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Late in 1994, a reporter working on a piece about post-concussive syndrome (then a relatively new concept in sports) asked Jim Kelly to describe what a concussion feels like.
New York Jets wide receiver Al Toon and Pittsburgh Steelers fullback Merril Hoge had recently retired due to repeated brain bruises. Kelly, who had himself been kayoed several times and rendered woozy on a number of other occasions, couldn't resist the straight line.
"Come over here," Kelly said, a wide smile spreading across his wider face, "and I'll show you."
In 11 seasons as the Buffalo Bills' field marshal, Kelly absorbed enough hits to inspire a neurologist's seminar. But that was only part of what put his No. 12 on the Wall of Fame on Sunday.
Kelly the corporation and man, good and not-so-good, is fodder for other stories. And has been.
This is about Kelly the quarterback. No one has ever played the position better while wearing a Bills uniform, and few in National Football League history have had more success.
Kelly, one of the last in his field to command full play-calling latitude, could run the Raiders off the field in an AFC title game. Or struggle to put away the last-place Patriots.
Before, during and following their four-year control of the AFC, Kelly was the Bills. Once the Super Bowls stopped being an annual entitlement, the dynasty slowly declined with him.
In 1995, with Andre Reed, Thurman Thomas and Marv Levy out for varying lengths of time, Kelly cobbled together an attack revolving around Billy Brooks and Darick Holmes, willing Buffalo back into the playoffs after a one-year absence.
The next season, though, with his supporting cast restored, he added a moment's hesitation to some of his deliveries -- particularly important ones -- and would have lost a step if he had one to spare.
So he retired. He could have hung on, eventually enduring the indignity of hearing the crowd chant, "We want Collins." But he didn't. A few weeks after ending his last game under medical care, he was gone. And so were those Bills.
In no particular order, here's a look at a half-dozen vintage Kelly performances.
Sept. 7, 1986 -- Kelly's first game came 20 days after signing with the team that drafted him three years earlier. Apparently, he didn't have many problems learning Buffalo's offense.
Kelly, having completed his detour through the USFL, threw for 292 yards and three touchdowns in front of a Rich Stadium sellout, but the New York Jets held on for a 28-24 win.
After a pair of 2-14 seasons that included the tail end of Joe Ferguson's run and the rise and fall of Joe Dufek, Vince Ferragamo and Bruce Mathison, no one was complaining.
Jan. 20, 1991 -- Buffalo's 41 first-half points against the Los Angeles Raiders marked the absolute apex of the no-huddle K-gun designed by Ted Marchibroda and mastered by Kelly.
Unlike most NFL blowouts, the Bills didn't get a lot of cheap points. The Raiders simply couldn't stop them. Buffalo's five first-half touchdown drives covered an average of 68 yards. Kelly was nearly perfect, going 17-of-23 for 300 yards and two scores. Buffalo's first Super Bowl appearance became inevitable well before intermission.
Oct. 21, 1991 -- Cincinnati intercepted Kelly three times in the first quarter, but he just kept firing. Five touchdown throws and 392 yards later, the Bills had thrashed the Bengals 35-16 in a Monday night game also remembered for Sam Wyche's apparent nervous breakdown.
Nov. 24, 1991 -- Coming into Foxboro Stadium 10-1 and on a five-game win streak, victory No. 11 was supposed to be a formality. The Bills certainly treated it that way.
Kelly threw four interceptions, but the memory of the Cincinnati game a month earlier and the near-equal haplessness of the 3-8 Patriots made a stolen win seem inevitable. The legendary Hugh Millen, though, played just well enough to keep New England ahead and for once, Kelly couldn't pull it out at the end.
Sept. 10, 1989 -- Marc Logan's recovery of a blocked punt in the end zone put Miami ahead early in the second half of the season opener and the Dolphins extended their lead to 11 points late in the fourth quarter.
Kelly's 26-yard touchdown pass to Flip Johnson with 2:50 remaining drew Buffalo within four. Nate Odomes intercepted Dan Marino with 1:44 left, giving the Bills one more shot. Five completions and an offsides penalty on Miami gave Buffalo one play with two seconds left. Kelly surveyed the crowded end zone, spotted an angle and took off with Miami safety Louis Oliver looming. Kelly got there first, though, capping the comeback with his first career touchdown.
Despite Kelly's subsequent knee injury and the ongoing Bickering Bills saga, Buffalo finished 9-7 and won the AFC East for the second straight season. Miami wound up tied for second at 8-8.
Jan. 27, 1991 -- The Bills' closest Super Bowl loss showed why they, and Kelly, never won one.
Bruce Smith got a sniff of big-game immortality when he sacked Jeff Hostetler for a safety in the second quarter. He spent the rest of the day looping outside in search of another. Unfortunately for Buffalo, Ottis Anderson was more than grateful for the openings left behind, exploiting Bruce's hubris for 102 yards, a touchdown and the MVP trophy.
Meanwhile, either Kelly's feel for finding and striking defensive weaknesses abandoned him, or he was determined to win it himself.
The Giants didn't seem particularly concerned with stopping Thomas, but Kelly kept throwing anyway. In the first half, with the Giants ready to be put away, he threw 21 times while handing off to Thomas just nine.
And at the end, his decisions not to spike the ball with the clock running twice burned vital seconds. Kelly did get the Bills into field-goal range, but his lack of clock control forced Scott Norwood to launch the NFL's most infamous miss on second down.
Kelly wiped Ferguson and Jack Kemp out of Buffalo's record book and it will be at least a decade before any quarterback threatens his status as the Bills' best ever at the position. Marv Levy's election to the Hall of Fame ensures Kelly's enshrinement.
Kelly never got his ring and never gave Western New York the championship it craved. But he turned coming torturously close into one hell of a ride.