Where are you now Frank Reich?

In what I plan to be a semi regular feature here at Big Sports, we look back at an athlete who had a moment of glory or infamy and try and find out where they are now.  I’m not going to be calling people or anything, this will all be Internet research.  First up, Frank Reich who led the Buffalo Bills to the greatest upset in NFL history.

It really could be Scott Bakula!

Frank Reich played college ball at the University of Maryland where he backed up good friend Boomer Esiason.   In what would be a preview of his career he came off the bench to rally Maryland back from a 31-0 deficit against a Bernie Kosar led Miami team at the Orange Bowl in 1984.  He led the Terrapins to a 42-9 second half.

He was drafted in the third round by the Buffalo Bills in 1985 where he would spend most of his time backing up Jim Kelly.   In 1992 the Bills had made the playoffs but Kelly was hurt.  They played the Oilers and were down 32 points heading into the half.  Reich led the team all the way back to 41-38 victory.  He also led the Bills to a 23-7 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers  before giving the reins back over to Kelly to get beat in yet another Super Bowl by the Cowboys.  In 1995 Reich was picked by Carolina  in the expansion draft.  While he threw the first touchdown pass in Carolina history he was replaced mid season by a young, fresh faced kid named Kerry Collins.  He also played for the Jets and the Lions (where he killed a comeback by spiking a ball on 4th down) and retired in 1998. Plus he looks just like Scott Bakula.  So where is Frank Reich now?

Mr. Reich was always a devout Christian and worked the motivational speaker circuit.  He also formed a memorabilia company called Pro Display, Inc. and had some retail ventures with Boomer Esiason.  But recently he was hired as the QB coach for the Indianapolis Colts (I always thought Peyton was the QB coach there).  But what really cracks me up is that Peyton is bgasically the Jim Kelly of this generation, albeit with one Super Bowl ring.  I don’t even mean that in a cruel way, but when you think about it they are pretty similiar in their ability to put up huge numbers but without the key wins that one would think they would have.  So there’s Frank Reich, hanging out with Jim Sorgi with in Indianoplis.