Bills receiver Stevie Johnson made fun of Jets receiver Plaxico Burress on Sunday, scoring a touchdown and then pretending to shoot himself in the leg, as Burress actually did three years ago. But while that celebration has gathered all the headlines, Jets defensive lineman Sione Pouha says Johnson did something far more tasteless.
Johnson also stuck his arms out and ran around in the end zone, mimicking the “Flight Boys” celebration of the Jets’ receivers, and then he fell to the ground. That seems like a playful shot at the Jets, but Pouha saw something much more sinister in a celebration that looked like a plane crash.
“Us being from New York, we like to hold ourselves to some integrity, and that airplane thing, in my opinion, was kind of a dagger considering the circumstances of remembrance of what we just had on Sept. 11,” Pouha said. “It was just unprofessional. We all stand for pride around here, and that’s a sacred moment for a lot of people and it’s a very sobering moment.”
Pouha’s interpretation of Johnson’s celebration seems like a real stretch. Johnson may go too far with his touchdown celebrations sometimes, but it’s unthinkable that he would try to make a joke of 9/11.