It’s very quiet here in the Buffalo Bills’ locker room. It usually is about this time every year. Whenever these players retire, they’ll make great librarians.
Some teams go to the Super Bowl to seize the moment. Other teams let the moment seize them.
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The Buffalo Bills aren’t yet big enough for the big game. They had a chance to leave the Georgia Dome on Sunday night with the Vince Lombardi Trophy. Instead, they get the Guy Lombardo Award for thinking about a new and improved next year.
“Didn’t the Brooklyn Dodgers lose a bunch of World Series before they ever won one?” wondered Jim Kelly, the quarterback.
“We tried hard,” said coach Marv Levy, “but it just wasn’t to be. You have to take your hat off to the other guys.”
“One good thing,” mentioned Steve Tasker, “at least they don’t shoot us after we don’t win.”
Instead, the Buffalo Bills just keep coming back for more. More of less. Pick a different time zone and change the score to make it seem original. It always ends this way, with a litany of ifs, buts and maybes. The Bills not only cut records for losing Super Bowls, they have long-playing albums of excuses.
Sunday, the Bills led 13-6 at halftime and the Dallas Cowboys looked beatable. But the Bills got waxed again, 30-13, their fourth consecutive Super Bowl defeat. It is a mark for futility that only the Bills can break, and don’t bet they won’t.
“A wonderful season,” said Bills owner Ralph Wilson, a decent man, standing by the doorway sipping on a soft drink. He patted his players on the back, one by one, as they trudged past. “It’s nothing to be ashamed of. Sure, we’d like to win one of these, but we’ll keep trying.”
Pity the poor NFL. This is a league pledged to parity. Everybody plays everybody else and shares everything there is to share. What’s New York’s slice of the TV booty is also Green Bay’s. Successful franchises are penalized by tough schedules and low draft choices. Even against their will, the meek can inherit at least a wildcard playoff berth merely by showing up.
But in the marquee matchup, what should be fixed is almost always broken. The NFC has a run of a perfect 10 in a row now, and if the Bills still aren’t the best, even after Sunday night’s annual calamity, then who is? Never mind the agony in Buffalo. What is there to live for in Kansas City or Pittsburgh or Miami? Not much when Wilson says these Bills have earned the right to stay together.
“In the first half, we had a great game plan,” said Thurman Thomas, the fumbler. “I don’t know what it is. Whenever we get into the big game, we seem to blow up.”
And to think the Cowboys seemed so ripe, starting right with their quarterback. Troy Aikman, only a week removed from his concussion, guided the Cowboys to a field goal after only 2 minutes 19 seconds of play, but he could have had a touchdown. Alvin Harper was wide open, but Aikman never saw him. When Aikman did see Michael Irvin late in the second quarter, Aikman couldn’t deliver the ball. He threw five yards short of what would have been Dallas’ second touchdown, and Nate Odomes intercepted. Meanwhile, Kelly looked so sure, so confident.
But the Bills just don’t get it. Tackles cannot be missed against the Cowboys, who are too quick, on either side of the ball. And if Levy doesn’t make adjustments, his counterpart, Jimmy Johnson, will. And when Kelly insists on safety-first passes, the percentages go from high to low. The Cowboys are too smart, and what they can’t intercept, they’ll just strip from your grasp. Great game plan? The Bills didn’t have a week to figure out a better idea. The Bills have had four years.
“We’re deeply disappointed,” Levy went on. “Maybe more so than the other three, this one hurt. We really wanted to win this game. We really thought we could. It was very quiet in our room after the game.”
It still is. Was it live or was it Memorex? The Bills can’t wait until next year, but we can. When they turn over a new leaf, the other team will recover.