ESPN projection favors Titans over Browns in Cleveland
September 16, 2015The Brian Hoyer experiment may be over in Houston
September 16, 2015When Josh McCown went airborne and ended up being hit twice while helicoptering to the unforgiving turf sans football, most spectators likely understood McCown’s first game was complete, and that he would enter the dreaded NFL concussion protocol. Such was the case, and the Cleveland Browns coaches have since been preparing Johnny Manziel to start against the Tennessee Titans in Week 2.
Head coach Mike Pettine released more information on Wednesday in a media session, when he indicated McCown would not be allowed to return to practice until Friday at the earliest.
As such, Johnny Manziel will be practicing as the starting quarterback for the bulk of the week. Austin Davis will also get some reps in order to prepare for the possibility that he will be needed as the second quarterback.
To further cloud McCown’s status, it is being reported that he was not outside watching practice during the portion that was accessible to the media.
So, in the lead-up to game No. 2, Manziel will get his chance to impress upon the coaches and his teammates that he is ready to lead the Browns in their first home game of the 2015 season against the Titans.
Pettine did indicate that Manziel showed some progress on the field during his time in Week 1, and noted that Manziel prepared as if he was going to start the game. However, Pettine was not satisfied nor happy with the turnovers.
Everyone else can prognosticate, project, and proliferate opinions about what Manziel’s off-the-field past and previous statistics might bear out this week and into the future. However, Manziel will be best served putting his head down and preparing as if he is going to start against the Tennessee Titans because the odds seem to be leaning that way.
Browns QB Johnny Manziel runs the first team offense in team drills. #Browns pic.twitter.com/U33bmXkbDk
— Hayden Grove (@H_Grove) September 16, 2015
17 Comments
Let’s face it, the Browns are not making the playoffs this year. Why not just let Manziel play the whole season and see what happens? If he struggles all season, draft a QB.
This is where I’m at as well. The turnovers were pretty bad, but I think we saw enough competence from Johnny in week 1 to give him the keys and see what he can do. McCown isn’t going to lead us to the promised land. It’s kind of funny… I think if we had seen this performance in Johnny’s first full game last season, I think just about everyone would have been feeling more positive about the future of the Browns going forward. Johnny’s 2014 season killed all of the momentum he had with the fans coming out of the draft.
i’m with you guys , but i would only say this : pettine’s ass is on the line & i’m pretty sure he’s trying to win every game he can … which means he’s going to go with the guy that gives them the best chance to win.
I live in a state of perpetual delusion as an optimistic Brown’s fan so I’m excited to see Johnny, part deux following a full week of first team prep. If he tanks then it’s just another year of being a Brown’s fan but if he shines…
While I agree with the sentiment, I don’t see the rush.
1. It’s only one week. Plenty of time to turn it around.
2. The offense looked really good with McCown under center. I’d like to see what this team looks like with him playing 60 minutes.
3. If things are really that bad, the team can wait until they’re 1-5 and still have ample opportunity to evaluate Manziel as a starter (plus give him some extra weeks to learn the offense).
… he’ll end up tearing his ACL while water-skiing sometime in early October?
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I’m with you. But always remember that part of the deal with the Browns is to give us just enough nurturing/teasing of the optimism seeds. So, I’m guessing Johnny will tear it up maybe this week or next. He’ll be on a roll and then of course something very terrible will happen. That’s our arc.
He might lead us TO the promised land, but he’ll probably just take off running and not tuck the ball and get a concussion and we’ll never actually get IN the promised land.
This is where I’m at. 1 million percent.
That’s right. 1 million.
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Well, to be more aligned with that analogy.
He would send the other 10 players to scout the defense while he stayed back. 8 of them would insist to everyone that the defense was impenetrable.
But, 2 of them would insist they could break through the ranks. And, they would be correct.
However, despite that he properly trusted the 2, despite his leadership, and despite that he could lead us TO the promised land, he would pay for the lack of faith amongst the rest of us by not going in himself. He would lead us to the door but never taste that sweet milk or honey so that the rest of us could enter.
I just hope Johnny’s one of the two who said it can be done. If so, we win in the end (until Haslam exiles us to Babyl…er…Baltimore again).
Let’s just say that I read ahead and we’ve got quite awhile before we come across our “franchise quarterback” from here.
But when He comes . . . oh boy!
Even then he turns out to be more about moral victories than on the field of battle, and wants to help all the other teams too.
And wins by getting beat.
I don’t know. There’s a chapter in there about really getting angry about those gambling and hustling (obviously referring to the Steelers) and He goes and wrecks things pretty good all by Himself.