Mark Maloney on Kentucky sports

Got to talk with Buffalo and former University of Kentucky receiver Stevie Johnson after Sunday’s 23-20 Bills loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. (See the full story in the Herald-Leader and on kentucky.com.)

As a Wildcat, Johnson scored the winning touchdown in a triple-overtime loss to No. 1 ranked LSU.

With Kentucky playing again-No.-1-ranked LSU over the weekend — a 35-7 LSU romp — I asked Johnson if the circumstances reminded him of the game when he came through in the clutch.

“It did, but I’m not there no more,” he said. “What happened in the past happened in the past. It’s always going to be there.

“We (UK) took a tough one and they’ve just got to shake back. Just like we (the Bills) do. We’ve got to shake back and try to get a win next week.”

What would Johnson say to UK fans who may be grumbling about Joker Phillips in his second season as head coach?

“Just let him do his job,” Johnson said. “He’s the coach for a reason. He’s put in his time. He’s put in the work. He’s got a few seasons to turn things around. I know he’s going to turn things around. He’s a great coach. He’s a great motivator. Just let him do his job.”

* Bills center Eric Wood is a third-year pro who played for Elder High School in Cincinnati and became a first-round draft pick out of the University of Louisville. This time a year ago, he was starting at guard.

“Even when I was playing guard, I was always in the backup role at center, so I’d always worked on it,” Wood said. “And playing (center) all through college definitely prepared me for this year, stepping in as the starting center.”

Wood lauded Johnson.

“Stevie’s awesome. He’s a hard-working guy,” Wood said. “He does the celebrations and he does the Twitter and everything, but he’s as hard-working as it gets. He’s a great teammate, he’s a good leader and he’s about as good as it gets as far as receivers go in the NFL.”

Wood said he hasn’t tried to rub it in with Johnson that Louisville beating UK 24-17 this season.

“A little bit,” Wood said, “but Stevie never got on me too hard the last three years, so I’m not going to give it to him too bad now.”

Why so serious?

It’s Thanksgiving, which can only mean … football day.

Before you get glued to the Turkey Day games, though, here’s a few leftovers from Sunday’s game at Cincinnati — a 49-31 victory for Buffalo.

As already documented, former Kentucky receiver Steve (a.k.a. Stevie during his UK days) Johnson caught a career-high three touchdown passes as the Bills outscored the Bengals 35-0 in the second half. Wednesday, Johnson revealed that the NFL had fined him $5,000 for lifting his jersey to reveal a message — Why so serious? — scrawled on his undershirt. The message being one uttered by the Joker in the Batman movie The Dark Knight. Johnson was poking fun at the Bengals’ self-dubbed Batman and Robin receivers Terrell Owens and Chad Ochocinco.

Here’s a bit more of what Johnson had to say after the game, as well as updates on a pair of former Louisville Cardinals Jeff Brohm and Eric Wood.

Steve Johnson

“This is the closest (to) being home for me, being close to Kentucky,” Johnson said. “I felt I had to show off a little bit for the Big Blue Nation.”

Owens came to the Bengals after a season with the Bills, so Johnson obviously knows Batman well. But he also knows Robin (Ochocinco).

“Those are my guys over there,” Johnson said. “Me and T.O. built a relationship. And he came (to Cincinnati) and took on the persona of Batman, so I wanted to come out and bet the chaos guy and turn into Joker. … I’ll be hearing from him. I’ll be hearing from both of them. It’s just all fun. … I’m gonna have to cool it, though.”

After catching two touchdown passes over his first two seasons, Johnson already has nine this season.

“Just like at Kentucky, I had to sit around and learn to be patient,” he said. “Two years, I only had 12 catches. I had to be patient. But I’ve got a great group of guys in this locker room. They always kept me humble and kept me focused on the future. They knew that I’d be able to play, so I just kept on working.”

Johnson paid attention. Having learned from his teammates at UK, he continues to learn from pro teammates.

“Just like I learned from Keenan (Burton) and Dicky (Lyons) and (Jacob) Tamme — the same thing I’m doing here,” he said. “We had Josh (Reed) here, and Josh taught me about patience. We have Lee (Evans), and I always watch Lee. So consistent, he seems like a machine. I’m even watching the rookies that we have coming in, and seeing how they’re playing. It’s easy to stay focused when you’ve got a good group of guys behind you.”

* Brohm, the backup to Ryan Fitzpatrick at quarterback, has yet to play a down this season. A third-year pro, his only action came in two games last season, when he completed 17 of 29 passes for 146 yards, with two interceptions.

Brian Brohm

“Things are going pretty good. I’m getting reps every day and I’m trying to get better every single day,” he said. “The life of a backup quarterback is to be ready, so I’m just trying to stay ready for whatever opportunity is going to present itself.”

Before his U of L career, Brohm led Trinity to three state championships. So he must have been ecstatic that his Shamrocks dispatched archrival St. Xavier in last week’s Class 6A state quarterfinals, right?

“Trinity got the big win, but I’ve got to say I had to pull back my pulling interest,” he said. “My cousin (Luke) was playing quarterback for St. X. I really had a torn heart there. But always gotta go for the Rocks.”

No torn heart about pulling for a former Kentucky Wildcat (Johnson), though, on a career-game day: “He’s a Buffalo Bill now, so I’m all for it.”

* Wood, who starts at right guard, also found himself rooting for a former Big Blue rival.

“Good for Stevie,” Wood said. “He’s playing well this season and I couldn’t be happier for him.”

Eric Wood

Wood, a first-round draft pick, had his rookie season cut short last year because of a compound fracture of his left leg. He still has a titanium rod and four screws in the leg. He went down during Sunday’s game with what was first reported as a knee injury, but he later said it was an ankle sprain.

He said he was “all right,” and Coach Chan Gailey indicated that Wood could have reentered the game if necessary.

“I think I’ve developed all right,” said Wood, a graduate of Elder High School in Cincinnati. “Had a bad injury last year that I’m still working to get back 100 percent from, but I’ve gained some valuable experience these last couple years and have been able to play some pretty good games along the way.”