Johnny Bench(ed): McCown to start against Ravens, Manziel demoted to third string
November 24, 2015Buckeyes Drop to No. 8 in Newest College Football Playoff Poll
November 24, 2015When Johnny Manziel was first drafted by the Cleveland Browns, nobody knew exactly what he would do. Before long, he was heading to Vegas and there was a sense that the world needed to let Johnny be Johnny. Broadway Joe Namath had his name tossed out as an example, and many Browns fans bargained away the implications of their new party-boy QB by claiming he wasn’t doing anything different than other players; he was merely on a much bigger stage and in a generation being constantly photographed.
It has been a divisive topic around these parts for a long time, and the other mantra has always been to let the kid play football on the field as an ultimate test of whether he has a future. The idea has been if he can play well on the field it will take care of anything that might cause ills off of it. And, we were on the precipice of getting to see an extended sampling of Johnny Manziel’s actual football skills until yet another off-field distraction in the form of a champagne-fueled rap session got him launched to third on the depth chart. That much-desired on-field evidence is once again derailed by off-field garbage of Johnny Manziel’s own doing.
Mike Pettine will surely feel the wrath of some Cleveland Browns fans for this decision. He shouldn’t. He should feel the wrath for being at the helm of a team that’s this far down in the standings and is playing so badly Bill Simmons wondered aloud if they had quit on the season, but not for benching Johnny Manziel. There still might be time for Mike Pettine. He’s an unfinished product, and while it might not be in the cards for him, there’s little doubt he’s doing everything he can to get the Browns to bet on him for at least a little bit longer. You can’t say the same for Johnny Manziel.
Johnny Manziel might or might not still have a problem with substances. He was in rehab, but nobody knows what for, or what exactly he was hoping to accomplish there. The fact Johnny Manziel was drinking is hardly the issue here. The Browns seem to be punishing him for some sort of insubordination. Read the statement from the Browns again. (Italics are my added emphasis.)
“Everyone in this organization wants what is best for Johnny just like we do for every player in our locker room. I’m especially disappointed in his actions and behavior because he has been working very hard. The improvements from last year to this year have been tremendous but he still has to consistently demonstrate that he has gained a good understanding of what it takes to be successful at the quarterback position on this level. It goes well beyond the field. We are going to continue to support him in every way possible, but at this point, we’ve decided it’s best to go with Josh as the starter going forward.”
The Browns don’t seem to be getting into the issue of whether Johnny should be drinking or not. They seem to be indicating this event was insubordination at its purest and simplest. They committed to Johnny Manziel to see what he could do on the field for the rest of the season and his response didn’t meet their expectations or the expectations that they presumably set for him. Additionally, this is a “big boy” move by Mike Pettine because the statement names names, claiming that Ray Farmer and Jimmy Haslam are both on board. You can question whether the validity or even whether it means anything to the long-term employment of Mike Pettine with the Cleveland Browns, but it’s pretty clear in this contest between “High School Mike” and “Johnny Football” that the Browns think Johnny is “ineligible due to failing grades.”
It would certainly be nice to see what Johnny Manziel can do on a football field because that’s where his gifts as a play-maker do show prominently. Simultaneously, the Browns and Mike Pettine are exactly right – especially in the wake of Josh Gordon – that being able to play on the field is only a part of the equation. Sure, it’s a really important part, but so is eligibility, viability and a team’s ability to count on a player. There’s not much worse than not being able to count on a player in the NFL.
This is a salary-capped league and we know all too well what it’s like to count on someone and then see them not deliver. In a brutal sport like the NFL, it’s bad enough when guys like Joe Haden, Donte Whitner, and others can’t deliver because they were hurt as a part of being football players. That’s a part of the equation you live with because it’s the cost of doing business. You also have to put up with a certain amount of extra-curricular behavior because rosters are big, and you just can’t fill that many spots without occasionally counting on some bad apples. But, you have to limit your downside risk. Johnny Manziel’s nickname might be “downside risk.”
