KJ Chats With Sportsnet Radio

Saturday, January 21 2012 @ 02:52 PM EST

Blue Jays second baseman Kelly Johnson shared a few thoughts on not only baseball but the NFL playoffs on Sportsnet 590 The Fan Friday afternoon.

Kelly Johnson looks like he's lining up to a kick a field goal with Mike McCoy serving as the holder September 11.

The audio to the interview is right here.  His football-related thoughts...

• even though he's a big Joe Montana fan and has a signed jersey of his, he would take Tom Brady at QB to face the '85 Bears
• predicts the Patriots to beat the Ravens and the 49ers over the Giants even though New York has more talent and has been to the Super Bowl recently
  
• thinks the 49ers have the momentum
  

• when asked about momentum as it pertains to his career, he recalls his rookie season with Atlanta in 2005 when the Braves won the NL East
• despite having a bunch of rookies or second year players surrounding center field Andruw Jones, the team managed to win
• didn't know how they were winning but they were "killing people", they made the playoffs but wound up losing to Houston in the NLDS (Johnson was 0-for-2 with a walk and played left field)
• happy to avoid arbitration process but has had to deal with the possibility of arbitration three of the past four years
• from hearing about arbitration experiences from players and coaches, he says it is "really not a fun time"
• believes arbitration is more risky for the player because it involves the player's money while the money for the team is "in the grand scheme of things, not a big chunk of change generally, for them."
• easier for a baseball player to go through arbitration as they are numb to some criticism as baseball is a sport of failure - he says imagine wide receivers in football going through the process
• calls Toronto a cool city, not a lot of tall buildings, beautiful setting with Lake Ontario nearby
• never played with or met a Canadian he didn't like, says people have been courteous and accepting while signing autographs
• agrees that being more familiar with Toronto should help him in his second year
• being more comfortable in the game and being in the American League longer will help
• does not think there were any dumb free agent signings this off-season - cannot argue with the Albert Pujols or Yu Darvish deals
  

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