NEO High School Football Championship Edition: St. Edward and Hoban take the crown
December 7, 2015Former Browns linebacker Andra Davis contemplated suicide after retirement
December 7, 2015Update (12/7/2015 at 5:25pm EST):
Cleveland Browns head coach Mike Pettine would neither confirm nor deny the rumors Johnny Manziel would be the starting quarterback on Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers. Cleveland.com’s Mary Kay Cabot had a series of tweets noting Pettine mentioned the quarterback meeting was on Tuesday and he would likely announce after the meeting. Pettine might have tipped his hand when he noted a quarter of a season (the four games remaining) would be enough time to assess Johnny Manziel.
After a particularly depressing 37-3 defeat at the hands of the Cincinnati Bengals, the Browns will (again) turn to second-year quarterback Johnny Manziel for a boost, as Manziel will start Week 14’s game against the San Francisco 49ers. Manziel started against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 10 but was benched during the bye week for off-field indiscretions.
Johnny Manziel will return as starting QB for the Cleveland Browns after two-game benching for off-field missteps, sources told @mortreport.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) December 7, 2015
Manziel will be replacing Austin Davis, who completed 25-of-38 passes for 230 yards and an interception against Cincinnati. Davis was also sacked three times and lost a fumble. A 47-yard Travis Coons field goal before halftime accounted for the Browns’ only points Sunday afternoon.
Based on reports, it sounds as though the move was preordained. From ESPN’s Chris Mortensen:
Browns coach Mike Pettine said after Sunday’s 37-3 loss to the Bengals that he would make the decision Monday. While a team spokesman said he had no knowledge that Manziel would be named the starter, one source told ESPN that Manziel would replace Austin Davis as the starter unless Manziel had done something to jeopardize his status between the end of Sunday’s loss and Monday.
There are all sorts of cynical ways to read into Manziel’s starting again. After an embarrassingly thin crowd that included quite a few Bengals fans, owner Jimmy Haslam may have pushed for the move in the name of selling more seats. It could be a showcase for Manziel in hopes of upping his trade value this offseason. Or — who knows? — maybe Mike Pettine thinks two weeks holding a clipboard was enough for Johnny to learn his lesson.
Whatever the case, Mr. Manziel will be back in with the first-team offense. Assuming he makes it through the Niners game, Manziel will lead the Browns against strong defenses in Seattle and Kansas City before closing out the season at home against Pittsburgh. Smells an awful lot like 0-4.
Good seats still available!
46 Comments
Well, glad they got their point proven, whatever it was.
I’m sure he learned his lesson! But I hope this is to showcase him so the next GM and head coach can possibly get something for him in a trade.
http://www.headingfortheexits.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/shrug.gif
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I would assume this came from someone higher up.
The homeless man on draft day?
…unless Manziel had done something to jeopardize his status between the end of Sunday’s loss and Monday.
I think this is the surest sign yet Pettine will be fired the day the season’s over.
Wouldn’t surprise me in the least that’s probably what that meeting between Haslam and his “upper management” was about.
The week just started give him time.
Yo, J-Manz. Congrats, man! Let’s celebrate! What say you cut outta practice a little early and we’ll go do a little day drinkin’!
Pettine: Sooooo…..Johnny……heard you had a birthday this past weekend. How’d it go?
Johnny: fine.
Pettine: well what about THIS PICTURE?!?!?!
Johnny: that’s an old pic.
Pettine: AH HA, LIED AGA…..oh, dammit.
http://pigskinnpearls.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/party4.jpg
Do you want to know the terrifying truth about the Browns or do you want to see Manziel play a little quarterback?
Great, now we can hear about how THIS quarterback has no healthy offensive line, no receivers and no running game.
As firmly in the “this is not the QB you are looking for” camp I am with Manziel; what the hell are you going to “assess” in these next four games with the offensive scheme and player group he’s surrounded with….How well you can still sell his jersey or pump up his trade stock?
Same song different verse!
Yet how do you explain that Pro Football Focus gave our line a score of +50 Munozes this week?
The face of the franchise how perfect!
This gif makes more sense then the Browns
Wait a minute, does this mean the Austin Davis era is over?
He is a little quarterback, and he plays one on TV.
ALRIGHT! I am totally pumped now!
Well played
Browns were NEVER ONCE in the red zone the entire game. Austin Davis was not that good. 3 points, zero red zone snaps, embarrassing.
It is now in the history books next to the Thad Lewis epoch and the age of Connor Shaw.
How do you think history will compare his time to the Spergon Wynn minutes?
Not as favorably as the Ken Dorsey generation.
The Browns give up loads of sacks and TFLs, but somehow the offensive line is never to blame according to PFF. The Browns’ offensive line is the 8th Wonder of the Modern World.
This thread is perfect, and I think Bruce Gradkowski would agree. Thank you.
Connor the barbarian will be back…
http://www.mattfind.com/12345673215-3-2-3_img/movie/b/v/o/conan_the_barbarian_1982_600x400_700084.jpg
For a second, I was going to posit that maybe the homeless man was actually Bill Belichick in disguise passing on horrible advice to give the Patriots even more of an edge, but then I realized that there’s no need to sabotage a competitor who makes personnel decisions based on advice from hobos.
I just saw this on Frowns today:
Manned by Hall-of-Famer Joe Thomas and two more with Pro Bowl credentials, it was supposed to be a major strength. Yet the Browns are ranked last in the league in rushing, and first in quarterback-sacks taken.
Yeah, I have been pointing that out on the PFF OL articles here. They rank the OL top-5, but that doesn’t jive with those statistics.
If the 5 OL block 3 of the rushers perfectly, yet allow 2 rushers in unopposed, they will marvel at the beauty of the blocks delivered.
Ty Detmer is giddy he is 2x the QB of any of those men (in terms of games started at least). Ken Dorsey notwithstanding (3 starts for Dorsey? really?)
Pancakes aplenty!!
Agreed.
Erving & Mack destroyed the LBer!!!! +10 points
Geno Atkins sacked as he runs up middle untouched on the play. -20 points on QB for getting sacked (obviously)
It’s all the fullback’s fault!
And Aaron Rodgers can make all the easy touchdown throws he wants but we know that he’ll never be as good as Austin Davis who only slightly fails at throws with a higher degree of difficulty.
Atkins probably came on a blitz (somehow) and the RB failed to pick it up. -20 points on the RB for not picking up the blitz and -20 points on the QB for not recognizing the blitz in the pre-play read.
I really would like to see one of their scorers in action.
For anyone that might read the comments and not notice the update above: Pettine noted today in his media session he would officially announce the starting quarterback on Tuesday.
I wouldn’t bet on 0-4. Remember that Marcus Mariota was supposed to run all over Manziel. He didn’t. He actually did pretty good against the Bengals when he played against them and did a good job against the Steelers. Unfortunately, the Browns don’t have Mike Evans, or much of a team for that matter. Quarterbacks have nothing to do with defense and they depend on offense to score. We’ll see what happens but this ain’t last year.
That was 3 starts too many.
Lest anyone forget…we had Josh’s brother, too.
“Johnny: that’s an old pic”
Well I, for one, believe him. After JPP blew off his hand with fireworks, there is no way any player in his right mind would put one in his mouth. Right? Riiiggghhhttt? Uh… John?
MOAR DINGERZ!!!!