Lofton’s Last Laugh on Winning Note : Bills: The Raiders had cut him before the 1989 season, and he came back to haunt them en route to the Super Bowl.

Nine-year-old James Lofton sat in the upper reaches of the Coliseum 24 years ago with his father, Mike.

It was the first Super Sunday.

“What I remember,” Lofton said, smiling, “was wanting to know when I was going to get the popcorn, the hot dog and the soda. After that, I was probably ready to go.”

Lofton is all grown up now, and he is on his way back to the Super Bowl.

He caught two touchdown passes against his former employer, the Raiders, and was tackled a foot short of a third Sunday as the Bills scored a 51-3 AFC championship game victory.

In the midst of a raucous locker room, an emotional Lofton held his son, David, and found unusual satisfaction in a Super Bowl revisited.

“I went 25 years ago to the game with my dad,” Lofton said. “Now I get the chance to play, and I’m taking my son.

“Unfortunately my dad passed away in October . . . but I look at my boy now and I see how excited he is, and I remember.”

Young David will be 7 on Jan. 28, a day after his father concludes his 13th--and maybe most satisfying--season in professional football. Released by the Raiders before the 1989 season, Lofton struck back Sunday with five catches for a game-high 113 yards to contribute to a record-breaking onslaught.

His work was part of an attack that scored first and kept the pressure on.

“I really don’t think they were prepared for the no-huddle offense,” running back Thurman Thomas said. “We’ve been in the no-huddle for a long time now, and it would seem their coaches would know that this is what got us here. So they should have prepared for it.”

“The Raiders are a knock ‘em down, bullying type of football team,” Buffalo defensive end Bruce Smith said, “and they want to run the football, run the football and hit you with play passes here and there. I felt going into the game, if we scored early, we could get them out of their game plan.

“I thought we would score,” he said, “but not like we did.”

In the surprise of the day, the points added up faster than the snowflakes. The Bills’ no-huddle offense rendered each and every Raider attempt at defense useless.

The no-huddle was the brainchild of offensive coordinator Ted Marchibroda after the Bills’ successfully employed a two-minute offense to rally to beat Miami in the season opener. As well as the Bills run it, consider this: “We do not run the no-huddle in practice,” Buffalo coach Marv Levy said.

Tell that to the Raiders, who must wonder if the Bills found their defensive game plan in an El Segundo wastebasket.

“We felt if they were going to bring in all those defensive backs, we were going to run the football,” Buffalo quarterback Jim Kelly said. “Whatever they did, we were going to counter with something else. We were always one step ahead.”

By game’s end, however, they were coasts apart.

“Tampa Bay, here we come,” Kelly yelled. “Nobody, including me, thought we would be able to score 51 points against these guys.”

Kelly, who was 17 of 23 for 300 yards with touchdown passes of 13 and eight yards to Lofton, calls the plays when he is in the no-huddle. He is given guidelines, but more important, he is given control of the game.

“If you have Michael Jordan, you want the ball in his hands as much as possible,” Marchibroda said. “This offense is suited to Jim Kelly’s temperment. It’s exciting. It’s fast.”

Kelly had passed for 247 yards by halftime. He completed his first seven passes of the game and had the Raiders wheezing for a timeout after marching his team 55 yards to the Los Angeles 20 in five plays.

“I’ll tell you, one thing Jim Kelly has learned is he’s more patient this year,” Buffalo wide receiver Andre Reed said. “He’s not erratic like he used to be. He sticks in there and makes the decision as fast as he can, and it’s usually the right decision.”

The Kelly-led offense produced a team-record 428 points to lead the NFL in scoring. In two playoff games, the Bills have scored 95 points.

The Bills had 138 yards on the ground on 25 rushes by Thomas and took advantage of six interceptions.

“Next to having my daughter,” Buffalo defensive back Leonard Smith said, “this is the most beautiful moment in my life.”

After losing championship bids in 1966 and 1988, the Bills made it obvious almost from the outset that they were not to be deterred.

“We are probably one of the better teams in the league today,” said Buffalo linebacker Darryl Talley, who returned an interception 27 yards for a touchdown. “I would never go out and boast that we are the best team. But let’s see what happens at the Super Bowl.”

The 15-3 Bills, who defeated the New York Giants, 17-13, in the Meadowlands Dec. 15, will try to end a six-year losing streak for the AFC in the Super Bowl.

“Everybody is saying, ‘Boy, the Super Bowl,’ ” Kelly said. “My goal is not to go to the Super Bowl, but win the Super Bowl. Our goal is to win it, not just to show up.”

A sign on the wall in the Bills’ locker room summed up the AFC title: “We peak next week.”

“This is not our goal,” Levy said, while excusing himself early from a postgame press conference to begin Super Bowl game plan preparations. “Our goal is to stay focused for another week. Don’t get too high--enjoy it. But I keep telling my players we got one more river to cross.”