By Stevie Johnson Never Wanted To Go Anywhere Except Buffalo, Vows He Won’t Get Into Trouble With Touchdown Celebrations
July 31, 2012 – 9:00 am by Steven Cuce
It was this exact photo that put the final nail in the coffin for Stevie Johnson last season. Chan Gailey had told his number one wide receiver he would not tolerate any more unsportsmanlike conduct flags for celebrating touchdowns. It was Johnson who elected to disobey his coach and sport a “Happy New Year’s” undershirt in last year’s season finale at New England. No.13 was benched for the rest of the game as his team lost to the Patriots.
Luckily for Johnson that moment of weakness was not his last with the Bills. The man who made the ‘Why so serious?’ touchdown dance a trademark came to terms on a five-year deal worth more than $36 million in the offseason. Johnson is happy to remain with the Bills and claims to have learned from his mistakes.
Stevie Johnson joined WGR 550 in Buffalo with Schopp and Bulldog to discuss his excitement for training camp, the status of his groin injury, the Buffalo Bills having a different attitude under Chan Gailey, staying with the Buffalo Bills in the offseason and his plans this season for some new touchdown celebrations.
Are you excited for the beginning of training camp?
“Oh yeah, but once you get a couple of weeks in it’s like okay let’s get back home and get back in Buffalo and then let’s get this thing going. I feel great being back. The offseason has been a bunch of fun, but I need to get back into the groove of things in being a wide receiver for the Buffalo Bills.”
How are you feeling health wise?
“I am feeling good. I am waiting for the scar tissue in my groin to pop, so I can have that piece of mind that okay everything is all set, but I am out there running routes, so it’s good.”
Is this team improving from what they built on last season?
“We have the same guys back, but it was more than just on the field. I think that is where it started. Off the field we was pretty close. Then when Chan Gailey came in he just took over like a father I guess. He taught us a different attitude. Even though our record wasn’t as good as we wanted it to be we still got the mentality of going into games expecting to win, so we didn’t have to go through the whole phase of ‘Okay guys let’s try to make sure we get this game.’ You know what I am saying? We past all of that now. It’s a good feeling.”
How does it feel to get a new contract from the Buffalo Bills? Did you feel like you would be here this year?
“Yeah it’s a great feeling. It’s a great feeling. The whole time I assumed I would be here and that I was wanted here. How the last few weeks went that’s when I was like okay maybe this is not where I am supposed to be? I’ve said this before, but that is just how I was feeling. When Buffalo came back and approached me saying they wanted me to be here, it was a great feeling for me. I wanted to be here. It all worked out. We just go forward from here.”
Where do you go from here with the touchdown celebrations?
“My attitude now is no fines, no penalties. I said it before, but it was mostly I will take a fine cause I am going to be the only one affected by it. Now with what happened at the end of the game where I did something where it was supposed to be a fine on me and it ended up being a penalty. So now it’s like okay let’s kill it all in one. I’ll come up with maybe one celebration and let the fans come up with something and we’ll just go from there. I don’t think I’ll be in trouble anymore since signing the deal.”
Listen to Stevie Johnson on WGR 550 in Buffalo here
Tags: Buffalo Bills, NFL, Schopp and Bulldog, Stevie Johnson, WGR 550 in Buffalo
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