‘Before he was the parent of teenaged children, Thomas was a standout running back with the Buffalo Bills. He was the bald-headed double threat out of the backfield who helped quarterback Jim Kelly and other star teammates reach — and lose — the National Football League title game four years in a row. Those teams teased and tormented its fans like none before or since, and their legacy is visited every time wild optimism meets crushing pessimism on local talk radio. Buffalo has a championship-calibre defence, someone was saying on Sunday morning, but it can’t stop the run and, really, it’s full of players who could be excised in the name of rebuilding.’