Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Stevie: Fitz needs more freedom; Fitz: I have enough

BY NICK ST. DENIS

After the Buffalo Bills lost to the Indianapolis Colts Sunday, Bills receiver Stevie Johnson said quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick needed to be handed over play-calling duties.

Monday, Johnson clarified that he meant Fitzpatrick should have "the ability to audible a little more." (photo: Matt Britt, Flickr)

"When you are back there you see what the defenders are doing and all of that," Johnson told reporters. "Maybe we check it into a draw play for C.J. (Spiller) or what not. That is the basis of it. It was not even turning to no-huddle or do the two-minute drill. It was not even that deep. It was just simply making an audible."

That sounds like something any quarterback should already be able to do, and Fitzpatrick insisted Monday that he does in fact have that freedom.

"We could sit and talk about this forever, but I have a lot of freedom in this offense," Fitzpatrick said. "Chan [Gailey] gives me a lot of freedom and I am happy with it."

Fitzpatrick then deferred to Johnson for more clarification on his already-clarifying comments.

"You will have to ask Stevie, but I feel like there is a lot of trust between Chan’s play-calling and what I do on the field sometimes when I switch things up," Fitzpatrick said. "There is a lot of trust there. You will have to talk to Stevie about what he was talking about but that is all I can say on that."

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