I can’t emphasize the importance of the trust and the accountability piece. “This is where we had an obvious shortcoming”.
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Last week, Johnny Manziel was demoted from his position as the designated starting quarterback of the Cleveland Browns because of video that surfaced of him partying in Texas during the team’s bye week.
Here are my 3 Points to Watch for in the Browns-Ravens game Monday night.
Earlier in the news conference, Pettine was asked why Manziel is still on the team after lying.
“This is a heavy dose of adversity”.
Asking others to tell an easily disprovable lie to a team that was hesitant to make him the starting quarterback in the first place? “This is a hurdle”.
Teammates Joe Thomas and Brian Hartline hinted Manziel’s violations were more than just sing a vulgar rap song while holding a bottle of champagne in a video posted by bustedcoverage.com.
Pettine was surprised by the video, but more disappointed than anything.
“I think everybody still felt really confident in Josh”, left tackle Joe Thomas said.
It would have been a better game if the Ravens had their three top offensive players, but instead we have a, for lack of a better term, garbage game on Monday Night Football for two teams that just want to get 2015 over with. “Whatever is dealt his way, he deals with it with a lot of confidence and poise, and I am proud of the way he handled this”. “He has made great progress”. You want to get a win for our team, for the guys in the locker room and for the fans and the people that support us. At one point, Manziel dejectedly hung his head and stared at the grass under his feet as the Browns practiced on another shockingly mild late November afternoon. The Ravens took a 21-9 lead in the third quarter before the Browns went on a 24-9 run to end the game, including the winning field goal in overtime.
It’s the second incident involving Manziel and alcohol, just months after he spent 10 weeks in a treatment facility for undisclosed reasons.
In the same way McCown overachieved on the football field this season – he’s 13th in the NFL with a 95.2 rating and way ahead of everyone on the all-important third down with a 137.3 mark – he hit it out of the park as a friend and mentor for Manziel, fresh out 73 days in an addiction treatment center.
The decision with Manziel could be a defining moment in the tenure of Pettine.
“Things can change”, he said. In that vein, leaving here the other day before the bye, I was a little chippy trying to get out of here, so I apologize for not giving good answers. “This is a decision I know for him in particular stings in the short-term but feel it is absolutely necessary to maximize his chances for future success”. “If you can’t respond from those situations and getting beat deep a couple times, you’re not going to make it in this league as a DB”.
McCown said he’d draw energy from celebrating Thanksgiving and reflecting on his blessings. “He came to work this morning and obviously with not the best circumstances and took notes and did everything he was supposed to do”.
“From everything Josh has told me and from everything I have seen at practice, he looks very, very healthy”, DeFilippo said. We talked about some deep and philosophical things. And Pettine said Wednesday that “it was made reasonably clear” to Manziel that he was working on a zero-tolerance policy over the break.
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“This was too important”, he said.