Johnny Manziel is well on his way to proving he’s completely unreliable and can’t be counted on. Period. No, he didn’t get arrested for his domestic dispute on the road, although it did spawn two 911 phone calls. No, he didn’t get arrested for anything during the bye week. Do you really think that was how low the bar was set for Johnny Manziel when the Browns sat down and decided to give him the chance to start for the rest of the season? Is that the height you think Mike Pettine should set the bar for a team that he’s trying to keep coaching for the long-term?
The point here is at a certain point Johnny Manziel doesn’t get to be categorized as a victim. Mike Pettine isn’t a victim either, but he can’t be judged harshly for trying to maintain a standard. He shouldn’t be judged harshly for looking at the reaction of Johnny Manziel to being named starting quarterback of the Cleveland Browns and put up with yet another distraction to the team. It seems reasonable to assume Mike Pettine set expectations for Johnny to which Johnny agreed. Then, Johnny went and did whatever it is Johnny does to continually put himself in the wrong kind of positions making the wrong kind of news. It’s bad enough to lose a football game. It’s worse to lose while also running a mad house where you can’t enforce boundaries or maintain even the illusion of control.
It would have been nice to see what kind of pure player Johnny Manziel is on the football field, but with his continued issues off of it, it’s hard to argue with the idea that we might already know all we need to know. At some point, regardless of how badly the team is playing under Mike Pettine, you can’t blame the coach and you have to blame Johnny Manziel himself.
67 Comments
Circus? Who cares what the media says, if JFF wins football games, doesn’t get DUIs, doesn’t do drugs, doesn’t perform domestic violence, gos to a bar and has a drink, or drinks a beer at his sister’s wedding, why is this a media circus? It is only for some odd reason a media circus for Manziel, and IT IS ONLY BECAUSE PETTINE BENCHED HIM THAT PEOPLE TALK ABOUT IT.. JFF partying is not the news story here, it is that he got benched for it. What illegal behavior did he do? Do you honestly think the video represents a good reality?
How different is it from videos of me doing the same thing? I studied 862.5 hours for the CPA exam to pass it. Yet, I do exactly what manziel does. Do you honestly think I did not put in the time to pass? He put in the time to start and become a better football player. It was paying off. Pettine, we have always said deals well with the media. No more do I believe that. He can’t manage a football team, much less the media. I bet I went to a party the week of the CPA exam and played as a musician, and I still got in my required 4 hours a day of study. What we do at 11pm on a Saturday night (on a bye week to boot) is irrelevant to job performance. Period.
i probably shouldn’t admit this , but i used to think what i did on my own time was my own business until i got drug tested at work & came up positive for a small amount of marijuana in my system. i had to change my ways … i realize that mj WAS illegal (which is another subject) at the time … it has since been decriminalized here in toledo.
i had to change my ways or lose my job … it looks to me like manziel is not going to change. it has more to do with him being being unreliable than it has to do with him drinking alcohol.
You also didn’t go to rehab for 10 weeks, I’m assuming. If JFF could party and keep himself out of rehab, sure, party it up, kid. But when his partying is so bad his rookie season was a waste and he had to go to rehab in the off-season, he should probably think twice about putting himself into a partying situation again when he just got the starting job.
looking at mariota or manziel right now , the choice is an easy slam dunk … at least as of right now. and i’m pretty sure farmer had his sights set on mariota , but the asking price was too high.
To add to your point, tb2, Manziel is working on a contract and NFL contracts have a behavioral section. So, even more so than your employment when you had a positive test, Manziel is held to very strict rules.
POT is Josh Gordon and is Illegal! Thus, your former issue as well. JFF did nothing illegal! This is what I am taking issue with. I party, just like Manziel! No different. My job performance is fine.
And, while I really enjoy our talks, and see eye to eye with you on most things for sure, I think JFF has changed. Yes, the driving incident scares me. But he is infinitely better this year. If hthe video was of JFF at a bar, lauging out loud, with a beer in his hand, and he left, it would look really bad, and the same result would have happened here. Over one F-ing beer. It is really that bad for Manziel. I really think for this kid to make it, he cannot consume any alcohol, anywhere, at any time, until he is retired. Period. It will cost him a job. This is unfair. And this is hurting the Btrowns chances at finding out about his football abilities. period. Stupid.
