DawgTalkers.net Forums The Archives 2015 NFL Season Looking Back: Browns 10 Bengals 31 Browns preparing to start Johnny Manziel at Bengals

J/C ....

I cannot believe that people are freaking out over this, like Pettine decided to start Manziel this week because of a grudge, or something.

Manziel is starting because McCown is about one hit away from a full body cast. He got the living heck knocked out of him in the Cardinals game, and there are reports that he couldn't even sleep because he was in so much pain.

That is why Manziel s starting. It isn't because Pettine arbitrarily decided that e suddenly liked Manziel more, or because he wants to show anyone up. He is starting because he is our backup QB, and our starter is too badly hurt to play. Didn't anyone watch the Cardinals game? After the one hit, McCown looked like he was about ready to spit up a lung. He was in serious pain. However, the doctors decided that he wasn't going to injure himself more if he went back in, and he wanted to go back in, so he went back in. As often happens, he went home, and as the hours passed, and adrenalin wore off, the pain intensified even more. After a sleepless night in excruciating pain, it was decided that he would not be able to go Thursday night.

There is nothing else too it. Pettine didn't somehow decide that this was going to be the game for Manziel to "take over". I am still of the belief that the job belongs to McCown when he can return to the field. (unless Manziel really turns it up)

Yeah, Pettine decided to start Johnny on 3 days practice because he wanted to show someone up, or something. Geesh. *smh*

I agree. If anyone here has had even bruised ribs, they know how it affects basic movements, even breathing.

They did?!?!

J/C...


link

I fractured a rib once, and didn't sleep for 3 days. The only reason I slept them was that I was so completely exhausted that my body just gave up.

this dude will roll mccown out on a wheel chair before he commits to manziel.

Funny thing is Pet on his pressers... Praises JM and says he's been an A+ ... I swear it sounds like Pet loves him.

I'm Almost wondering why Pet looks so beaten on his pressers and distant on the field...is maybe he wants to start JM..But crap is rolling down hill because those above Pet may be protecting the Browns name..

Far fetched .. but what isn't anymore

its weird though. he "shows" love, but an ailing mccown with one good arm, and he still won't play JM.

you'd think haslam and farmer would want to see manziel by now, as that was there pick clearly.

i give farmer props for not over stepping the coach on who plays and who doesn't.

but man....

Has there been an official injury report on what McCowns injuries are?

LOL lil bro..........did you happen to miss some of the information in Shanny's 32 pt. presentation to Haslam?

I think Farmer interferes way too much.

Has he done it this year?

I don't know. Do you?

Has it crossed your mind that perhaps starting JM this week was a directive from above?

It has.

Did it cross your mind that maybe this is pettine shelving Mccown until he's healthy again?

If you can find silver lining for giving props to pettine, thenI certainly can with farmer.

Swish, I have asked you politely to stop it. I do NOT want to get drawn into this "take a side" crap thing AGAIN!!!!

You were ripping me a new one this summer because I got on Pet. You actually teamed up w/freaking arch in making fun of me about how I was so negative.

I am not a huge Pet fan. I ripped him long before any of you did. So, just stop!

I am calling it as I see it. It's not an agenda. It's a process. Please man..........don't drag me into this crap. I really, really don't want to go there.

Let's just talk about each situation based on it's own merits. I really don't wanna deal w/taking sides. I am not kidding........I don't have much left in regards to even caring about this team.

Stop what? I simply gave farmer some credit and you went on attack mode.

Take me off ignore or quit talking about me. Be half the man you claim.

And actually, are you working? You post at 11:30 pm, 8 am, 9 am, 11 am, 1 pm, 2 pm. That, during the day, is a lot of free time for a teacher.

Won't really matter who starts at QB if that said QB is our leading rusher. We have to find ways to run the ball better or we're dead in the water. Simple as that.

Stop this nonsense that Pet is my boy. That is crap, Swish.

I just called the move to start Manziel "ignorant" in this thread. You are trying to start one of the usual agenda crap driven arguments. I'm tired of it.

I am asking you as nicely as I can to please stop. Please?

