Great Stevie Johnson Interview

[Another Fan]

It lasts over 45 minutes and I broke it into 2 parts watching it.  But it comes highly recommenced by me, especially to big fans of his.  He’s still the same happy go lucky kind of guy.

 

He talked about his TD celebrations, being a 7th round pick, Coleman, and how his basketball background helped him with his route running.  

[scuba guy]

All I remember of him is the dropped pass and his td, where he pulled up his shirt and it said why so serious.

[Another Fan]

1 hour ago, scuba guy said:

All I remember of him is the dropped pass and his td, where he pulled up his shirt and it said why so serious.

There was a 15 yard penalty afterwards but this one was his funniest 

 

 

[Breakout Squad]

5 hours ago, scuba guy said:

All I remember of him is the dropped pass and his td, where he pulled up his shirt and it said why so serious.

That’s all you remember? Damn 😢

[Logic]

Stevie was a real one.

His skillset SPECIFICALLY worked in the system he played in here in Buffalo, and because Fitz was his QB.

Both Chan and Fitz let him have the freedom to use his unconventional route running tactics, so long as he got where he was supposed to get to and got open. Not every offense in the league -- in fact, almost NO offense in the league -- would let him operate the way he did. It's why he never replicated his success in SF or SD, and why he was out of the league by age 30.

I'll never forget the fits he used to give Darrelle Revis. I think Revis struggled against him specifically BECAUSE he was so unorthodox. Revis knew how to defend every WR trick in the book. But Stevie had an entirely different book of tricks all his own.

Stevie was a unique and idiosyncratic player and personality. Always really enjoyed watching him. 

Thanks for sharing this interview.

[scuba guy]

58 minutes ago, Breakout Squad said:

That’s all you remember? Damn 😢

Well I am old.

 

He always cooked Revis which was great

[Mr. WEO]

57 minutes ago, Logic said:

Stevie was a real one.

His skillset SPECIFICALLY worked in the system he played in here in Buffalo, and because Fitz was his QB.

Both Chan and Fitz let him have the freedom to use his unconventional route running tactics, so long as he got where he was supposed to get to and got open. Not every offense in the league -- in fact, almost NO offense in the league -- would let him operate the way he did. It's why he never replicated his success in SF or SD, and why he was out of the league by age 30.

I'll never forget the fits he used to give Darrelle Revis. I think Revis struggled against him specifically BECAUSE he was so unorthodox. Revis knew how to defend every WR trick in the book. But Stevie had an entirely different book of tricks all his own.

Stevie was a unique and idiosyncratic player and personality. Always really enjoyed watching him. 

Thanks for sharing this interview.

why wouldn’t Stevie’s Revis beating route skills work in any Offense?  What OC/QB would not like that?

[Goin Breakdown]

One of my fav Bills ever. Just a good solid dude. 

[Breakout Squad]

22 minutes ago, scuba guy said:

Well I am old.

 

He always cooked Revis which was great

I thought you were a young kid haha

[Logic]

31 minutes ago, Mr. WEO said:

why wouldn’t Stevie’s Revis beating route skills work in any Offense?  What OC/QB would not like that?

Normally, OCs/QBs want you to run a route a specific way. A very regimented, textbook, "this is how you do it, these are the steps you take and motions you make and how you get from point A to point B" kind of way.

Stevie was never that way. He just used his basketball skills to shake guys loose. He was very unconventional in the way he ran routes and the way he set up opposing defenders. There was no "regimented and textbook way of getting from Point A to Point B" with Stevie. It was just "do what you gotta do to get where we need you to be when the ball is delivered, we don't care how you do it", and it worked.

Most OCs/head coaches/QBs don't like giving their players that type of freedom. And in fairness, most players aren't skilled in the unique ways that Stevie was that ALLOWED him to successfully exercise that freedom.

[QB Bills]

38 minutes ago, Goin Breakdown said:

One of my fav Bills ever. Just a good solid dude. 

Seconded. Stevie, Fred Jackson and Kyle Williams were my favourite drought era Bills.

[Goin Breakdown]

40 minutes ago, QB Bills said:

Seconded. Stevie, Fred Jackson and Kyle Williams were my favourite drought era Bills.

I agree. I've been a Bills fans for almost all my life and I never aside from the Bills we've had the last few years, that was a fun team to cheer for. I just wanted it for them. 

[hondo in seattle]

2 hours ago, Logic said:

Stevie was a real one.

His skillset SPECIFICALLY worked in the system he played in here in Buffalo, and because Fitz was his QB.

