Published: November 19, 2008 11:37 pm      

SCHMITT: McKelvin finally looked worthy of high pick

Believe it or not, there was a tiny bit of solace to be taken from Monday’s heartbreak. In the ashes of a 29-27 loss to Cleveland — one that will probably return the Bills to a familiar spot in front of the HD come playoff time — rose a cornerback. A speedy, competent cornerback. Not a guy simply pulling in first-round money on potential, but a living, breathing cornerback on a team that’s been desperate for a little depth.

Monday was the night Leodis McKelvin went from return specialist to a cover guy who also takes back kicks.

McKelvin knew it too. He’s been waiting, ever since that moment he got badly burned in a preseason game against Indianapolis, to say he was ready. The few times he’s stepped before the local media he’s insisted he’s comfortable on defense.

But finally on Monday, a guy who we’d once expected to step in and compete for a starting job finally looking capable enough to do something besides play special teams.

Far be it from him to notice the team is mired in a horrendous four-game slump when it finally happened. Or that he had a potential game-winning interception slip through his arms.

“I feel great. I feel I can step in and do what I need to do and do my job just like all the other times they called me in,” McKelvin said on Wednesday. “And I played pretty solid, so I’m just going to come in and do my job.”

His job might me to match up with the AFC East’s best sooner than Bills coaches had hoped. After the preseason — one in which fourth-rounder Reggie Corner outplayed him — you sensed that the team’s braintrust would be content to simply send him back deep for kicks then hand him a jacket.

With Terrence McGee was obviously not 100 percent a few weeks back and up-and-comer Ashton Youboty injured again, the Bills were in dire need of help.

Rather than turn to McKelvin, though, the coaches let McGee stay in and take a torching.

When Jabari Greer went down against the Browns, they’d run out of options. Corner would have to play the slot and McKelvin needed to line up outside.

Brady Quinn threw deep at him right away. McKelvin ran stride for stride with Braylon Edwards and the pass fell incomplete. They didn’t pick on him much after that.

Consider his first real NFL test passed.

McKelvin knew the special teams play would come. He’d been oh-so-close on so many occasions and to finally break a big one was truly special. He called it “a relief.”

But while his 98-yard burst put the Bills back in the game and made the national highlights, it’s not why he was drafted. McKelvin needs to be a solid contributor on the corner for the Bills to become playoff material.

He knows it, too.

“I’m still hungry. My expectations were to come in (and start) and when the season started it didn’t happen,” he said. “I just sat back and got better and better at practice. I tried to learn the defense better and better and I’m just coming out there and doing my job.”

Contact sports editor Tim Schmitt at 282-2311, Ext. 2266.