I agree, but again, if it was one beer, and he laughed out loud, held his hands in the air, and sang a song with a bunch of other people, then he left, if this was the video here, Manziel would still be benched for the rest of the season. I say again, he can NEVER have a drink again while he is in the NFL or he is putting his career on the line. This is asinine, this is why I am passionate about it.
i could be wrong , but it’s not about the beer or the partying … he more than likely bold-faced lied to pettine.
This is why I like our discussions. Maybe that is the issue. If that is the issue, why not admit that publicly? Right now the message my son, 11 years old, the best offensive lineman in the area (at 5’4″ 171 pounds as an 11 year old), is learning a lesson. H cannot go out and have fun, if he is a star athlete. I have to stay at home, and can’t take a chance to have anyone video me doing anything. And if I do go to a wedding, l better lock the door, as if I feel sick, without alcohol, vomit, people will video it and I will be bashed for being drunk and vomiting. It is pure ridiculous. This is the new world where anything can be videoed at any time. Sometimes video puts things in an inaccurate context.
I guess you got me there. But the sad thing is, he cannot have a beer again, even just one, anywhere or his career is in jeopardy. He is being lambasted in the media for partying like that in and of itself is equal to Ray Rice, a lifetime ban from the NFL. 50% of reporters say he is done, thereabouts. He can never escape this now, and Petine’s dumb decision has made it that way. This now made JFF irrelevant, even if he has the talent to be russel Wilson. He will star elsewhere if he does become a star with his talent. He may or may not have it, but if he has it, he will be against the Browns in the future, and he will play hard to beat us, and I am sure he will…
Pettine had nothing to do with this. Manziel can’t have a beer in public because he was a first round draft pick who partied so hard his rookie year he ended up in rehab. He also was out of control enough to have two 911 calls placed about his behavior earlier this year. It’s a miracle the Browns didn’t fire him based on the behavioral clause in the contract Manziel, and every player, signs.
He could go out in public and have a beer before he got so drunk earlier this season two 911 calls were made.
Read this article about Carson Palmer – a QB who is a finished product and established producer. Read how he focuses and prepares for a game. This is how a pro QB who has the keys to a billion dollar franchise prepares. http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2015/11/17/nfl-carson-palmer-arizona-cardinals-inside-game-plan
Now think about Johnny – a QB who struggles with basics and is fighting to be taken seriously and get better. What did he do when he got the keys to the franchise and had his chance to prove himself? He told everyone he was not going to do anything to embarrass himself or the franchise, and within 48 hours was across the country drinking (post rehab, and I don’t care what he went for, drinking like this is a BAD idea) and hamming it up for a camera knowing that video could undermine everything he’s worked for.
This has nothing to do with doing anything illegal. This has everything to do with evaluating the judgement and character of a guy you entrust with your franchise and the careers of the veteran players there to support and protect him.
If you were prepping for your CPA exam, and you struggled with the basics, would you go party the night away a couple days before your exam? If you did, would you ham it up in front of a camera knowing your sponsor or employer would see it before your exam?
Id assume he was out and about a whole bunch before the 911 calls without recourse and he was not reprimanded even after 911 Monday,
The one thing Johnny will never lack is people making excuses for him (see 2013 S.I. article)
He didn’t really earn the job, it was more of an audition process. I’d assume that proving that 911 Monday was not a true indicator of his social life was part of said process. He failed
Earn, audition, whatever. Doesn’t matter. He was the on-field starter, presumably (since we’re dealing in guesswork) because it was in the best interest of the team. Tough to imagine that whatever Manziel did or failed to do was sufficient to change that on-the-field, best-for-the-team analysis.
Again, if there’s any embarrassment to be found in this, it lies with the team’s decision-makers. My hunch is that the team will be plenty embarrassed on Monday night, and it won’t be because of anything Manziel did or failed to do.
Bruh, not just rehab 73 effing days in rehab. 73 days! This wasn’t some two-week stint to satisfy the public and give myself a break – it was 73 effing days.