I think that if Manziel starts, it's because McCown can't go and not for any other reason.

I hope you are right. That would pretty much exonerate everyone involved.

There's no way Pettine would start JFF on a short week if he had McCown healthy. As you said in another thread, giving Manziel an extra week or two of reps at practice, thus affording us time to adjust the O, would be the way to go.

Now we may not have that luxury.

Hopefully we dont completely change the playbook like last year..

In the one game Manziel played in, we didn't. We just ran the ball more.

We didn't change the playbook last year. I think some posters used that excuse to cover for how poorly JM played.

I actually thought we should have changed the offense MORE last year to fit Manziel's skill set. I liked Shanny, but I thought he made a mistake by NOT changing the O when JM came in.

It really is that simple.

Manziel gets the start!

Link

I hope he puts up 50 on them and does a great job with the WIN. Put this QB thing to bed... I doubt that happens but I can at least hope.

I think we'd all love for him to seize the job and become a franchise QB.

Oh that's just silly.. If your starter can start, you start him... When he can't you go to your next option.

Which is exactly what they are doing.

They aren't starting Manziel because they want to, they are starting him because he's the "next man up"

It's official:

Pettine announces Johnny Manziel will start Thursday

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/201...partner=ya5nbcs

but what uniforms are we wearing?

Yeah, let's get the very important details outta the way first lol who cares Manziel is starting.

I hope they are the tighty whities. They are a favorite of mine.

Right. I understand that people have agendas and are constantly trying to push them, but it's so painfully obvious that Manziel is starting because McCown is hurt. I do NOT understand some of the fans on this board.

I do not understand most of them.

Cool. With the majority of the snaps in the last week and a half he should at least be able to operate the offense. I doubt we'll play well enough around him to win but I am hoping that we see some sort of improvement from Johnny. Something that indicates that he's got it in him to at least be an average NFL starter.

The writer is INCORRECT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Johnny saw playing time at the end of the Rams game ALSO!

Amazing how these hacks can't even fact check.

Good Luck Johnny. You are going to need it!!

Well this game just got a heck of a lot more interesting.

If this doesn't motivate Johnny nothing will. Add in the fact that the Bungholes may look right past this game now, yucking about doing the money sign after they plant him in the turf.

Yes sir, the game just got more interesting......

Johnny Manziel giving Browns' Mike Pettine reason to hope

BEREA, Ohio -- The reason that Johnny Manziel became such a big deal in the first place -- and why it's a big deal he'll start on Thursday in Cincinnati -- is his penchant for the spectacular.

As Mike Pettine sees it, the second-year pro's ability to harness that will determine his next step.

And, at least for now, the Cleveland Browns coach is seeing encouraging signs Manziel will be able to do just that as he takes the field against the 7-0 Bengals. No, Pettine is not completely sold that Manziel is going to make it as a pro. It's hard to be certain with any quarterback, let alone one who's endured -- and, in some respects, subjected himself to -- the 18-month start to a career that Johnny Football has.

But with his work over the last six months, the former Heisman Trophy winner has given himself a chance, which is why Pettine's feeling on whether JFF can be a QB1 in the NFL has changed drastically.

"He's got some stuff to be cleaned up, but if you'd asked me this a year ago, I would've been like, 'It's a great mystery; I have no idea where this guy is gonna be.' And if I were to handicap it, I'd maybe be at 50-50 with this guy, and that'd be generous," Pettine said just before practice on Tuesday night. "This year, I'm a lot more confident that if you surround him with the right people, he can be successful."

Pettine is careful to qualify that, adding, "There are very few quarterbacks in this league -- in the history of this league -- where, no matter who you put around them, they'll be successful. Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees. There's a handful. That next tier of quarterbacks will be very supporting cast-dependent."

And for right now, that's what the Browns are hoping Manziel can be: a piece to a bigger puzzle.

That might be hard to reconcile, given the Heisman Trophy he won at Texas A&M in 2012, his first-round draft status and the fame that's come with all that. But really, it illustrates best where the Browns have asked Manziel to make his biggest strides, and where their newfound confidence in him is coming from.

