It seems we’ve reached the end of the “Stevie Johnson wants Chan Gailey to let Ryan Fitzpatrick call more plays” segment of the Bills season.
Johnson spoke to the media again on Monday and clarified what he meant when he said “I think we need to let our quarterback call more plays.” Tim Graham of the Buffalo News reports that Johnson said that he misspoke and that he meant Fitzpatrick should have the freedom to change more plays via audibles at the line of scrimmage. Johnson chalked the poor word choice to frustration after the loss to the Colts.
“I was frustrated because I knew what was at stake. I wanted it bad,” Johnson said, via the team. “I wouldn’t be here now without coach Gailey.”
Earlier on Monday, Gailey said that Fitzpatrick does have the freedom to audible on some, but not all, plays and that nothing is going to change on that front this season. The Bills offense hit a few big plays on Sunday, including a 63-yard pass to Johnson, but they had too few of them to sustain offensive success. Now that they’ve cooled things off on this front, they can focus on creating more of them in Week 13 and beyond.