Stevie Johnson clears the air
By: John Kucko
Updated: November 26, 2012
Back to work for the Bills on Monday. On Sunday, it sounded like Stevie Johnson hinted that Ryan Fitzpatrick should call the plays more--Stevie claims he was misunderstood. There were reactions on Monday, beginning with head coach Chan Gailey:
Q: Are you satisfied with WR Stevie Johnson's
explanation for what he meant after the game
yesterday?
A: I had not heard it. I have not heard his
explanation.
Q: I thought you talked to
him.
A: Nope. (Bob Bicknell) talked to him. I did not talk to
him, but I talked to Bick and I know where he is coming from. Stevie just wants
to win. You say a lot of things and he just wants to win. He is fine.
Q: When things like that come out that players said,
does that upset you?
A: It does, but you have to understand it is the heat of
the battle and if you know a guy...if you do not know a guy you might tend to get
really upset, but if you know a guy then you know where his heart is. Even
though he might not have said it exactly right, you know where his heart is. I
know Stevie.
Q: How much frustration is there knowing where you
are at right now?
A: There is a lot right after the game and the day
after. There is a lot of it, but it is what it is. You have to find what you can
find positive. Build on it and go to the next
one.
Q: Is there any way you expected to be standing here
4-7 at this point in the season?
A: No. I did not. I expected to be 11-0. That is the way
I always look at it.
Q: I know you cannot change it, but is it safe to say
you will be sending some stuff into the league regarding what happened at the
end of the first half and how they were
officiated?
A: I looked at it. I do not know what they see and what
they do not see. If you send in judgment stuff, you are not going to get any
response so you are wasting your time. Most of that was judgment
stuff.
Q: Do you plan to talk to
Stevie?
A: No.
Q: What about tempo? A couple times this season your
offense has needed some time to get going. No-huddle is a part of your playbook.
What about turning to that to jump start
things?
A: We have done that some, but it has been revolving
around the pass game. We are trying to make sure we get the running game going.
When you do no-huddle sometimes it revolves too much around the pass game. We do
not want to get into that. We want to keep a balance between our run and
pass.
Q: You have said a couple of times this season that
you feel the team is still making progress. Do you still feel that
way?
A: In some areas. In some areas not.
Q: What areas are
improving?
A: I feel like our defense is getting better and has
become more consistent. Maybe our run defense in particular has gotten better. I
think we have taken a step back in some areas. We have done some good things in
special teams, but what we get we give up sometimes. That is frustrating at
times.
Q: When you look at the season as a whole
statistically you are further behind than you were a year ago so progress seems
to be a hard sell.
A: Yeah, right now I would agree with you. Until you win
games. The statistics go out the gate when you win games. Statistics do not
matter. Statistics are a way to evaluate losing in my
opinion.
Q: Do you have confidence K Rian Lindell can kick a
52-yard field goal or does he not have that in him
anymore?
A: Yeah, he has it in him. The question is do you want
to play the field position game at that point in a ball game? Right before half,
right at the end of the game--sure I might try it. I know we did not in overtime
for the field position reason in Arizona. I think he can make one. He makes them
in practice. It is not that I do not have confidence, just percentage-wise it is
against you in general over 50 yards. I do not want to play those percentages.
Q: What is DE Chris Kelsay's situation moving forward
here?
A: Not good. He had a recurrence of that neck strain and
he may miss some time.
Q: Is it season
threatening?
A: I do not think so but you have to wait and see about
these things. We will have to wait and see how it comes around.
Q: QB Ryan Fitzpatrick said he has plenty of freedom
inside the offense. Can you describe the scope of Ryan's freedom to help fans
understand it?
A: Not in a 20 second sound bit, I cannot do that.
Freedom comes in different packages depending upon the play and the situation
whether it is a run or a pass. Is it the route within the pass? We do all of
that. We do a little bit of all of that. We do not do it every snap because
sometimes we want to hand it off. We do not want to adjust
things.
Q: Ten to 15,000 tickets remaining for the December
home games. I would imagine that is as good of a source of frustration that the
fans are feeling as any. Are you feeling the fans
frustration?
