2015 Browns Position Previews: Quarterbacks
August 7, 2015Cavs schedule: Preseason game at OSU set, Christmas Day at Golden State rumored
August 7, 2015He’s given up the Johnny Football moniker, yet it may be more fitting now more than ever. Johnny Manziel is focusing all of his attention on the field, and according to Browns head coach Mike Pettine, the work is paying off.
“Absolutely [he’s made progress],” Pettine said after Thursday’s practice. “When you come in everyday with a great attitude and you work and it’s important to you, you can’t help but get better. I’m just happy for him that he’s getting the results on the field and the guys around him sense that as well”
Manziel underwent a turbulent rookie year during which cameras were on him at all times. He rode the pine for most of the season before making a splash in a fourth quarter appearance against the Buffalo Bills in Week 12. He started against the Cincinnati Bengals two weeks later and the offense sank like a cannonball; Manziel went 10-for-18 with two interceptions in a wholly depressing 30-0 loss.
That was then; this is now. Manziel still attracts cameras and attention, but not to the umpteenth degree like he did last year. After practice Thursday, Manziel said he was happy to be out of the spotlight.
“100 percent. So nice. I think me and Coach Pett were joking about it yesterday. It is nice to come out here and wear any kind of shoes I want and that is not the main story the next day. I don’t have to have this, this and this. It is funny and we can look back on it now and laugh a little bit. Expectations in my corner and the hype and everything is a little bit tempered and down, and that for me is a good thing. Now I can come out and play and do my game and really get to learn.”
Manziel earned kudos for his performance in the last two days of camp. His best play on Thursday was not a Johnny Football-esque scrambling exhibition, but one in which he stepped up in the pocket and threw a dart to Shane Wynn. He saw the defense showing blitz, changed the protection before the play, showed patience and footwork behind the line, and roped the ball to his receiver in the middle of the end zone.
Johnny Manziel steps up in the pocket and delivers a TD strike to Shane Wynn. #Browns pic.twitter.com/HD1PCrqCNu
— Hayden Grove (@H_Grove) August 6, 2015
Pettine saw that play as a microcosm of Manziel’s progress.
“Some of it is physical but I would say the majority of it is the mental part of it, understanding protections,” said the Browns second year head coach. “The one play he made where the defense was in a heavy blitz look he walked up, changed the protection, stepped up in the pocket and threw a touchdown pass. That was probably, start to finish, his best play of camp.
“But it just typified his — it was more preparation than anything else. I just think he has so much more of an intimate knowledge of what we’re doing.”
Manziel allowed that he still has plenty of room for improvement (“I am still leaving some things there that I want to do better”), but said that he was becoming more and more confident with the terminology and calls that come with quarterbacking an offense. A pre-draft concern was that he didn’t have to make many adjustments at the line at Texas A&M, and that jibed with what Johnny said Thursday.
“I think it’s just a process of not being overwhelmed with what the snap count is and what is this. That is what a lot of the rookie year is about. Coming from a guy who has never pointed a MIKE (linebacker), never known a protection or never done anything but snap the ball and go like we did in college. That is a huge jump. I don’t know how many people understand that, but it is a big leap for sure.
“These protections and progressions and everything is starting to become more second nature. It is not as much having to sit there and get enamored with the defense and everything. It is just point a guy and let’s go. From there, make the calls that we need to make. There is not a lot of uncertainty out there for each guy that is under center right now.”
He attributed much of his growth to learning from the struggles of his rookie year.
“[I am] a year older and a year smarter. [I am] not a rookie anymore. I have kind of gone through the ringer in a year and got to see everything. Now it is – coming out here and getting better. There is not as much pressure or hype. I am just another guy on the team.”
He was asked about his personal life and whether he had to find a new group of friends to hang out with in the offseason, but he left the bait and kept the focus on football.
“I’m going to try and leave my personal life and everything that’s going on off the field just to that. I know that football right now is my life and football is what I’m doing and focusing on 95% of the time. There is a little bit of life out of here, whenever we get out from 8-10p.m., whatever it is.
“Off the field is off the field and for right now football is my life and I’m trying to make the most of it.”
As always, such quotes come with caveats. If Johnny can play as well as he’s talked lately, he may be able to cut it in the NFL after all.
3 Comments
I’ll gladly eat crowe if he turns into a real life NFL QB but for now I’m content with my kale!
He’s still a bum.
He’ll never outgrow being an idiot. Johnny Bust