“I’m very excited”, Manziel said. “I’m looking forward to focusing my energies on our start against the Ravens and bringing a win for our fans in Cleveland”.
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Manziel set new career highs with the 33 completions, 45 attempts, 372 passing yards, and threw for the fourth-most yards by a Browns quarterback in a road start.
“Based on the way (Manziel) played against Pittsburgh, what he showed, his ability to make plays in the pocket and outside of the pocket, I think the difference in maximizing our chances to win is negligible”, Pettine said. “This will give us an opportunity to see how far he’s come and what he’s capable of”.
It appears Pettine doesn’t exactly love Manziel, and that the coaches don’t really believe he is their guy right now.
“He did a much better job of that in this game than he did before”, Pettine said.
However, not everyone involved in the decision wanted to commit to Manziel for the rest of the season because of how well McCown has played, a source told ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler.
Stepping in after Landry Jones went down with a left leg injury of his own, Roethlisberger passed for 379 yards and three touchdowns as the Steelers swarmed Johnny Manziel and the struggling Browns in a 30-9 romp on Sunday.
But McCown is also 36 and was originally signed to be a mentor to Manziel, who the Browns saw as their franchise quarterback when they picked him in the first round of the draft, 22nd overall. In the six games that Roethlisberger has played, Brown has 62 receptions (10.3 per game), 906 yards (151 per game) and all five of his touchdowns on the season. Between going to rehab and now two questionable off field situations this year, the mere appearance of impropriety on Manziel’s part puts his future in question.
On Tuesday, the NFL released a statement on its investigation of the incident: “Consistent with the procedures of the league’s Personal Conduct Policy, we have examined the available evidence regarding the recent incident involving Johnny Manziel”.
Cleveland coach Mike Pettine praised Manziel on Monday, though wasn’t ready to name him the team’s starter just yet.
Of course, he has to stay healthy himself through the rest of the season.
“Being a 2-8 football team forces you to question yourself and question your methods”, said head coach Mike Pettine on Monday.
Pettine, who’s lost 13 of 15 games after a 7-4 start, was asked if the players are responding to the coaching. “He and I got a chance to sit down (Tuesday) morning and that was one of the things, I won’t go into details, but that was one of the things that came up in this discussion”. “So I don’t think they’re going to have to worry about me this week”.
“Heck of an athlete, heck of a nice arm”, Steelers linebacker Lawrence Timmons said of Manziel.
Johnny Manziel is having a good day. “It’s as simple as that for us, just to continue to get better”.
“I don’t know what my plans are going to be yet”, Manziel said on Tuesday, according to wykc.com.
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“We’ve got a heck of a stretch run coming up after the bye”, he said. When he has played, Manziel has been able to deliver on about three extended plays per game and in some cases have led to points. Plowing ahead with McCown as the team’s starter won’t solidify Pettine’s standing in the organization.
