The set-up: Yes, it would only be a matter of time until we came across a Super Bowl “What if?” scenario. Yes, Super Bowl XXVII will go down in Bills history as probably the biggest bloodbath in team history (Unless you count when OJ Simpson decided to carve up his ex-wife and her boyfriend). It was a terrible game that left Bills fans with the impression of “Hmm, maybe we will never win a championship.” I mean, losing two straight Super Bowls doesn’t sound that bad, but three in a row in that fashion? Yikes! Anyways, going into the game, a lot of fans thought the Bills were a team of destiny. They had just overcome a 32-point deficit against the Oilers and were the underdogs in wins against Miami and Pittsburgh on the road. What made the year seem different was how the Bills really had to work to get to the Super Bowl. There weren’t any 51-3 games or home field advantage throughout the playoffs. It was all about facing adversity and conquering it for that particular post season.
Arguably, the playoff MVP was Frank Reich. Reich, was masterful for his first two playoff games, throwing for 6 touchdowns and just 1 interception. In just 6 quarters, the Bills offense lead by Reich scored 62 points. The Bills were riding high and had all the momentum you would want for a playoff run. On the other hand, and this may be considered blasphemy, Jim Kelly may not have been the best option for the Bills at that time. Hear me out, for the 1992 season, Kelly had a very un-Kelly like season, passing for just 18 touchdowns and 18 interceptions with a QB rating of 79.3.
This was a far cry from his 33-touchdown performance the season before. In his final 5 games of the season, Kelly passed for just 3 touchdowns and 8 interceptions. Kelly was also coming off a nasty injury against the Oilers. Under Reich, the Bills were playing their best football of the season. The team of destiny came together because of Frank’s will and courage. Yes, it seems strange to suggest that Kelly should sit, but sometimes, you gotta go with the hot hand. You always hear about how coaches don’t want to change the line-up when they have a good thing going for them, especially when it’s the playoffs. For the 1992 postseason, Reich was playing at an all-time high and he outplayed Kelly for that postseason.
Now, #12 did return against Miami in the AFC Championship game, but he looked kind of rusty, passing for just 177 yards-1TD-2INTs. The Bills beat Miami due in large part because the Dolphins committed 6 turnovers and they couldn’t stop the screen pass to save their lives. The victory was hardly because of Kelly.
What happened: Even though the final score indicates a bloodbath, for the first 28 minutes of the Super Bowl, the game was very much up for grabs. The biggest problem was that the Bills kept shooting themselves in the foot. The Bills had three turnovers in the first quarter alone, which were all by Kelly. Two of the turnovers lead to 14 points, while the other turnover occurred on the Dallas 1-yard line. All in all, it was a 21 point swing. Kelly’s day was cut short when midway through the 2nd quarter, on a 2nd and 9, Kelly dropped back to pass on a 3-step drop, and a blitzing Ken Norton Jr. came over the center and landed with all of his weight on Kelly’s leg. You knew right away that Kelly was finished. He was laying on the ground holding his knee and yelling in pain. It took all but 5 minutes or so to put Kelly on the cart and send him packing.
Even though Frank Reich had impressive stats during that postseason, he’s probably the worst QB you would want coming off the bench cold. I remember how experts and even Marv Levy, would harp on how Frank needed a weeks worth of preparation to really get the most out of him. From 1989-1993, when Reich started, he was lights out with a record of 6-2 (The 2 losses were meaningless season finales, when the Bills had already clinched home field advantage), passing for 17 touchdowns and only 3 picks. However, when he was thrown into the fire, Reich didn’t play all that well. When he came in for an injured Kelly and attempted at least 12 passes, Reich’s numbers were pedestrian; throwing for just 1 touchdown in six of those games.
Reich needed practice reps. When Reich came into the Super Bowl, I remember OJ Simpson said that he had only participated in 10% of the snaps during practice. Yeah..that’s not a lot of repetition. The Bills ended up getting outscored 38-10 while Reich was under center. For the game, Reich was 18-31 with 1 touchdown and 4 turnovers (2 picks and 2 fumbles). Again, if Reich starts, I don’t think he plays that terribly.
What if the Bills went with Frank Reich for Super Bowl XXVII? I know, some of you are probably thinking that I shouldn’t bother with this “What if?” “My god! Bench Jim Kelly?! Are you on crack?! He’s a God!” Yeah, I get that, but when you look at the numbers for that particular season, you can’t tell me that it wouldn’t cross your mind. Yes, I get that if there was a QB controversy between the two of them it would have made Flutie vs Johnson look like Van Pelt vs Todd Collins. However, you can’t ignore that in Kelly’s last 7 games of the 1992 season he had 13 turnovers and just 4 touchdowns. He just didn’t have his “A” game for that season.
Here’s the key about the Cowboys vs Bills game, the Dallas defense was all about speed, speed, speed and creating turnovers. That’s what their #1 defense was all about. To me, Kelly’s style played right into the hands of their defense. Kelly is a gambler who would, at times, try to force the ball into tight coverage. Reich, on the other hand, was a QB who liked to control the passing lanes and didn’t seem to make mistakes. When either guy started, the game plan was drastically different. It seemed like with Reich, the Bills would go more conservative and try to have more of a balanced attack. With Kelly, I think the coaching staff put more pressure on him to make plays because he was more talented.
Maybe against a team like Dallas, it would have been better to play the hot Reich, who only turned the ball over 3 times in his career 8 starts. Look, am I saying that the Bills should have traded Kelly in the offseason? No. However, certain times, you gotta go with the hot hand. Even though the Bills won 11 games in 1992, a lot of it was due to the defense playing exceptionally well and Bruce Smith coming back from his knee injury from the previous season.
I think the bottom line in all of this is that Reich just threw for 6 touchdowns in two games, while Kelly had almost 3 times more turnovers than touchdowns in his last 5 starts. The team was playing their best football of the season under Reich. Maybe it would have been better to just let him play out the string. Hey, it’s better than losing 52-17.
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