Jim Kelly: Living Vicariously Through Lesser Players

I was watching TV the other day, and happened to catch a new "Men of the Square Table" Miller Lite commercial. In it, former Buffalo Bills quarterback asks whether or not it's acceptable to leave a game in the fourth quarter to beat traffic. Someone mentions that it might be acceptable if a team is down by 30 points. Kelly rebuts by referencing the '93 AFC Wild Card game, in which the Bills overcame a 32 point deficit to beat the Oilers. Kelly is an expert on this game, as he was a Pro Bowl quarterback on that team.

Unfortunately, he didn't play a single down in that game. (He was injured in the previous game.) What Kelly and no one else who actually saw that game seem to have forgotten is that it was Frank Reich, "The Other Mr. Comeback," who was the quarterback in that game. In fact, Reich won the divisional playoff game as well. When Kelly came back in the AFC Championship game, his under-whelming performance caused Steve Christie to kick five field goals to win the game (actually, Miami was so bad, Buffalo would have won without the field goals), and his completely inept performance in the Super Bowl had a lot to do with their 52-17, third straight Super Bowl loss. That's nice, Jim: Way to bring up a game that you had nothing to do with, because the ones you were in sucked.

I think this calls for a new Man Law: No Man shall bask in the reflected glory of a team's win if he did not play in said win. Sure, you may have gotten them there, but holding a clipboard on the sideline didn't win that game.

So it is written, so it shall be done.