PRO FOOTBALL / PLAYOFF REPORT : AFC : Levy Says It’s Kelly, but Fans Like Reich

By now, Marv Levy has to be exasperated.

How many times does the Buffalo Bills’ coach have to say that a healthy Jim Kelly starts over Frank Reich in Sunday’s AFC championship game against the Miami Dolphins?

“I’ve said from the day he was injured what our procedure would be,” Levy said this week. “If he has medical clearance, which he has, and he looks OK, which he does, and he feels OK, which I have no indication that he doesn’t, he’s going to start.”

Case closed. Reich understands and the Bills understand, yet the debate rages in Buffalo. Kelly or Reich?

Reich was a 5-1 favorite over Kelly in a poll conducted by the Gannett Rochester Newspapers, 1,267 votes to 237.

“It’s like a hot goalie,” Buffalo fan Jeremy Applegate said. “You stay with Reich until he fizzles.”

NFC

Candlestick Looks Like a Park Again

The sun finally shone on Candlestick Park, and the relief was evident on the faces of NFL officials.

Less than 72 hours before kickoff of Sunday’s NFC championship game, groundskeepers rushed to take advantage of a day of sunshine and dry weather and finished laying 28,000 square feet of new sod on the mushy field. By late afternoon, what had been a brown mess was transformed into a gleaming green field for the game between the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers.

Even the end zones had been painted.

“It’s beautiful,” said groundskeeper George Toma , who was brought in from Kansas City to do the job. “Right now, I’d say it’s the best playing surface in the NFL.”

“This is great, just great,” said Bill Buckley, head groundskeeper at Candlestick. “This is what we needed. If we have a couple of days like this, the field will dry pretty good.”