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by: RsAii

Sometimes, the road to success is a bright, star-studded one, full of glitz and glamour. And other times, your start to stardom is, well just dang gum screwy. Let’s hop in the time machine to the year 2010. The Buffalo Bills hosting the Pittsburgh Steelers on November 28th. Buffalo had actually showed up to play and was giving Pittsburgh fits. They games goes into OT, a sudden death OT, where heroes are born and little boys weep in despair.

We all dream of making that big play. The one they show on SportsCenter over and over and over again. And some people do make that highlight in real life, BUT, most times it’s only a dream. Dream or reality, nobody wants to be the guy that gives up the big play.

On the very day of November 28, 2010 in Buffalo, one of the most epic plays occurred football history. Ryan Fritzpatrick dialed up a play action and finds a streaking Stevie Johnson in the back of the endzone for….A Dropped Touchdown pass. I mean WOW, what an EPIC FAILURE! Johnson single handedly crushed the dream of every fan in the stadium at that very moment. The dropped catch aired for like 3 weeks, making all the blopper shows and what not, time after time. Every time I watched it,

I felt bad for the guy. As if that wasn’t enough negative attention for Stevie, in addition to that, after the game Johnson hopped on twitter and virtually blamed, not himself, but HIM, as in the Lord Almighty, for the missed opportunity.

(Who does that? Oh yeah, THAT GUY!) Now remember I said most people come in with all the praise of the world behind them, but Johnson’s path was a tad bit different. With Johnson’s dropped pass, his star was born, #13 Stevie Johnson!

Johnson’s story is a tale of hard work and patience. The former Kentucky Wildcat WR didn’t get to play much because of his lack of work ethic his junior year. He turned it around his senior season and balled out with 72 catches for 1,200 yards and 14 touchdowns almost breaking the Wildcat record.

Johnson was drafted in the Bills in 2008 as a developmental project. A special teams’ player at first, Johnson didn’t really get to play until Buffalo released Terrell Owens after the 2009 season. They say, when it’s your time to shine, you will, and in 2010 Stevie Johnson was a beaming ray of light for the Buffalo offense. Despite the epic drop that made Johnson famous, he had a great 2010 campaign with 82 receptions for 1073 and 10 TD catches. Head coach, Chan Gailey, was so pleased with Johnson in Buffalo’s new spread attack, they not only resigned him, but traded their primary WR Lee Evans, making Johnson the number #1 target.

Already in the 2011 season, Johnson has gotten right back to business with top 10 rankings in receptions and TDs. He is a major reason why the once bottom of the tank dwelling Bills are 3-0 including a huge upset over the machine known as Tom Brady and the Patriots. Mark my words, if Johnson keeps up this play, he will become a household name, and have the Bills flying into the postseason, and who doesn’t like Buffalo Wings? I know I do!

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