Quick Kicks

Take it away, Neil Sedaka

Breaking up is hard to do.

Especially for a successful NFL team.

But the Buffalo Bills are facing that prospect after being knocked out of the playoffs in the first round by the Jacksonville Jaguars last week.

Two days after the game, center Kent Hull, one of eight players who stayed together for the team’s four trips to the Super Bowl, announced his retirement.

Quarterback Jim Kelly is likely to be next. Going out with Kelly will be the K-Gun offense, Buffalo’s version of the no-huddle. And the team’s two top offensive coaches, coordinator Tom Bresnahan and quarterback coach Jim Shofner, are likely to go with him.

It’s not official that Kelly is gone. But all the signals are there.

For him to return, Kelly said, “All the circumstances have to be right.”

He added: “I have to feel comfortable. I’m not talking dollarwise. I’m talking personnelwise.”

My mother told me …

So who’s it going to be in 1997 for the San Francisco 49ers, Steve Young or Elvis Grbac?

The great mystery is no closer to being resolved today than it was a few months ago. The speculation then centered on the idea of making Grbac the projected long-term starter, giving Young one more year to operate the West Coast offense and then showing him the door.

On one side are team owner Eddie DeBartolo Jr. and president Carmen Policy, and on the other are personnel executives Dwight Clark and Vinny Cerrato.

“I think Eddie and Carmen feel like Elvis isn’t at Steve’s level … The big thrust on Elvis is from Dwight Clark and Vinny Cerrato,” said Dick Steinberg, Young’s agent.

49ers owner accused of fighting

A witness to a fight following Saturday’s NFC playoff game between San Francisco and Green Bay said he saw 49ers owner Edward DeBartolo Jr. punch someone as the team was leaving Lambeau Field.

Mark VanRemortel, 29, of Green Bay, told WFRV-TV that he gave police a statement Sunday about DeBartolo. VanRemortel said he was standing in the area where the 49ers were coming out when a gate opened, and he saw a large man give someone a “pretty severe head butt.”

“Following this, Mr. DeBartolo came out from kind of like from behind him and more like it was a blind punch and just hit this gentleman,” VanRemortel said.

DeBartolo did not immediately return telephone messages left at his Youngstown, Ohio, home by The Associated Press. A message left at the team’s headquarters also was not immediately returned.

Extra points

The New Orleans Saints covet Carolina Panthers GM Bill Polian and plan to make him the type of offer he can’t refuse once the Panthers are out of the playoffs. Polian is under contract for two more years in Carolina and says he has no plans to leave. But sources around the league believe that he’ll jump for the right offer.

The New York Jets also are expected to make a push for Polian, but not before trying to lure Bill Parcells away from the New England Patriots.

Rumors are being floated that the Kansas City Chiefs have signed free-agent quarterback Jeff George and that they have delayed announcement of the deal.