Both Chan and Fitz let him have the freedom to use his unconventional route running tactics, so long as he got where he was supposed to get to and got open. Not every offense in the league -- in fact, almost NO offense in the league -- would let him operate the way he did. It's why he never replicated his success in SF or SD, and why he was out of the league by age 30.

I'll never forget the fits he used to give Darrelle Revis. I think Revis struggled against him specifically BECAUSE he was so unorthodox. Revis knew how to defend every WR trick in the book. But Stevie had an entirely different book of tricks all his own.

Stevie was a unique and idiosyncratic player and personality. Always really enjoyed watching him. 

Thanks for sharing this interview.

 

There was some kind of wierd/special 'radar love' between Stevie and Fitz.  Sometimes, I wondered how the hell Fitz knew where to throw the ball because Stevie was clearly not running a designed play.  After a while, I decided that sometimes Fitz was just throwing the ball to a spot on the field that defenders couldn't get to, trusting that Stevie could.  And he did. 

At its best, the Stevie-Fitz show was both strange and exciting to watch.   

[Mr. WEO]

2 hours ago, Logic said:

Normally, OCs/QBs want you to run a route a specific way. A very regimented, textbook, "this is how you do it, these are the steps you take and motions you make and how you get from point A to point B" kind of way.

Stevie was never that way. He just used his basketball skills to shake guys loose. He was very unconventional in the way he ran routes and the way he set up opposing defenders. There was no "regimented and textbook way of getting from Point A to Point B" with Stevie. It was just "do what you gotta do to get where we need you to be when the ball is delivered, we don't care how you do it", and it worked.

Most OCs/head coaches/QBs don't like giving their players that type of freedom. And in fairness, most players aren't skilled in the unique ways that Stevie was that ALLOWED him to successfully exercise that freedom.

 

so you are saying every other OC in the NFL was more concerned with their own ego ("this is how you do it") to allow Stevie the "freedom" to dominate DBs with his unique route running abilities?

 

Yeah that makes no sense at all.  it's about winning. Anyone would take him if he actually was what you described.  I mean Gailey had 2 more OC jobs in the Division--Chan could have pulled Stevie off his couch to the Dolphins in 2020.

 

No, Stevie had a couple of decent seasons and then he was done.  Simple as that.

[MJS]

8 minutes ago, Mr. WEO said:

 

so you are saying every other OC in the NFL was more concerned with their own ego ("this is how you do it") to allow Stevie the "freedom" to dominate DBs with his unique route running abilities?

 

Yeah that makes no sense at all.  it's about winning. Anyone would take him if he actually was what you described.  I mean Gailey had 2 more OC jobs in the Division--Chan could have pulled Stevie off his couch to the Dolphins in 2020.

 

No, Stevie had a couple of decent seasons and then he was done.  Simple as that.

Stevie wasn't special. Fitzpatrick wasn't special either. But they had a special connection. That's what brought Stevie success while he was here.

[Mr. WEO]

3 minutes ago, MJS said:

Stevie wasn't special. Fitzpatrick wasn't special either. But they had a special connection. That's what brought Stevie success while he was here.

 

maybe that was it

[Another Fan]

1 hour ago, hondo in seattle said:

 

There was some kind of wierd/special 'radar love' between Stevie and Fitz.  Sometimes, I wondered how the hell Fitz knew where to throw the ball because Stevie was clearly not running a designed play.  After a while, I decided that sometimes Fitz was just throwing the ball to a spot on the field that defenders couldn't get to, trusting that Stevie could.  And he did. 

At its best, the Stevie-Fitz show was both strange and exciting to watch.   

This is still one of the most acrobatic catches I've ever seen

 

 

[QB Bills]

5 minutes ago, Another Fan said:

This is still one of the most acrobatic catches I've ever seen

 

 

Man, listening to Murph really makes me sad that we will now have Josh Allen's career highlights permanently narrated by Chris Brown. It's such a huge step down.

[scuba guy]

4 hours ago, Breakout Squad said:

I thought you were a young kid haha

Nope I watched in college the hole wide right with the swim team. 

[Mikie2times]

2 hours ago, Mr. WEO said:

 

so you are saying every other OC in the NFL was more concerned with their own ego ("this is how you do it") to allow Stevie the "freedom" to dominate DBs with his unique route running abilities?

 

Yeah that makes no sense at all.  it's about winning. Anyone would take him if he actually was what you described.  I mean Gailey had 2 more OC jobs in the Division--Chan could have pulled Stevie off his couch to the Dolphins in 2020.

 

No, Stevie had a couple of decent seasons and then he was done.  Simple as that.

 

Some of these releases are just nasty. 

Edited August 27 by Mikie2times