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Jets' Plax On $10K Stevie Johnson Fine: 'He Can Afford It'

NEW YORK (WFAN/AP) — Stevie Johnson was expected to catch a fine from the NFL for his much-criticized touchdown celebration against the Jets on Sunday.

Well, according to multiple reports, the league has billed the Bills receiver -- to the tune of $10,000.

Johnson mimicked shooting himself in the thigh during the celebration that mocked Jets receiver Plaxico Burress.

"He can pay for it," Burress said with a straight face, when informed of Johnson's fine. "He can afford it."

Johnson declined to confirm whether he had been punished except to say he had an overnight courier envelope from the NFL waiting for him at his locker when he arrived for practice. Johnson left the envelope unopened because he expected to find inside formal notification of his fine.

On his Twitter account, Johnson made light of the envelope by referring to it as "the Random FedEx Package in My Locker" and posting a picture of it.

Otherwise, Johnson said he was done discussing the celebration — and the national criticism he received as a result of it — and is instead focusing on looking forward to helping the Bills (5-6) end a four-game slump on Sunday when they host the Tennessee Titans (6-5).

"If I do, I get fined. But we've got to move on," he said. "It's the Tennessee Titans. I'm not really worried about a fine right now. It's part of the game. People get fined. But we've still got a football game on Sunday."

The Bills' leading receiver got into hot water immediately after putting Buffalo up 14-7 by catching a 5-yard touchdown pass with a little over two minutes left in the second quarter of a 28-24 loss at the Jets on Sunday.

Using his hands as pistols, Johnson pretended to shoot himself in the thigh, a move that was directed at Burress, who wound up serving 20 months in prison for shooting himself in a New York City nightclub in 2008.

Johnson didn't stop there. He then imitated a jet in flight before crashing to the turf. That proved particularly costly, because he was flagged 15 yards for going to the ground.

One Jets player took a particular dislike to the celebration's finale.

"Us being from New York, we like to hold ourselves to integrity, and that airplane thing, in my opinion, was kind of a dagger a little bit," said Sione Pouha. "Considering the circumstances that we just celebrated — not celebrated, but in remembrance of what we just had on Sept 11."

The Bills blew a squib kick on the next kickoff, leading to the Jets capitalizing on a short field to tie the score a little over a minute later.

Johnson said he was unaware he would be penalized, and added he regrets making fun of Burress and has apologized to the Jets player. He also said he plans to stop performing touchdown celebrations.

This isn't the first time Johnson has been fined for his over-exuberance.

Last year, he shelled out a combined $15,000 after twice being fined by the NFL. He was fined $10,000 for falling back to the ground after pretending to shoot off a rifle — mimicking what the Patriots' Minutemen do following a New England score — in a 38-30 loss at New England on Sept. 26.

Eight weeks later, he was fined $5,000 for showing off the message — "Why So Serious?" — Johnson had written in black marker on his T-shirt after scoring the first of three touchdown catches in a 49-31 win at Cincinnati.

Though he finished with eight catches for 75 yards, Johnson didn't help his cause against the Jets on Sunday. He had two passes go off his hands — including one in which he was wide-open over the middle at the Jets 20-yard line — on the Bills last drive in the final minute.

Was the $10K fine appropriate, too much or not enough? Be heard in the comments below...

(TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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