Chris Mortensen of ESPN was first to report Manziel has regained his starting job after two week of riding the bench for reportedly lying to coaches about how he spent his time during the bye last month. The team is not having the season it was hoping for and now head coach Mike Pettine is admitting tension between the leaders of the Browns while injuries and off-the-field issues become the headlines. He wanted to meet with offensive coordinator John DeFilippo and quarterbacks coach Kevin O’Connell first.
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“I’m not prepared to name a starting quarterback for Sunday yet”, Pettine said. The quarterbacks always come in the building on Tuesday. I was kind of upset they got that field goal at halftime. “That’s how we’ve handled it before”.
Assuming Manziel starts the remaining games, Pettine believes the club will have the information it needs. Manziel started against the Bengals on November 5 and the Pittsburgh Steelers on November 15 because McCown was out broken ribs. It is time for the Browns to let Manziel start and ride and die by him.
Now, with a struggling Niners team coming to town fresh off an upset victory over the Chicago Bears in overtime, Manziel will get his chance to again lay claim to the Browns’ starting gig.
“We haven’t had those discussions”, Pettine said Sunday when asked if ownership gave him an assurance that he would finish the season.
“We have to make sure that we support our quarterback, ” he said. “He was on point this week in his role”.
“I think it’s all the hard work I put in every offseason and just keep working my hands”, Peko said, via the Cincinnati Enquirer. “That’s where we are with it”, Pettine said, via USAToday.com.
“If you’re going to be successful, your building has to be unified”, he said. “That’s been encouraging. We’ll see how it plays out”. With four games left in this death march, why not just throw the troubled quarterback out there to generate the slightest dose of intrigue? That’s a good chunk of time. I do have concern about a potential letdown, but that is just one more thing we have to figure out with this new-look 49ers team.
That Super Bowl run was 16 years ago and the trophies (in a different city) are getting dusty. That has been encouraging.
Then it goes to Mike Pettine, who must see the writing on the wall.
Manziel opened the season as the backup to Josh McCown, but started in Week 2 against Tennessee after McCown sustained a concussion in the opener against the Jets.
-LG Joel Bitonio (ankle) was placed on injured reserve on Monday. He was blocking on a running play when rookie Duke Johnson rolled up on the back of his legs.
-OL Gabe Ikard was claimed off waivers from the Buffalo Bills to take Bitonio’s roster spot.
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Meanwhile, Brian Hartline did not hold back one day after declining interviews for fear of saying something regrettable in the moments after the Browns suffered their most lopsided loss ever in 86 games with the Cincinnati Bengals.