A: I do not feel it because I do not deal with the
outside a lot to be honest with you, but I know they are. These are loyal, great
fans that live and die with the Bills. They are suffering right now. They are
suffering and I understand that. I do.
Q: Stevie said that he misspoke and when he said he
wanted Fitzpatrick to call the plays, he meant audibles. Can you tell us what
your philosophy is with audibling?
A: Some weeks we have a lot. Some weeks we do not have
very many. We have adjustments that guys can make. Sometimes we do not have
adjustments that the quarterback can make. So we just try to strike a balance of
we get what we want run, run and then if there needs to be a change out there we
allow Fitz to change some of them.
Q: Some people have placed you on the 'hot seat.' Do
you feel you have had enough time to try to turn this thing around and do you
believe you deserve more?
A: I am just working as hard as I can work to try to get
this thing where it needs to be. I do not evaluate that stuff. I do not evaluate
it or look at it. I am not going to say I do not care about it. That would be a
lie, but I am just doing the best I can every day.
Q: In light of the loyalty you have showed to Stevie,
is it a little disappointing what he said yesterday after two weeks ago he was
criticizing a play call in New England?
A: Yeah, I know and like I said you say some things
sometimes in the heat of the battle that maybe you wish you had not said or you
did not say exactly the way you wanted to say it. We all do it. We all try not
to but we all do it. Like I said, I know Stevie. I know what he wants to happen
for this football team and I know his heart. So I am not worried about
it.
Q: Do you get a sense that the confidence your team
has in you may be fraying?
A: I do not sense that but you are asking the wrong
person. You need to be asking them.
Q: Do you have an update on FB Corey
McIntyre?
A: Better than we thought. It could have been a lot
worse. There is a good chance for this week that he will get to practice.
Q: What about DE Mark Anderson and CB Aaron
Williams?
A: It will be touch and go. They are going to do a
little bit of work during the week, but I would say it is less of a chance than
more of a chance right now for those two.
Q: Have they had a setback? This is stretching on a
little bit longer than what was initially
anticipated.
A: It has not been a setback, but it just has not moved
forward as fast as we hoped it would.
Q: Do you have any idea why it has been so difficult
to turn a once proud franchise around?
A: No. If I had that handle I would have already
grabbed it, jerked it and done something about
it.
Q: How would you asses the job that CB Justin Rogers
has done?
A: He has been up-and-down. He played with a lot of
confidence early in the season, then as of late he has not played with as much
confidence and you can see it in his play. He still has got the ability to do
some things, but I just feel like sometimes his confidence wavers and that gets
him in trouble. He needs to play with a great deal of confidence and I think
that he can be a decent player, but he has to go out and do it every
down.
Q: The nickel cornerback seems to be one of the
toughest spots on defense with how teams move their best receiver into the
slot.
A: It is getting tougher and tougher as I see football
go on because of what you just said. People trying to match-up with those guys
inside.
Q: How is CB Ron Brooks playing four games in and is
he a consideration at that spot at all?
A: I do not think he is. I think our first choice would
be to move Leodis (McKelvin) in there before we move (Ron) Brooks in there.
Leodis played it in the spring and played it in preseason. Showed some good
things in there and Brooks missing all of that time has not had enough practice
or even thought process in the whole thing.
Q: Is that a move you consider for this
week or would it have to be when CB Aaron Williams comes
back?
A: Maybe. That is a maybe (we would consider it this
week).
Q: Your plans for RB C.J. Spiller and RB Fred Jackson
moving forward?
A: I still see C.J. getting the majority of the plays
and I do not see anything changing our mind in the immediate future about that
with C.J. getting the majority of the plays. It balanced out this past week
because of some throwing situations that we needed the protection in there. I
think as time goes on we will see C.J. get more of the
reps.
Q: If they are both healthy, will Spiller be the
starter?
A: Yeah.
Q: Spiller did not touch the ball the last 13 and a
half minutes of the game yesterday, is that OK with
you?
A: Well since we lost, no it is not OK. You would have
rather gotten him the football. Maybe he would have given you a chance to win so
you'd like to do something different than you did. You think you had some good
things on the plate to give yourself a chance to win, but when you do not win
then you wish you had done something different.
Q: I know they play different positions but WR T.J.
