So the Browns have announced today that Johnny Manziel will start at quarterback for the rest of the season.
Better late than never.
Browns head coach Mike Pettine said he was encouraged by the way Manziel played in Sunday’s 30-9 road loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, calling it “a big step forward” and saying he “made significant progress.”
But Pettine probably didn’t make the decision to name Manziel the starter. It’s much more likely that he was ordered to do so by owner Jimmy Haslam, who is tired of the losing by the Browns, now 2-8 with six games left after dropping five in a row.
It was Haslam, a big financial contributor to the University of Tennessee, who orchestrated the club’s selection of Manziel at No. 22 overall in the 2014 NFL Draft after watching the Texas A&M dominate opponents in the SEC.
Haslam probably wasn’t thrilled with the fact Pettine continued to play veteran Josh McCown this season, and likely would have started him again in Pittsburgh if he hadn’t been so banged up. Haslam stood back and let the coach do his thing with the quarterbacks for the first two-thirds of the season, stepping in only when it became obvious that, with his play against the Steelers (he was 33 of 45 passing for 372 yards and a touchdown), Manziel at least deserved a shot to go forward as the starter. And Pettine, with his position weakened considerably by the club’s nosedive, to the point that many questioned whether he would get fired during the bye week the Browns are now in, had no alternative but to agree to it. If he had resisted it, he would have been canned on the spot.
Plus, from Haslam’s standpoint, and understandably so, something – anything – had to be done NOW with the Browns, who are off for 13 more days, not playing again until Nov. 30 when they host the Baltimore Ravens on Monday Night Football. That game isn’t sold out by a long shot. Haslam wants a full, and fully-charged, FirstEnergy Stadium for the national TV audience to see, and the best way to do that is to play Manziel.
Manziel might not be the long-term answer at quarterback – and probably isn’t – but with the fact he is in just his second season and has not played much, there is at least the possibility that he could develop into such. That chance adds some much-needed spice to what was otherwise shaping up a drab finish to yet another drab season.
That certainly wasn’t the case with the 36-year-old McCown, a 13-year pro who, as evidenced by the fact he is just 2-15 in his last NFL starts, just keeps losing and losing and losing. His ship sailed long, long ago.
In addition, McCown has said all along since being signed in free agency in the offseason that he knows he is just keeping the seat warm until Manziel is ready. And he welcomes the chance to be his veteran mentor.
That time has arrived – Manziel is as ready as he’ll ever be to get a chance to show what he can do – and so the Browns, and, they hope, their fanbase as well, are anxious to see how it plays out.
But just as was the case with McCown, the proof in the pudding for Manziel will not be more glitzy statistics but rather making plays when they count, such as in red-zone and fourth-quarter situations, to help the Browns win games.
Every quarterback, especially in the bottom-line business that is the NFL, is charged with one, and only one, thing, and that is to win games. Nothing else matters. All the other statistics are for the fantasy leagues.
Despite his gaudy numbers, Manziel still left a lot to be desired with his performance in the red zone and in crucial situations in Pittsburgh. He didn’t make many meaningful, game-changing plays.
Along with that, he fumbled the ball away – on Cleveland’s first play from scrimmage, no less, setting the tone for the rest of that mistake-filled afternoon – and threw an interception.
If the Browns beat the Ravens, and follow that by getting some other wins through the rest of the season against a schedule that includes games with, in order, the Cincinnati Bengals, San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks, Kansas City Chiefs and Steelers again, then Manziel’s resume will look a lot, lot better than it does now.
It will, in the very least, be fun, and interesting, to watch.
And it will, in the very least, provide something, and someone, to watch.
But keep in mind that we need to keep an open mind. Don’t write the kid off just yet. And don’t crown him right now as the franchise quarterback for whom the Browns have searched so desperately – and unsuccessfully — since the end of the last century.
Johnny Manziel is just a guy on an extended tryout, nothing more and nothing else. When the tryout is over, perhaps we’ll finally be able to finally determine what he is, and isn’t.
And If that happens, then this season won’t be the complete waste, and nightmarish disaster, that it has been up to this point.
