomas glided through the defense the way Magic Johnson or Michael Jordan used to glide down a court--ball in one hand, body moving easily but swiftly, eyes wide open to any and all possibilities.

It was a day Thomas labeled “the best of my six-year career.” He rushed for 186 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Bills into their fourth consecutive Super Bowl.

And back into conflict with the media.

Thomas’ most controversial moments have come in Super Bowl settings.

But on one thing, there is agreement: The man can run. Always could.

He was good enough at Willowridge High in Missouri City, Tex., to wind up in the Texas High School Hall of Fame.

Despite a serious knee injury that severely limited him in his junior year at Oklahoma State, Thomas rushed for 4,595 yards and 43 touchdowns in his college career, more than 5,000 yards and 48 touchdowns, counting bowl games.

In a 1987 game against Iowa State, Thomas ran for 293 yards.

He didn’t slow down in the NFL. A second-round draft choice of the Bills, Thomas has rushed for more than 1,000 yards in every season but his first.

He also catches passes, lots of them, for huge chunks of yardage.

Thomas has surpassed the 10,000-yard mark in total yardage in his six years in the league. He led the NFL in total yardage four consecutive seasons, ending in 1992, to surpass the mark of Jim Brown.

He was voted the league’s most vluable player in 1991.

So what’s all the controversy about?

Thomas can shed would-be tacklers who come at him from all angles. But he sees himself being tackled when critics come at him from all angles. Or, at least, perceived critics.

Before the 1992 Super Bowl, Buffalo offensive coordinator Ted Marchibroda referred to quarterback Jim Kelly as the “Michael Jordan” of the Bills.

That didn’t sit right with Thomas, who believed he was the Michael Jordan of the team. After all, wasn’t he the league MVP that season?

Angered, Thomas skipped a mandatory pre-Super Bowl media session and failed to show up to receive an award as player of the year.

But for Thomas, the controversy was merely warming up. It peaked when he was preparing for Super Bowl XXVI against the Washington Redskins.

Somehow, he misplaced his helmet and spent two plays looking for it.

He needn’t have hurried.

After rushing for 135 yards in the previous year’s Super Bowl against the New York Giants, Thomas managed only 13 yards in 10 carries in a 37-24 loss to Washington.

The helmet became the focal point of off-season criticism.

If Thomas didn’t learn to accept that criticism, he at least began to bear it.

Before last year’s Super Bowl in Pasadena, he handed out little plastic helmets to reporters.

This year, the controversy was back. With Buffalo struggling offensively in early December, Thomas and teammate Andre Reed criticized the game plan. Kelly criticized teammates for not giving a full effort.

Newspapers declared the return of the Bickering Bills, the name attached to the team in more unsettling times.

After a loss to the Raiders, Buffalo’s third in four games, Thomas was angry, claiming there were no bickering Bills.

If you don’t like our team, he told reporters, “don’t write about it.”

With that, Thomas stormed out. He did not speak publicly again until the postseason.

His anger might have had something to do with his fumble that had killed Buffalo’s chance for a comeback near the end of the game.

Thomas was making enemies, it seemed, everywhere. Not only was he at odds with his coaching staff and local reporters, but the opposing locker room as well.

Raider defensive tackle Nolan Harrison was incensed that Thomas had strutted into the end zone on a touchdown. Harrison derided Thomas for his arrogance.

The Bills won their final four regular-season games and the AFC East, then two playoff games to reach the Super Bowl.

Coach Marty Schottenheimer had made stopping Thomas the Chiefs’ top priority last Sunday, but failed miserably. With the offensive line blowing open huge holes and Kelly correctly countering the Kansas City blitz, Thomas raced down the field time and time again, leaving frustrated Chiefs in his wake.

So finally, Thomas had put all the criticism behind him?

No way.

His latest point of contention was that a columnist had advocated starting Kenneth Davis ahead of him.

This week, Thomas brought up the subject of his image again.

“Everybody wants to write all the negatives about me,” he said. “Nobody wants to write about me donating money back to Oklahoma State University, giving out five scholarships a year in the city of Buffalo, being an honorary coach for the Special Olympics for the last three or four years, donating money to the United Negro College fund. Nobody wants to write about that.

“Everybody wants to ask, ‘Why did you say you’re the best running back? Why did you lose your helmet?’

“I’ve been a winner all my life and nobody really has ever written anything positive about me, so why should I care now?”

But he does care, deeply. That’s why it hurts.

He acknowledges that he finds it difficult to picture himself as a superstar.

“If people didn’t know me,” he said, “they would think I was somebody who worked at UPS.”

Thomas went to a party in Atlanta the other night and found himself beside Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan.

“I was like a little kid next to them,” said Thomas, who stands 5 feet 10 and weighs 197 pounds. “It was a dream come true just sitting next to them.”

Thomas’ teammates offer him the respect afforded a superstar. And plenty of love.

But it’s a two-way relationship. To reward his offensive linemen for their blocking, Thomas took them all out to dinner a few weeks ago and presented each with a sculpture of a buffalo. Total cost: $15,000.

Still, it doesn’t bother his teammates to see Thomas upset. They are actually happy when he is pouting or surly or downright angry.

The more angry he gets all week over the upcoming game and the questions and the perceived criticism, the more the frustration builds up.

And the more frustrated Thomas becomes, the more he seems to let it out on game day.

Ask him a mean question, and watch him roar down the field. Hurt his feelings, and watch him hurt the linebacker who comes up to tackle him.

So when they saw him surrounded by reporters this week, the Bills were thrilled.

Somebody was going to get hurt in that battle.

They were hopeful it will be the Dallas Cowboys.