Graham played two more snaps than Spiller
did.
A: I do not even think that comparison is fair. Just
because of different positions and who the other guy
is.
Q: In what way? Because C.J. is doing that much more
work in terms of exertion?
A: No, I mean who is playing behind T.J. and who is
playing behind C.J.
QB Ryan
Fitzpatrick
Monday, November 26,
2012
Q: WR Stevie Johnson was talking about maybe you
would have better luck calling the plays. How would you feel about
that?
A: I think Stevie...I do not know if maybe it was taken
out of context. I have talked to him a little bit today about what he said, what
he meant and why he said it. You will have to ask him all of that stuff and
maybe a day after thinking about it, being able to see what was written about it
he will kind of let you guys know what he was talking about.
The two things about Stevie that I will say--one is he is
fiercely loyal. I think coming out of that game there is a lot of criticism on
me, always when we do not win and rightfully so. I think that was probably part
of it. That was a way for him to show that he had my back. That is something I
appreciate. The other thing is he is as competitive as can be. We saw that even
on the interception. Fighting and getting the fumble. He does not like to lose.
He came out and kind of said some stuff that was on his mind. I think it was not
necessarily I need to be the offensive coordinator, I think it was more that
sometimes we get into a better flow when I am able to go out there, and
especially with him and the way that he runs routes and things, give him some
routes and the line and do some of those different things. That is something we
have done a lot in the past and we did a few times in the last game. I think
that is what was on his mind.
Q: Are you comfortable with the level of autonomy you
have in the offense?
A: Yeah. Chan (Gailey) and I have worked together long
enough now that I have a ton of freedom. Even in year one I had a good amount of
freedom. There is a lot of give and take with that. I feel 100-percent
comfortable. It is not always on the field, it is not always during a specific
play. Sometimes that stuff happens on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday when we
are sitting up in our meeting room and talking about plays, things that we have
installed and what we are trying to attack.
Q: Would you welcome the opportunity to call more
plays if HC Chan Gailey gave you that
opportunity?
A: We could sit and talk about this forever, but I have
a lot of freedom in this offense. Chan gives me a lot of freedom and I am happy
with it.
Q: But do you need to have more? Is that Stevie's
point?
A: You will have to ask Stevie, but I feel like there is
a lot of trust between Chan's play calling and what I do on the field sometimes
when I switch things up. There is a lot of trust there. You will have to talk to
Stevie about what he was talking about but that is all I can say on
that.
Q: You talked about the criticism that you get, but
there was a lot more towards Gailey. Doesn't his loyalty to his coach come into
play there?
A: Yeah it does. I was not sitting there listening on
what he was talking about. I know this morning he was a little distraught
because he felt like what he was saying got misconstrued as he was questioning
Chan and that is not the point he was trying to get across. You can ask him. He
loves Chan. If you look at what Chan has done for him. He did not really get on
the field and play until Chan got here. After last season Chan had a decision to
make, did he want to bring Stevie back or not? Nobody would have questioned it
either way. He wanted Stevie back and brought him back. Stevie owes a lot to
Chan and I know he understands that.
Q: Gailey has said many times that he feels the team
is making progress. Do you agree that the team is making
progress?
A: It is tough because you look at our record. We are
4-7. Last year we started off hotter, we started off with a better record. It is
frustrating to turn on the film and watch to just see that it is a play or two
here or there. We had three big down the field throws that could have broken
open the game. We only completed one of them. We had some bad behind the chains
deals, we were second-and-long, third-and-long, that stalled some drives out.
There are just little things that come up in games that we are not good enough
to overcome right now. We just have to continue to get better in those
areas.
Q: Eleven games into the season, shouldn't you expect
more from the offense?
A: Yeah, I think the biggest thing is we have been
inconsistent. Unfortunately the last month or so we are heading in the wrong
direction in terms of our production has dropped off and is not where we want it
to be. For us, that is disappointing. We just have to continue to work and
continue to fix things that we are not doing
well.
Q: What can you say about a tempo change? No-huddle
is a part of your playbook. It is an option you can turn to, I would
think?
