Johnny Manziel’s first action comes late… Browns vs. Lions Halftime Report
August 9, 2014Johnny Manziel ahead in QB race? I want to see more, but I’m patient
August 10, 2014The Browns and Lions battled in a low scoring game that ended with a late fourth quarter game-winning touchdown by the Lions. The final score is not as important as how the team actually played. The main focus of most fans and the team was on the battle for the starting quarterback position. Brian Hoyer started the game and had a solid first half, going 6 of 14 for 92 yards. He drove the offense down the field for two field goals. Johnny Manziel replaced Hoyer late in the second quarter and also a solid first game for the Browns. He completed 7 of 11 for 63 yards and ran 6 times for 27 yards. Manziel led the offense to one field goal in his four drives, excluding the one drive at the end of the second half where he took a knee. Both quarterbacks had their ups and downs during the game. They were both hurt by multiple drops from their receivers. Neither quarterback really stood out above the other, so the battle remains tight for the starting spot.
The second half was marred by bad offensive line play by the second string. They had trouble protecting the quarterbacks causing both Manziel and Tyler Thigpen to get hit on multiple occasions. The depth of the line is a major question going forward with the Browns. The team also struggled late in the fourth quarter finishing off the victory. The offense could not get the first down and subsequently gave the ball back to the Lions for their game-winning drive. On the last drive, the Browns defense was called for a lot of penalties including multiple fouls on Leon McFadden. It was not a pretty game late in the fourth quarter for the Browns.
All in all the team showed signs of improvement from last season including the running back depth. But, they also need to improve on multiple aspects like tackling and catching the ball. It is not good when the team cannot tackle on defense and catch the ball on offense. The Browns will look to build off this first performance and go into this week’s practices with the mindset of getting better. The Browns next game is a week from Monday versus the Washington Redskins on national television.
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(Photo by: Joshua Gunter/ The Plain Dealer)
27 Comments
Based on the final score, it is doubtful that Hoyer led the team to 2 touchdowns as is stated above. Although I have no doubt that he tried his best.
First preseason game means next to nothing. However, my two tiny takeaways are that JFF might just be for real, and Desir has a long way to go.
The reserve offensive linemen are the place a team like the browns won’t invest. With two all pros and a few others who you plan on playing every snap it just wouldn’t make sense.
And don’t get too attached to Leon McFadden (thanks Mike Lombardi)
i thought just the opposite on mcfadden. the ball skills he showed on the penalty-pick can’t be taught. avoiding the jersey tug while still playing tight can be. i was actually impressed in spite of the 2? 3? penalties.
I’d have to watch more critically (was playing guitar throughout the 4th quarter and only watching half-heartedly) but I kept seeing him flagged and beat. Agree that he did make a good break on the faux INT but he also committed two penalties on the play, and the guy who threw it was either Dan Orlovsky or someone worse than Dan Orlovsky
haha! so was i! been taking lessons for a year and all i got down is ‘Brown Eyed Girl’ (G-C-G-D repeat). has that stopped me from purchasing a gretsch hollowbody? it has not.
but i did look up look enough to be startled because it he looked so completely different from the mcfadden ive been grinding an axe against. from here it went: playing tight-tight man cover, reading WR eyes, looking up while ball was in air, finding ball, getting hands up just as ball arrives, and last but not least: catching ball. was very impressed.
Desir looked lost out there.
Kirksey looked good in coverage…maybe they should swap.
That is a lot of guitar. Enjoy it!
Desir got an adult dose of actual speed. You could almost make out the Ghosts of Chatanooga Southern Lutheran College wide receivers stopping, catching and pausing before turning up field, and desir closing on them, only to watch the very real NFL WRs jaunt away.
The starters looked really good I loved the running by Tate and West. But the backups, yikes, they need to get to work.
I personally think Manziel threw the ball better then Hoyer which surprised me. Perhaps it was just rust with this being the first real opposition for Hoyer. If not, well, the people who said Manziel would start once he understood the offense better may not be wrong. Of course I’m keeping in mind that Manziel wasn’t facing Detroit’s starters either.
My strongest impression from a meaningless exhibition game: one of our starting receivers is currently in someone else’s training camp. Maybe two of them.
^All the upticks.
Second impression, tamping down the Johnny Fever: a few impressive things, like a) arm strength/accuracy, and b) elusiveness and foot speed that appears NFL sufficient. But before we even get to his not going through progressions, let’s start here: until he can get himself to throw before the receiver breaks and until he’s willing to hit the wide open guy in front of him for the easy first down he ain’t ready to be anything but a light breakfast for Dick LeBeau. And probably end up with a concussion to boot.
I like what I saw in his debut but hope people stay calm. He faced second stringers and a vanilla defense. Just because Hoyer wasn’t special doesn’t mean Johnny should be shark chum.
my favorite Mott The Hoople song. “All the upticks….”
I was really impressed with his arm strength. I am strongly in the camp of “be patient with JFF,” but it was nice to see a set of physical skills that clearly can compete at the NFL level.
One other thing: MKC just posted a story that cites a tweet by Bob Holtzman which claims a “Browns source” says Manziel is in the lead in the QB competition. Personally, I doubt it. But interesting.
Don’t tell Terry Pluto that!
I’ve never been a big fan of Pluto why he said the opposite?
His Manziel agenda is just eye rolling.
Remember when I laughed at those who said Desir might be more ready than Gilbert? Uh, yeah.
Now that is a long game of telephone.
He needs to wrap up on hits too
Typical MKC: Cites a guy, citing an unnamed source, talking about someone else.
Keep it up, PD!
That should be the title of MKC’s regular column.
We were ready to write off Buster Skrine when he drew too many penalties, and he’s come along nicely. I agree that we should overlook the late errors when evaluating McFadden. I still think he’s on the bubble, though.