Jim Kelly: ‘If Bills don’t win AFC East, something’s wrong’
Bills Wire
BILL WIPPERT/AP
Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly was the last quarterback to lead the Buffalo Bills to an AFC East title. Kelly thinks that honor will soon be handed over to Josh Allen.
Kelly made an appearance on CBS Sports radio and predicted that the Bills will win the AFC East for the first time since 1995. “If they don’t, then something’s wrong,” Kelly said. “Tom Brady is not there to block you anymore, so that, to me, is huge.”
“Now that Brady is gone, I definitely do think that the Bills are the team to beat, even though you look at the Jets, they’re getting better; Miami and Tua (Tagovailoa) coming in. I think they’re going to be better,” Kelly added.
“And of course, Belichick is going to have New England ready to play. We’ll see what happens at the quarterback position in New England, but right now, there’s no doubt that the Bills are probably favored to win the AFC East, and if they don’t, then they must have some serious injuries because they have all the ingredients it takes to move on in the playoffs.”
Kelly added that he was a bit surprised that Brady chose to leave the Patriots. Kelly, who played for the Bills from 1986 to 1996, examined the situation through the spectrum of his own career.
“When you’ve been there that long, what, 20 years? I’m sure things start to wear on you. But yeah (he was surprised), even with myself, when I retired, I wanted to be a Buffalo Bill. I always wanted to stay with one team, the team that I started with, and I felt that Brady would be there at the end and retire as a New England Patriot and only play for the Patriots. But hey, he felt that this was time for him to move on. It’s up to him; it’s his life,” Kelly said.
Over the years, Kelly and Brady have shown a mutual respect for each other and a friendship. But Kelly did joke that he did try to do his best for Bills fans.
“Tom is getting older, he’s getting old, but he can still play. I tried to talk him into retiring two or three years ago. He wouldn’t listen to me; I don’t know why,” Kelly said.