“I will celebrate,” said Johnson. “I’m definitely going to be jumping in the crowd and chilling with the fans. I want to see what would happen if I could get in the stands and get some popcorn and just kick back. Hopefully I don’t get in trouble for that. I don’t know what the rule is.”
Johnson and several of his teammates began jumping into the front row of the seats last season. Play-by-play man John Murphy even labeled the move the ‘Buffalo Bounce.’ League rules stipulate that a single player jumping into the stands after a scoring play is not excessive, but more than one player would draw a flag for excessive celebration.
In Johnson’s mind he sees himself staying in the stands longer than just a handful of seconds. He’s thinking about taking a seat, watching the extra point and starting up a conversation.
“I don’t want to grab some popcorn and go back on the field,” he said. “I want to sit in a seat and look at the guy next to me and say, ‘Hey did you see that play?’”
Johnson knows the risk involved after miscalculating the level of control he had in determining what is and what is not excessive celebration.
“I want to have some fun,” he said. “I just don’t want to get any more penalties and hopefully I don’t. Some things you can control and some things you can’t. Just like when I wrote the ‘Happy New Year.’ I thought I could control that where I wouldn’t get a penalty and I did (get one). So hopefully nothing like that happens.”
The receiver intends to investigate what is permissible by way of celebration under league rules to avoid drawing a flag.