A: Yeah, and that is something that when I first heard
Stevie's comments that is a lot of what I thought he was talking about. Just in
terms of in years past we do not have any momentum when we are kind of dead out
there. When we are three-and-out or four, five, six plays-and-out just going on
the ball and getting some stuff going. A lot of times when we do that it limits
the amount of runs we have. It limits the touches we can get for C.J. (Spiller)
and Fred (Jackson). I think that is why we have gotten away from it a little bit
this year. That is always something that we need to consider because it is
something that can liven up the offense if you need a
spark.
Q: Why would the tempo limit the amount of
runs?
A: Everything is up on the ball and we are calling
things, so we do not have...we have plenty of runs, but we do not have our full
package of runs that we would have in the game or different ways to attack the
ways that people are defending us. A lot of times with the quarterback calling
the plays on the field and that kind of stuff, especially with one-on-one
matchups on the outside of the field, you tend to throw a little bit
more.
Q: How difficult is it standing here right now
knowing that the playoffs are just a mathematical
dream?
A: It stinks. We knew that was a big game for us. It
would have put us right in contention really right in the hunt. Right now it is
dim. The hopes are dim, but there is still a little bit of hope and we are just
going to keep fighting and keep playing.
Q: Can you give us an example of the inconsistencies
that you mention?
A: Specific examples--I get them to jump offsides and I
miss C.J. Then we have a down the field shot to Donald (Jones) we do not
complete. Being able to hit those big plays would help. There are also just some
runs here or there or some screens, whatever it is. All of a sudden we are
finding ourselves in 2nd-and-12 or we have a
2nd-and-five and all of
a sudden we have a 3rd-and-nine. The negative
plays and the longer third-down stuff we have not been as good with as I would
have hoped coming into the season we would be. That is part of it. Sometimes it
is one guy or one great defensive play that will ruin a play. It is just getting
all 11 guys on the same page and continuing to work at it.
WR Stevie
Johnson
Monday, November 26,
2012
Q: What are your thoughts about your comments
yesterday?
A: I am good with it. I am ready to move onto the next
team and that is the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Q: It was construed that you were questioning Coach
Gailey's play calling ability. Was that your
intent?
A: The intent was more so audible. I did not mean
changing play calling duties and all of that. I may have said it, but what I
mean to say was audible. Giving (Ryan Fitzpatrick) the ability to audible a
little bit more.
Q: QB Ryan Fitzpatrick claims he has plenty of room
in the offense to do that type of thing. Do you disagree with
that?
A: I would not know what the conversation they are
having. I said what I said and what ended up coming out was me talking about
play calling. It was really about audible.
Q: Part of your comment also seems a little bit tempo
based and we have not seen you use the no-huddle a whole lot when you are
sputtering a little bit--which was the case
yesterday.
A: Yeah. My issue is not even no-huddle. It is not even
that deep. When I even say to make audibles, that is not even just to throw the
ball. Even with runs. When you are back there you see what the defenders are
doing and all of that. Maybe we check it into a draw play for C.J. (Spiller) or
what not. That is the basis of it. It was not even turning to no-huddle or do
the two-minute drill. It was not even that deep. It was just simply making an
audible.
RB C.J. Spiller
Monday, November 26,
2012
Q: The fact that your playoff hopes have been
severely damaged has to make today a little
harder.
A: It does because that is a game that we definitely
wanted to win. We came up short. They just made a couple more plays than what we
made. Everything that we missed is very correctable, so I expect us to do that
this week and moving forward for the rest of the
season.
Q: It seems like the biggest problem for the offense
is you guys do not connect on the big plays when they are there and it seems
like it kills your offense.
A: Yeah, it did yesterday. I am not going to say it
killed the whole season because we did not make those big plays, but yesterday
was just one of those days we just missed it. I missed a couple cuts and we
missed a couple throws. Everybody. It is a group thing and it is something that
is very correctable. We have to correct it and hopefully improve on it the rest
of the season.
Q: Do you feel like you are still working to ditch
the perception you are the speed back who cannot handle the load? Do you feel
like you are always going up against that?
A: I will always be the speed back because I am fast. I
do not expect that perception to go away. I really do not care. I know what I
can do as a player and I take pride in my craft. I work hard to try to improve
it each and every week so I cannot help it that I was blessed with tremendous
speed.
