The former Heisman Trophy victor completed 8 of his 15 pass attempts for 172 yards and two scores for a 133.9 QBR, and more importantly, led the Browns to a stunning 28-14 victory.
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“That’s a positive thing”, Pettine said on Monday. However, his concussion during Week 1 opened the door for Johnny Manziel to show the team what he was made of.
Manziel would have been able to convert a third-and-four but for a chop block penalty that took the Browns back to their own 46-yard line.
No one’s going to look at Manziel’s Week 2 performance and mistake it for the sensational stuff he did during his college days. We explained last week why this is important in fantasy games. “I’m proud of him because if you had said back early in the offseason if this was going to happen, I think a lot of people would have said pretty slim chance”.
Manziel and the Browns will continue their homestand in Week 3 against the Oakland Raiders who also captured their first win last Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens.
“Josh is still in the protocol”, he added. Then, the play he needed it, he was able to buy more time so he could throw the ball down the field. “But we’ll have the “what-if” discussion [Monday night], and we’ll see where that takes us”.
But, as coach Mike Pettine noted this week, the arrow is pointing up for Manziel right now.
During the Raiders’ 37-33 win against the Baltimore, second-year quarterback Derek Carr threw for 351 yards to go with three touchdowns, including the game-winning TD toss in the final minute. I believe if Johnny Manziel does well, he should remain the starting quarterback. Perhaps Manziel is ready to swing his 2015 expectations all the way in the other direction. “I know that on the outside that those things get brought into it. We’ve already seen circumstances have come about for us to get an evaluation of him”.
With 7:11 left in the first quarter, Manziel connect with tight end Gary Barnidge on a short pass that Pettine seemed to like as much as the longer completions.
His point was that it is not easy to take virtually no reps during the practice week and then be thrust into a game and play the toughest position in sports at a high level. Sometimes, the coordinator can control it by holding the call, but I think your quarterback kind of has to have a sense of when you want to break the huddle at a certain time. “Talking about Merril, he’s been that way since I chose to come out for the draft, so I guess that’s part of it, but no extra motivation or extra bump for me or anything like that”.
However, areas of concern still exist.
Oakland will need to improve its pass rush if it hopes to contain Cleveland’s quarterback, be it Manziel or McNown. Anybody that knows him knows how genuine he is, how passionate he is about football and about his teammates, and just wanting to win regardless of what his role is. “That can not become his flaw”. “We have to get that cleaned up”.
Pettine earned his paycheck this week. I told those guys in our first meeting and it has been great to have Josh there, I wouldn’t say as a sounding board but as a voice of reason to say, ‘Have you thought about doing it this way?’
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Pettine isn’t wrong. Manziel’s rookie season was a flat-out bust.
