Buffalo Bills receiver Stevie Johnson isn’t the first person to get a little carried away ringing in the new year. He just picked the wrong place for his celebration.
Bills coach Chan Gailey benched Johnson for drawing an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Sunday when he celebrated a touchdown catch by lifting his jersey to reveal an undershirt
The Bills added another TD before New England scored the next 49 points to win 49-21.
“The coach told me I was out of the game. I have to respect his decision,” said Johnson, who had four catches for 40 yards to become the first Bills receiver with consecutive 1,000-yard seasons. “I can’t complain about it or whine or pout. He made his decision and I am going with it. … I have to take that, and I will.”
Undershirt decoration has become something of a hobby for Johnson, who wore one against Cincinnati last season that said, “Why So Serious?” The NFL fined him $5,000, but he was not penalized; that’s why Johnson said he thought he could get away with it this time.
“I didn’t know it was going to draw a penalty,” he told reporters.
Johnson was also fined $10,000 for pretending to shoot off a rifle against the Patriots last year, mocking the costumed Minutemen who celebrate a New England score. And he drew an excessive celebration penalty against the Jets this season when he pretended to shoot himself in the legs — mimicking New York receiver Plaxico Burress – then imitated an airplane crashing into the turf.
After that one, Gailey warned the team that anyone who drew a demonstration penalty would be benched.
“If I say that, I’m going to do it,” Gailey said. “So he was out.”
Gailey said he didn’t know why Johnson was penalized this time and not against the Bengals last year.
But it didn’t matter, because he had been clear with his warning.
“I got tired of it the first time it happened,” Gailey said. “But you hope people learn from situations. There isn’t anybody who hasn’t made mistakes, but you’ve got to learn from your mistakes. And everybody falls in that category — me too.
“He is not a bad guy; he’s not. He’s a good guy, but he uses some bad judgment at times and if you do that enough and it hurts the team, you’ve got to do something.”
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