Coach Mike Pettine said McCown is “improving” but is still “day to day”. Quarterback Matt Flynn also tweeted that his hunting season is over after being signed by the New Orleans Saints in the wake of backup Luke McCown’s season-ending back surgery. The Browns are 2-7 and, as of Sunday night, dead last in the entire AFC. He heard it all but, to his credit, he and Bengals rehab chief Nick Cosgray put their heads down and he got back for the first game he was eligible.
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This week against the Steelers, Manziel should start to allow McCown to get the full benefit of his ribs recovering for over three weeks and then they have to reevaluate the situation, which is exactly what Pettine has said. Johnson might be the best thing the Browns have going right now as a number of National Football League analysts call for him to get the ball more. The players and coaches know it but it doesn’t change. Which means McCown should remain the starter. Meanwhile, no quarterback conjures more fear in opponents at the goal line than Newton, who has five rushing touchdowns this year and 38 over the course of his career. We also talk second-year quarterback Johnny Manziel.
The question, though, is whether these problems can be ironed out by practice, meetings and film study alone or if Manziel could improve in these areas much more quickly by being given actual playing time.
Veteran left tackle Joe Thomas agrees with Pettine’s philosophy. I think he has a quarterback rating of plus-130 on third downs. “So there’s not going to be any mailing it”.
“There’s extra scrutiny when you’re not making the playoffs and you’re not a winning team and you don’t have a winning record”, he said.
Pettine said his choice will be based on the same criteria he has used since training camp. He watched as Manziel and Austin Davis took the repetitions.
Associated Press Cleveland Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel looks to pass on the run during the second half against the Cincinnati Bengals on Thursday in Cincinnati.
How will Mike Pettine and the Browns brass respond to this? Dalton led the Bengals to a thorough beating of a team they should have thoroughly beat – and admit it Bengals fans, you didn’t think he would/could do that. His tape and his statistics show that.
That’s a good place to start. The 22-year-old, who remains under National Football League investigation for a recent domestic incident, has completed 43 of 83 passes for 561 yards and four touchdowns with one interception. “That’s not a decision, especially with the quarterback, that you want to wait until the end of the week so we’ll see”. The Browns would be far more willing to see what they have in Manziel if team owner Jimmy Haslam is still of the mindset that he’s not going to gut the coaching and front office staffs in the offseason no matter the win-loss record. The second-year QB played well in the first half before being shut down by the Bengals. Manziel went 4-for-15 for 40 yards and rushed twice for 20 yards. He posted solid stats – 11 of 18 for 128 yards – in the first half, but Manziel also fell back on old habits, scrambling and improvising the way he did in college.
If you didn’t understand why the Cincinnati Bengals were so unsafe, you got a good primer last night.
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Let’s just hope that the shoulder injury that knocked McCoy out of the game doesn’t prove to be too serious. We knew it would take a few time for him to be able to adapt. Both guys are extremely mobile and are capable of creating. “I was trying to throw it away and that’s when they got me”.
