Archives for November 29, 2011

‘Johnson further undermined himself by strapping a pair of oven mitts to his hands in the closing moments of the game. There were at least two occasions that Johnson dropped what appeared to be a go-ahead touchdown pass.’

‘This isn’t the first time Johnson’s drawn attention — and a flag — after a score. Last year, he shelled out a combined $15,000 after twice being fined by the NFL. That included a $10,000 fine and a 15-yard penalty for excessive celebration for falling back to the ground after pretending to shoot off a rifle — mimicking what the Patriots’ Minutemen do following a New England score — in a 38-30 loss at New England.’

‘Torell Troup’s nagging back troubles aren’t getting any better, putting him in jeopardy of becoming the latest Buffalo Bills player to go on the season-ending injured reserve list.’

‘Johnson says he texted an apology to Burress for mimicking using a gun to shoot himself in the thigh. He also regrets imitating a jet in flight before crashing to the turf. That part proved particularly costly, because he was flagged 15 yards for going to the ground.’

‘Pouha says Monday that Johnson putting his arms out and acting like a plane – something Santonio Holmes does after scoring-but then crashing into the turf in the Jets’ 28-24 win Sunday was “kind of a dagger” because of the attacks that occurred 10 years ago in Manhattan, a few miles from MetLife Stadium.’

‘”I felt like I cost our team a win on that,” Johnson said. “It was just a bad decision.”‘

‘Chan Gailey called a good game on offense, and Fitzpatrick, for the most part, executed it well. Costly mistakes were the Bills’ undoing, and Gailey accepted blame for those. Well, stopping touchdown celebrations that result in 15-yard penalties shouldn’t have to be on him. On defense, it wasn’t so much that the Bills were giving the Jets problems, it was that Mark Sanchez was just awful most of the day. However, on the last drive, the Bills were the ones who were awful, as they couldn’t stop the Jets.’

‘”I just really feel like the team needs a leader, and I know I’m young and a rookie and whatnot, but I feel like we’re at a point now where that really doesn’t matter where it’s coming from, but it needs to come from somewhere,” Dareus said. “My whole point was, we have to get after it.”‘

‘On this not being the first time he is addressing these types of questions: It’s the first this year. It happened once last year and I had to handle it. I didn’t know it would happen again but it did. One time something happens in the year you have to address it and make sure it doesn’t happen again. If it happens a couple of times it’s more than just an occurrence, it’s a habit. Then you have to really address it and do something about it.’