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League officials threatened Levy with a $5,000 fine if he did not apologize (which he did) to the press. Without Levy, reporters found exciting, even controversial, sound bites to run for their headlines or broadcasts. Bills players were hardly soft-spoken.

Beginning with the day he arrived in Tampa, Thurman Thomas complained to reporters about a lack of respect.

“When people talk about the great backs you hear Neal Anderson, Herschel Walker, Barry Sanders, and Eric Dickerson mentioned,” he said. “All those guys get big paragraphs and I get a little diddly one.”

It was a curious statement considering that for the second straight season, he had been selected to the Pro Bowl. And in that week’s issue of Sports Illustrated, columnist Peter King succinctly summed up the Buffalo offense with the metaphor, “Kelly draws the blueprint and Thomas erects the building.” But Thomas’ feeling of slight was probably justified. Although he accounted for more than one-third of the team’s total yardage during the past two seasons, he still played for “Jim Kelly’s Buffalo Bills.”

Teammate Darryl Talley also felt slightly underappreciated. The eight-year veteran enjoyed his best season in 1990, leading the team with 123 tackles, chipping in four sacks, and scoring his first career touchdown. And his twenty-seven-yard interception return for a touchdown against the Raiders turned the AFC Championship Game into a rout. Talley, however, was again denied a spot on the player-voted Pro Bowl team.

“Evidently I’m not popular enough with my peers,” Talley said. “When you play on a star-studded defense, somebody is bound to get overlooked, and I just feel I’m that person.”[1]

Even veteran James Lofton couldn’t keep from hinting that many Bills felt like second-class citizens in Tampa.

“There’s probably only one nice hotel in Tampa, and I guess the Giants have that.”

Apparently, the Hilton wasn’t nice enough for the Bills.

But in the weeklong disrespect diatribe, one Buffalo Bill, defensive end Bruce Smith, stole the spotlight.

Smith never lacked confidence.

“I hope we’re going to have a winning season. No, we are going to have a winning season,” Smith said during his first training camp in 1985. “It felt great to be the first player drafted. It’s something I’d been hoping for. But I didn’t feel any pressure because of where I was drafted. The only pressure I felt was to come here and do the things I’m capable of doing.”

Eventually, Smith validated his hype, winning consecutive AFC Defensive Player of the Year Awards in 1987 and 1988. And despite not joining the league until 1985, he was named to the NFL’s all-decade team for the 1980s.

After five years of cut blocks from offensive tackles, Smith needed knee surgery following the 1989 season and was forced to change his off-season preparation. A new conditioning program and a change in diet reduced his body-fat percentage to 6.1 (down from 15 percent just two years earlier). Shedding the weight added significant quickness.

“I just decided not to fail,” he said. “I didn’t want to end my career just being some former No. 1 draft-pick fat cat who looks back after it’s over and regrets that he didn’t push himself from a good to a great career.”

In 1990, Smith continued to harass NFL quarterbacks, breaking his own franchise record with nineteen sacks. His contributions to Buffalo’s run defense transformed him from an elite pass rusher into an elite defender.

Frequent double-, even triple-teams, could not slow Smith down and he accounted for 101 tackles. And the attention Smith drew from opposing coaches and players freed up his teammates to make plays when he couldn’t. At the end of the regular season, Smith was named NFL Defensive Player of the Year.

As a single-season honor, the award wasn’t enough for Smith. He wanted to be recognized unequivocally as the best defensive player in the league. With Lawrence Taylor still around, that had not yet happened.

“Over the last 10 years, he’s probably been the most dominant player in the league. . . I just think right now, I’ve taken it up a notch