The Cleveland Browns are turning back to Johnny Manziel as their starter at quarterback. They announced Friday that Manziel will start Sunday’s game at home against the Tennessee Titans, creating an intriguing quarterback matchup of polarizing second-year pro Manziel against prized Titans rookie Marcus Mariota.
The Browns are making the move by necessity rather than by choice, with veteran Josh McCown having suffered a concussion in last Sunday’s season-opening loss to the New York Jets.
Even so, Manziel put himself back into the quarterback conversation in Cleveland during the preseason and now has a chance to make a renewed claim to being the starter and the Browns’ quarterback of the future.
But first he must have some on-field success, something that eluded the former Heisman Trophy winner as a closely scrutinized rookie last season.
“Last year he looked like he didn’t even know where to start,” former NFL quarterback Tim Hasselbeck said earlier this week. “It was basic stuff. He’d be looking in completely the wrong direction. That’s how he was last year. And then you look at him against the Jets, and it was the same thing. When you’re unaware that your protection has been blitzed, that’s a bad thing. Every now and then you can luck into something [with the right play call]. My expectation for him is not that high.”
Manziel took over for McCown against the Jets and threw his first NFL touchdown pass, a 54-yard strike to wide receiver Travis Benjamin. But he also threw an interception and lost two fumbles in the 31-10 defeat at the Meadowlands. Manziel completed 13 of 24 passes for 182 yards and ran for 35 yards on five carries.
“I see a little bit of a difference” from Manziel’s rookie season, former Washington Redskins quarterback Joe Theismann said this week. “He didn’t seem quite as frenetic and scattered. As a rookie, you’re just out there trying to survive. He had a little better command of the offense. But something he has to learn is that if you’re gonna run, there are guys in the NFL that are going to catch up to you from behind.
“Interceptions are gonna happen. It’s part of the game. But if you fumble the ball while you’re scrambling, that’s 100 percent on you. Young quarterbacks who run think they can run away from everybody like they did in college, and they can’t.”
The slow pace of Manziel’s development as an NFL quarterback stands in contrast to the immediate success enjoyed last weekend by Mariota, who had four touchdown throws and a perfect passer rating in a memorable debut against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
[What the Titans are doing to help Marcus Mariota]
For Manziel, little went right last season as a rookie. The first-round draft choice failed to take advantage of an opportunity to win the opening-day starting job from Brian Hoyer during a preseason in which he directed an obscene gesture at the Redskins’ sideline during one exhibition game. He made headlines with his off-field behavior and he had a passer rating of 42.0 in five games, including two starts.
“The thing that jumped out from watching him play in college, his tape from inside the pocket was bad,” said Hasselbeck, now an NFL analyst for ESPN. “His tape from inside the pocket was equivalent to a seventh-round pick or someone that doesn’t get picked. But the Johnny Football stuff was impressive. So you looked at it as an NFL team and you said, ‘If we can develop him inside the pocket, we’ve got something.’ The problem is, he would get to the Johnny Football stuff by making a mistake in the pocket. He would miss something in the pocket and then take off [and run]. That doesn’t work in the NFL. You can’t have consistent success that way.”
Manziel rejoined the Browns in the offseason following a stint in a treatment facility. He earned praise during the preseason but also was plagued by a sore elbow. And there was little debate about McCown, signed as a free agent in the offseason while Hoyer left for the Houston Texans, opening the season as the starter ahead of Manziel.
But now Manziel has his opportunity once more.
He’ll have to prove that he’s ready to do more with it than he managed last season.
“You look at Week 1, he misses a ‘hot’ [read] and then he runs around,” Hasselbeck said. “The truth is, he’s not Michael Vick. He’s athletic. But he’s not the fastest guy on the field. It hurt him in Week 1. Unless they can get him to see things more clearly in the pocket, it’s not gonna work.”
