







For Stevie Johnson, the first day of 2012 felt a lot like his final afternoon as a member of the Buffalo Bills.

Sitting on the visitor's bench at Gillette Stadium last Jan. 1, having been sent there by coach Chan Gailey for the balance of the Bills' season-ending defeat to the New England Patriots following a New Year's-themed touchdown celebration, the elusive, flamboyant wideout pondered a future far from the Rust Belt.

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A native of San Francisco who grew up in the shadow of Candlestick Park, Johnson's rookie contract was set to expire at the start of the new league year in March. As he sat there on that cold afternoon in Foxborough, Mass., watching the Bills blow a three-touchdown lead and lose by 28 points, Johnson stewed about his situation and daydreamed about signing with the 49ers as an unrestricted free agent. He figured his first-quarter benching was a sign that the Bills were fed up with his on-field antics and that the franchise was prepared to move on without him.

"At that point I was thinking I was done with Buffalo," Johnson recalls. "I was like, 'They benched me? Really?' I figured I'd go back to Hunter's Point [to play for the 49ers]. But the [Bills] stepped up and paid me. And it felt so good to be wanted."

Johnson, who signed a five-year, $36.25-million deal with Buffalo shortly before the March deadline for teams to use the franchise tag, now regards the Bills as "no longer just a regular team to me. We're family."

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And as training camp approaches, the fifth-year standout is ready to evolve his role as the talented but exasperating son. Later this week he and other Bills veterans will report to St. John Fisher College in Pittsford, N.Y., which can't come soon enough for Johnson.





"I'm ready to go, because the walls are closing in at home," he says.

After landing the defensive prize of unrestricted free agency, former Texans defensive end Mario Williams, the Bills believe they're poised to end a 13-year playoff drought. Thanks to the Lions' 2011 postseason appearance, the Bills' stretch now stands alone as the NFL's longest.

"For the most part, the guys who've been Bills the last couple of years, they know that stat," Johnson says. "Seeing the Lions play last year, the way they used to get kicked around and now were the ones doing the kicking, it was motivational. We feel like, 'Now, it's our turn.' I don't mean, 'It's gonna happen,' but if we grind and play to our capabilities, it can happen."

Johnson, fresh off the first back-to-back 1,000-yard receiving seasons in franchise history, wants to make a conspicuous contribution to the cause while avoiding flags and fines.

It's a line he's had trouble walking in the past, but one he feels obligated not to cross in 2012. The fact that the Bills, when negotiating Johnson's new deal, never brought up his late-season benching or his previous end-zone transgressions was a demonstration of faith he plans to honor.





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