A Week One downfield cut block from Bills receiver Stevie Johnson on Chiefs safety Eric Berry resulted in a torn ACL, along with criticism of Johnson’s tactics.
Now that the issue of bounty has landed in the middle of the NFL’s radar screen, Berry recently wondered aloud on Twitter whether he had been the subject of a bounty.
Appearing on Tuesday’s PFT Live, Johnson denied any motive or intent to injure Berry.
“Throughout this whole season, I thought about that hit,” Johnson said. “I don’t ever want to hurt anybody else in this league, in this fraternity.
“I apologized to Eric Berry and all that, because he missed an entire season, and he’s an elite DB . . . . As a receiver they tell you, ‘Cut block downfield,’ and that’s what we were doing, and I did that and he ended up getting injured. I’m not sure if it was completely on that play, but if it was I apologized for that.
“I didn’t cut block for the rest of the year,” Johnson added, “just because of that, a simple block that had taken him out for the entire season.”
The full interview with Stevie Johnson is available on the PFT Live home page, through iTunes, or by clicking the box in the right rail of the site.