"Let's Get Ridiculous!"

By J.D. Reed

The fervent fans who jam the Bills' Rich Stadium have a credibility problem. A banner hanging over the railing recently pleaded: LET'S GET RIDICULOUS! And that, to the crowd's delight, is just what the Buffalo Bills are doing. Their surprising performance this year has backers dancing on the soggy Astroturf and even thinking about a faraway game in January called the Super Bowl. Not so long ago, the chances of championship rings appearing on Bills' fingers seemed about as likely as finding hammerhead sharks in Lake Erie. In 1985 Buffalo sulked in the National Football League basement with a 2-14 record. The team hasn't made the play-offs since '81, and has never been to a Super Bowl.

But this year the Bills have come out blasting with a team of top draft picks and a deep-freeze defense to compile the N.F.L.'s best record (11-1 as of last week). In edging out the New York Jets last week, 9-6, the Bills clinched the American Football Conference Eastern division championship, becoming the first team to secure a play-off berth this year. It was the earliest that an A.F.C. team had won a postseason slot since 1978.

The fans, who, Bills general manager Bill Polian says, "identify more closely with their gridiron heroes than any other fans, except those in Green Bay," left their seats. Tens of thousands of them invaded the rain-soaked field to chant, dance and rip down the goalposts. They paraded the uprights around the field and out into the parking lots. They even deposited a chunk of one outside the private box of Bills owner Ralph C. Wilson, a Detroit businessman whom they once booed. "We'll build new goalposts," said Wilson happily, "and they can tear those down too."

The Bills' success is the result, in large part, of lavish trades and draft picks, and canny free-agent signings. Wilson gave a free hand and an open ! checkbook to Polian and coach Marv Levy, 60, now in his third year with the Bills after spells in the U.S. Football League and the Canadian Football League. The result: 15 of 22 starters are top-round draft picks. Building around veteran All-Pro nose tackle, 285-lb. Fred Smerlas, Buffalo has structured the A.F.C.'s best defense. They have held opponents to just one touchdown in the past four games and have allowed the fewest total yards in the conference. No wonder they boast nicknames such as the "Bruise Brothers" and the "Billsdozers." Over the past three years, Buffalo acquired '87 Pro Bowl defensive end Bruce Smith, inside linebacker Shane Conlan of Penn State and second-year outside linebacker Cornelius Bennett, a guided missile who homes in on footballs. Says O.J. Simpson, the legendary running back for the 1969-77 Bills, who closely follows his former team: "Buffalo is in the play- offs today because of those guys on defense."

The Bills' ground-hugging offense has been anchored since 1986 by Jim Kelly, a rugged quarterback who thrives on bad weather and tough downs. First drafted by the Bills in 1983, Kelly signed with the U.S.F.L.'s Houston Gamblers. He has become an effective field general who oversees the hard-charging attacks of running backs Thurman Thomas and Robb Riddick. The style is just what Levy, a quiet, scholarly helmsman who holds an M.A. in history from Harvard, wants for the Bills. "We're not going to try dazzling people by filling the air with footballs," he says. "Statistics show that if you run successfully, you win 85% of the time."

Perhaps, but many Bills wins have come at the toe of fourth-year kicker Scott Norwood, a former college soccer player. Norwood, improbably, is the N.F.L.'s leading scorer so far this year. He has amassed 108 points on 24 conversions and 28 field goals, and has been responsible for three Buffalo victories. He racked up all the Bills' points in their win over the Jets, and has tied the Buffalo season record of 28 field goals. Norwood shuns the flamboyance of most kickers, however. "Kicker," he says, "is a position unto itself."

Bills fans are closing in on their own mark. All seven home games so far have been sellouts, and attendance most likely will top Buffalo's single- season record of 601,712 by the end of the year. Making the play-offs will keep turnstiles clicking. Says autoworker George Meiler, who kept his season tickets through the bad times: "This is one of the biggest psychological boosts I've had in years." To accommodate forward-looking fans, some local travel agencies are already offering Super Bowl packages.

Before booking on, however, the Bills have a rough round of play-off games, probably against such A.F.C. bulwarks as Cincinnati, Houston or Seattle. Gearing up for a regular season showdown against the Bengals this past Sunday, history buff Levy borrowed a metaphor from TV's War and Remembrance. "We have liberated Paris," he said, "but it's 900 miles to Berlin."

With reporting by Tom Buckham/Buffalo and Lawrence Mondi/New York