Larry Brown Sports

Buffalo Bills GM Buddy Nix and Tampa Bay Buccaneers GM Mark Dominik fell victim to a cruel hoax on Friday, but it is Nix who will likely have to do some damage control as a result. With some witty thinking and a little luck, a couple of 20-year-olds managed to splice themselves into a phone call between the two executives so they could listen to them talk business the day before the tampering period began.

Deadspin’s Barry Petchesky explains the entire prank in detail, but basically it all started when the young men called the Bills’ publicly-listed front office number on Thursday claiming to be Dominik. When the receptionist forwarded their call to Nix’s office, they panicked and hung up.

But Nix kept calling back. The pranksters ignored Nix’s call several times, but eventually they came up with a plan to call Dominik’s office claiming to be Nix and create a game of phone tag between the two. As they were on the phone with the Bucs, Nix called again. They answered the phone this time, put it on speaker, and remained silent while the Bucs employee patched them through to Dominik. Before they knew what happened, the two GMs were on with each other with Nix trying to figure out why Dominik hadn’t returned his calls and how he got the wrong number.

Then, the fun began. NIx and Dominik discussed the new free agent rules and talked about a couple of players they are trying to move and/or work out deals with. The full audio of the phone call can be heard at Deadspin, but the most unfortunate part for Nix came when he began complaining about Buffalo’s situation with Ryan Fitzpatrick. Have a listen:

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The Buffalo Bills fell to the Indianapolis Colts 20-13 on Sunday for their fourth loss in five games, and wide receiver Stevie Johnson wants some changes.

Johnson said after the game that he would like to see quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick begin calling more plays instead of head coach Chan Gailey.

“How I see it, I think we need to let our quarterback call these plays,” Johnson said, per The Buffalo News. “He’s out there on the field. He sees the adjustments that need to be done. I think we just need to let him make adjustments on the go. I think that’s the way we can move the ball better.

“He did it a little bit in the game, and we moved the ball. … He was hitting C.J. [Spiller], getting his run plays, doing the pass plays, and I just think we should do it more often.”

The Buffalo News points out that a fourth-quarter touchdown pass from Fitzpatrick to Johnson ended a seven-quarter touchdown drought. Johnson credited Fitzpatrick for that touchdown drive.

“It was all Fitz,” Johnson said. “Fitz made the adjustments, the audibles, and I think that led to our success, going down the field, making those throws. So I just think we should do a little bit more of that.”

Fitzpatrick went 17-of-33 for 180 yards, a touchdown, and an interception in the loss. Johnson had six catches for a season high 106 yards, including a career-long 63-yard gain.

Buffalo entered the game 17th in the league with 23 points per game. The running game entered Week 12 eighth in the NFL with 140.8 yards per game, but the passing game has dropped off to 23rd. Maybe Gailey should listen to Johnson and consider allowing Fitzpatrick more freedom on the field. At 4-7, it’s not like they have a whole lot more to lose, and if they don’t improve, it won’t be too long before Gailey is fired.

Between these comments and what Johnson said about Gailey two weeks ago, it’s obvious he’s dissatisfied.

Helmet smack to Around the League
Photo credit: Mark J. Rebilas-US PRESSWIRE

New England Patriots linebacker Brandon Spikes is not a very well-liked player in the Buffalo Bills locker room. The first time the two teams met this season, Spikes laid a vicious block on tight end Scott Chandler that many of the Bills felt was uncalled for. During New England’s victory on Sunday, Spikes was flagged for roughing the passer after another heavy hit on Ryan Fitzpatrick. The Bills signal-caller was not pleased.

Fitzpatrick stood up and appeared to curse at Spikes following the play, and reporters asked him about it after the game.

“We’re not going to back down from anybody,” Fitzpatrick said according to the Boston Globe. “Spikes is an emotional player. I think he’s a punk at times. He took a cheap shot at Scott in the first game, and he was doing a lot of jabbering and talking and getting out there.