Pettine also said that he has seen no serious level of dissatisfaction from Manziel that might indicate he would want out of Cleveland after the season.
Advertisement
Johnny Manziel’s spell on the bench will continue for the time being after the Cleveland Browns coach picked Austin Davis to start at quarterback against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday.
McCown has been placed on injured reserve and will miss the rest of the season after fracturing his collarbone against Baltimore on Monday night.
As fate would have it, Josh McCown suffered a season-ending injury, and Austin Davis came in to throw the tying touchdown (before the field goal block madness that ended the game).
“Austin took advantage of his opportunity on Monday night”, Pettine said in a news release.
Pettine said he laid out the parameters to Davis and Johnny Manziel in meetings early Wednesday.
Pettine stressed that Davis earned the start with his performance during Sunday’s 33-27 loss to the Ravens.
Davis completed 7 of 10 passes – he went for 6 for 6 on the scoring drive – for 77 yards.
Pettine dodged the issue when asked whether the one-game demotion of Manziel to third quarterback in the Ravens game was punishment enough for reportedly lying to the coaches about Manziel’s partying videos during the bye last month.
Pettine praised Davis’ mental approach and work ethic, saying he is “as prepared as any quarterback that I’ve been around”. In eight starts and 10 overall appearances with the St. Louis Rams last season, Davis completed 180 of 284 passes for 2,001 yards, 12 touchdowns and nine interceptions.
Manziel is 1-2 as a starter this season. He will be the 24th starting quarterback for the Browns since the franchise returned to the National Football League in 1999. “These are two players that we both want to see play is the bottom line”.
This marks the fourth straight season in which the Browns have played at least three different quarterbacks.
At some point, Pettine might have to go back to Manziel.
Advertisement
“He’s young and hasn’t had a ton of starts and what he’s shown us on the practice field and the little bit that he got in the game has all been encouraging”, he said. “What’s the hardest thing for me to deal with in this situation is you just want to be available for your teammates and be there for your guys and so when you can’t be, it hurts”. “I make the final call, and I’ll have strong opinions one way or another, but it either gets confirmed or denied by people that I trust, and that makes it easier”.