Pettine said that, for him, "It always came back to [Manziel's] feet." New offensive coordinator John DeFilippo and quarterbacks coach Kevin O'Connell -- hired to replace Kyle Shanahan and Dowell Loggains, who parted ways with the team in January -- drilled Manziel on footwork in the spring. More notably, the new, quieter lower body showed up when the red (non-contact) jersey came off, first for the team's August intrasquad scrimmage in Columbus, then for the preseason games.


"He learned, 'I don't have to turn every play into a punt return,' " Pettine said. "That was a function of two things. One, that was what he was used to doing. And two, when you don't know what a defense is in and you're not sure where the ball should go, extend the play until you do know. Now, if I'm confident and I know and I can process quick and get the ball out, then that's what you want."

The other key here, in Pettine's mind, was creating the right environment for Manziel to grow in. The Browns feel like that's been accomplished, too.

Last season, the staff became disjointed late in the year, and Manziel was competing with another 20-something in Brian Hoyer for the starting job. "Not that it was Brian Hoyer's fault, it was just very different, two young guys competing for a starting job," Pettine said, implicitly explaining why Josh McCown -- a native Texan who turned 36 in July -- was an attractive piece for Cleveland to pursue as starter/tutor in the offseason.

The hiring of O'Connell, who helped prep Manziel for the draft two springs ago, added another layer to that, as did the presence of Pettine in offensive meetings with DeFilippo -- the head coach spent that time with the defense in 2014. So the quarterback had all this waiting for him when he got out of rehab in April. Even better, it was a different guy stepping into that environment.

"He was just a lot less consistent last year; there were good days and there were bad days," Pettine said. "This year, he's into it. I think he knows. He said all the right things when he got out of rehab and talked about it, how he felt like he let everybody down. He knows he has a long way to go and it's a process, but he said that. That was always our thing with Johnny: He said the right things, but then he didn't necessarily do them. Now, that's different."

The expectation is that the resulting progress will show up Thursday, largely because it did when McCown got hurt in September, and because Manziel has taken steps forward since then. Pettine recalls that on opening day against the New York Jets, when Manziel had to pinch hit for McCown following the veteran's concussion, " 'Flip' didn't have to say, 'Oh, give me the black pen, I gotta cross out these 50 plays.' He called from the same call sheet."


That Jets game wasn't perfect; Manziel completed 13 of 24 passes for 182 yards and one touchdown (against one pick) in a 31-10 loss. Neither was Manziel's start against the Titans in Week 2, though Cleveland did win that one.

He hasn't been spotless off the field, either. Pettine's always careful to say what he sees has been good, because the Browns aren't monitoring Manziel like a high school kid. They try to treat him like an adult and hope he'll act like one. And that made last month's run-in with the police involving his girlfriend disappointing, at the very least.

"What happened off the field is unfortunate," Pettine said. "It's still lingering; we're waiting to hear from the league. But from the standpoint where I can evaluate him, from the moment he steps in the building to the moment he leaves, he's very professional. He's all about football."

Maybe he wasn't last year, when the Bengals ate him alive in his first professional start. (Manziel went 10 for 18 for 80 yards with zero touchdowns, two picks, three sacks and a 27.3 passer rating in a 30-0 loss.)

TNF Challenge

But the Browns swear Cincinnati won't see the same guy this time around, as a person -- or as a player.

"Last year, when he went out there, he was seeing 13, 14 guys on defense," Pettine said. "He's so much calmer this year, because I think he gets it. 'Flip' can start to call a play, and he can finish it -- he knows the call sheet that well. He knows, this certain route, 'Hey, if I get Cover 1, I'm gonna work this side, and if I get quarters, I'm gonna work here.' And a lot of that is how he's being coached and how that room pulls each other along. He's benefitted from that. We've been very pleased."

Now Manziel gets the chance to put that to work where he was once so accustomed to shining: under the lights. And maybe, just maybe, remind all of us why he was such a big deal in the first place.

Follow Albert Breer on Twitter @AlbertBreer.
[http://]http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000...-reason-to-hope[/http]