Archives for August 23, 2000

‘There has been friction between the two men during much of the last three seasons, as they battled for the starting quarterback job, but Johnson said the conflict has been exaggerated. “If it was that bad — I mean, we’re around each other eight or 10 hours a day — something else would have happened by now if we hated each other that much,” Johnson told the Buffalo News. “It was just a situation last year.” Andre Reed criticized Flutie on his Web site around the time of Reed’s departure and other players are rumored to have privately criticized Flutie promoting himself at the expense of the team.’

‘…Johnson was quick to add, “There’s no ill will (now) we help each other all the time. What I said referred just to that week.” He did wonder, though, “Why are you guys asking so much about this now? You didn’t do that (when Flutie made his remarks in Canada)?” But we quickly pointed out that, to be sure, we had made a very big issue of Flutie’s annoyingly self-serving comments to the Canadian press. “Oh,” Johnson said sheepishly, “I guess that didn’t get to me out in California.”

‘Penthouse asked the question, "How did you feel when Doug Flutie said the Bills would have beaten Tennessee if he’d started at quarterback instead of you?" "If he was covering kicks, maybe (laughs) . . . maybe he could have been out there on that final play," he said. "I think that (what Flutie said) was more of an insult to the entire team. That’s just the type of guy Doug is. He’s not much fun to play with – you just have to deal with it."’

‘Little things can have a massive impact on a team. Johnson has taken a big step forward as a leader. By telling Penthouse that Flutie had insulted his teammates with his incessant whining about the Tennessee playoff game, Johnson told the fans, his teammates, the entire football world, that this is his team now.’

‘Buffalo Bills right guard Joe Panos will be sidelined for at least the first three games of the regular season after partially tearing ligaments and a muscle along the arch of his right foot. Panos was still on crutches but moving better Tuesday after he received results from a magnetic resonance imaging exam. The injury, to an area called the plantar fascia, is not expected to require surgery. He could be back by the bye week Sept. 24. "The first week is nothing but rest and ice until the swelling goes down," Panos said. "We have to let it heal and start some aggressive therapy. It’s not completely torn."’

‘…one query in particular dealt with a pertinent topic — Flutie’s interview last February with Canadian cable sports network TSN when he said, "I honestly believe that if I would have been playing (in the playoff loss to Tennessee), we could have, would have, won." Johnson’s response in the Penthouse feature: "If he was covering kicks, maybe (laughs). Maybe he could have been out there on that final play. I think that (what Flutie said) was more of an insult to the entire team. "That’s just the type of guy Doug is. He’s not much fun to play with — you just have to deal with it."’

‘An MRI taken Monday revealed a tear in the Plantar Fascia, an area of ligaments and tendons on the bottom of the foot. There is also a strain that is affecting his big toe. Originally, the training staff was hoping Panos would only miss the season opener against Tennessee, but the bad news is it now looks like he’ll be out four weeks. The good news? It could have been as much as six weeks. "After it happened I was like `What did I do to deserve this kind of stuff?’ " said Panos, who missed all of last season due to neck surgery. "But it happens for a reason, though I don’t know what the reason is. I’m out for a little bit longer than I thought, those are the cards that I’ve been dealt."’