Jim Kelly has thrived in the NFL football wars of the Eighties and Nineties, so much so that he led Buffalo to four consecutive Super Bowl appearances and went on to be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He also has survived some personal battles since in overcoming serious illness.

"I've told friends before, don't worry, I know I have to slow down," Kelly said. "I have not been able to do it, even through four bouts of cancer. I can't slow down. I've got to keep going."

And one topic that gets "Machine Gun" Kelly going is his relationship with Frank Reich, his Bills backup QB and now the Jets offensive coordinator. "I would not be wearing a gold jacket," Kelly said, "if it wasn't for Number 14 on our team and that's Frank Reich."

Kelly had a superb interview with nyjets.com senior reporter Eric Allen on The Official Jets Podcast, during which he talked about Reich and the seeming odd couple that the two formed in guiding the offense during that golden period of Bills football.

"Our relationship was very, very good." Kelly recalled of their time together in Western New York from 1986-94. "He knew the type of person I was. I was more of an outdoor, crazy, love-to-have fun guy. He was more of the kicked-back. laid-back type of quarterback and person. He was my roommate early in my career. Then the more he got to know me and decided, 'Maybe I need to change roommates.' "

But not teammates. Off the field and on the sidelines, Reich became a trusted Kelly confidant.

"I welcomed his input. not just when we were playing games but in practice and meetings more than anything," he said. "The two cents that Frank gave was more than two cents. It was like a 20-dollar bill. He gave me everything that I would need."

And when Kelly went down with the occasional injury, Reich stepped up to pinch-hit without a hitch. That was never more evident than in Reich's shining achievement in leading the Bills from 32 points down to their 41-38 overtime win over Oilers in the 1992 AFC Wild Card Round.

"I knew we would be ready, and the good thing was our team had confidence in Frank," said Kelly, who sat out that game with strained knee ligaments. "We had the same system for many years, and I knew, not only myself but my teammates, our offensive line and [center] Kent Hull, our running backs and Thurman [Thomas], Andre [Reed], all of them, they knew Frank knew the offense as well as I did. Even though he was going to run a different style of offense, slower-paced, huddle-up, they knew we were going to be OK."

Kelly admits his belief in the offense was tested when Houston opened a 35-3 lead early in the third quarter after Reich threw a pick-six to S Bubba McDowell.

"I wasn't sure," he said with a laugh. "Then, of course, one thing led to another and there was the confidence the team had of being able to come back. I'm sure running that no-huddle offense, even though Frank wasn't a big part of it on the field, he understood what it took if he had to do it. So he brought our team back and here we are, four Super Bowls."

Needless to say, Reich's engineering of that win, which led to the third of those four title game appearances and remains the greatest comeback in NFL playoff history, doesn't have a whole lot to do with the 2026 Jets. But Kelly still stays in touch with Reich, for one reason, because "from start to finish, I owe so much to Frank. I love him to death. We call each other and he calls me Chill Factor 12, and to me, he's Chill Factor 14."

And besides the personal connection, Kelly is well aware of Reich's coaching history, as the OC for the Super Bowl-winning Eagles after the 2017 season and in his two head-coaching stints that followed. And to "CF-12" and especially to the Jets, Reich looks like just the man for the job of reinvigorating and orchestrating the Jets offense under head coach Aaron Glenn.

"I haven't been around Frank as far as in a huddle or in a meeting for a long time, but I know what he meant to our room and our team," Kelly said, adding with a chuckle, "I just wish he was a Buffalo Bill and not a New York Jet. I have a lot of friends that live down in that area that are Jets fans and I like to mess with 'em. But God bless 'em, I know that he's going to add so much to that team and to that quarterbacks room.

"He's earned that respect, he's definitely earned it over the course of the years he's been a coach, and I wish him nothing but the best."

Coming from one of the Jets' all-time-great opponents, that's quite a stamp of approval for the start of Reich's coaching tenure with the Green & White.