J.R. Smith says he’s officially back with the Cleveland Cavaliers
August 20, 2015
Browns pre-season bummer, Hard Knocks, QBs, Hum and more: While We’re Waiting
August 21, 2015It wasn’t always pretty. The first half was as ugly as it gets and at one point in the night, ABC’s Mike Tirico wondered if either team would go on to score another point for the rest of the evening. Luckily for him—and everyone else in the world who wanted to avoid overtime preseason football—Cleveland Browns second-year quarterback Johnny Manziel flashed just enough potential to leave fans with a bit of a fuzzy feeling despite losing 11-10 on a last-minute touchdown-conversion sequence by E.J. Manuel and the Buffalo Bills.
Manziel’s first drive had flashes. There was at least one audible where he recognized the strong safety creeping into the box before changing to a weak-side run for a decent gain. There was an interior blitz that led to Manziel immediately firing the ball into the slot. Then there was a defensive back blitz that saw the Texas A&M product immediately find a hot receiver on an inside slant. But it would be Jonathan Football’s second drive that many will keep the water coolers busy on Friday morning.
Retaking the field, Manziel led the Browns on a 95-yard drive, capped off with his first touchdown pass of the preseason as he found a streaking Shane Wynn along the right sideline. That touchdown, however, was set up by a beautiful bootleg pass wherein Manziel awkwardly rolled to his left and threw across his body to find a crossing Darius Jennings for what was a 37-yard pass. After running back Timothy Sanders ran for no gain, Manziel took the next snap, dropped back, stepped into the pocket and fired what may have been the most NFL pass of his young career.
He didn’t bail early, looking to make plays with his feet rather than his arm. He didn’t make dumb, risk-filled passes, putting his receivers a risk while potentially leading to game-changing interceptions. When he was rushed toward the end of his first drive, he could have easily made a rookie-like pass, but Manziel held on to the ball and opted to take the sack, living to play another drive.
Several young, recently drafted members of the Browns defense played well. Nate Orchard improved greatly off of his otherwise forgettable game last week. Fellow rookie Xavier Cooper was in the backfield a bunch. Wynn looked spectacular returning a punt. Hell, even Manziel had the ball left with a little over a minute to go and three timeouts, but the team failed to capitalize along with a few errant passes, unrecognized blitzes, and poorly executed scramble drills. But as long as Josh McCown leads to more yawns than yards, and Manziel is throwing for 82 yards out of a 95-yard drive—regardless of the Bills’ second unit being on the field—every story for the next week will be about last season’s first round pick: The man formerly known as Johnny Football.
The Browns may have lost the game, but Manziel looking like an actual quarterback, even if only for a single drive, is a win in its own right.
#Browns QB Josh McCown goes to X-ray room after game.
— Tony Grossi (@TonyGrossi) August 21, 2015
15 Comments
The Browns may have lost the game, but Manziel looking like an actual quarterback, even if only for a single drive, is a win in its own right”
Bar on ground step over = Oy vey!
Saying McCown was the cause for “yawn” is silly. He didn’t have much of a chance against that pass rush with protection constantly breaking down and poor blitz protection…oh yeah, coupled with a pathetic rushing attack. But other than that, it was on him.
Seemed like same old offensive dilemma for the Browns QB: 3rd and long with very few playmaking receivers and the defensive pass rush licking their chops.
I thought he looked good on the last drive of the game-ineligible lineman down field killed the one play and Mahyle dropped the pass on 4th down. I hope McCown’s injury isn’t serious, but I do hope it keeps him out of the 3rd preseason game to see what he have in the kid playing with the 1’s.
Agree.
yeah this offense could be reminiscent of 2010 with Robiskie, MoMass, and opposing secondaries sitting on routes because they know we have no one to beat them over the top.
My enthusiasm over Manziel is very tempered. It should not be overstated that it was the 2nd Team. That Bills 1st Team defense looked tough – and was a completely different animal than their 2nd Team. We saw Manziel do some sweet things in pre-season last year – against 2nd teams. I hope it’s for real, but my enthusiasm is tempered.
The two things that impressed me the most about Manziel last night was that a) he faced some weird blitz packages that generally confuse young QB’s and adjusted pre-snap, and b) his dedication to learning to solve his problems his arm and not his legs was on display, as he was far more disciplined about that than RG3 was last week.
He scrambled around a bit, but always kept his eyes downfield, and didn’t take off running as soon as the pocket got busy. If he had more experience and chemistry with his wideouts, more of those plays would have ended with some sort of success. In the regular season against starters, the windows open and close more quickly, but still it’s light years ahead of last year, and a good sign in general. I hope he can continue to work hard and learn without the pressure that will come from people wanting him to start.
And by “2nd team”, you mean a mix of second and third team at that point.
Sure. While the gap between 1st and 2nd can be big, I generally think that the gap between 2nd and 4th in the NFL is pretty small. Manziel showed some good things – even some things that provide a little more optimism than last year’s pre-season demonstrations; I just want to see them against a real starting defense (but also with Bowe, Hartline, et al).
Agreed, but we saw nothing like that 37 yard pass last year. Not saying he should start now or anything, but there just aren’t many dudes that can make that play. I’m all for tempered expectations, but it’s also OK to give credit where credit’s due.
Another thing he learned that RG3 has not – how to slide. I was irrationally happy about him sliding on that 8 yard run up the middle.
For sure. It was nice. Last night was the closest we’ve seen to the Texas A&M Manziel (but it’s because he was up against Texas A&M competition – the best of that competition, but still). I wonder if that read and that play would have been there against the #1 defense.
Johnny also perpetually stays on his toes, even after the throw. He keeps his head on a swivel. I like that about him. He’s not going to get unnecessarily hurt like that. Conversely, RG3 stands there admiring his throw, and then gets drilled. Over and over again.
Lol, yeah RG3 poses like it’s a photoshoot after he releases the ball.
Even a blind squirrel finds a nut now and then.
Johnny led one drive against 2nd and 3rd stringers. Give him a raise.