Here we go again with the mishandling of the quarterbacks, and as such I have a question for Browns head coach Mike Pettine.
That is: How do you expect your players to check their egos at the door and buy into the team concept when you continually refuse to do it yourself on such a grand scale?
Pettine never wanted Johnny Manziel on the team, let alone to be his starting quarterback. But with his club in a free fall and thus no longer having any firm ground to stand on in terms of having it his way as he makes decisions, he had to give in to an edit from management to name Manziel as the starter for the last six games. Then deep down inside, he gleefully agreed to rescind that move shortly thereafter with the quarterback’s latest act of misbehavior.
Manziel was demoted to third string for Monday night’s game against the Baltimore Ravens and did not go in when starter Josh McCown was lost for the year with a broken collarbone.
But with Manziel having gotten punished for his sins in that game, it was thought he would be the starter for Sunday’s contest against the Cincinnati Bengals. But instead, Pettine named Austin Davis, who replaced McCown on Monday, as the starter.
Pettine always talks about basing his decisions on playing quarterbacks on which one gives the team the best chance to win. No one in their right mind thinks Davis, who is nothing more, and will never be anything more, than a competent backup, gives the the Browns a better chance to win than Manziel, a Heisman Trophy winner who was taken in the first round, at No. 22 overall, by Cleveland in the 2014 NFL Draft.
Pettine did it simply because he doesn’t like Manziel. Yes, that’s right, Pettine placed his ego over what’s best for the team. That’s disrespectful to the rest of the players in that locker room.
With the Browns at 2-9 and mired in a six-game losing streak, Pettine should – but for some reason, doesn’t – realize that the season has long since been over. The Browns have been out of the playoff chase, from a realistic standpoint, since Halloween and we’re now past Thanksgiving and starting to bear down on Christmas.
As such, the only thing left to gain from this season is to find out if Manziel can be a franchise quarterback in the NFL. It’s what’s best for the team, in terms of winning, and for the organization in terms of long-range planning. To ignore all that for personal desires is an act of insubordination on the part of Pettine.
Pettine can play these little games and win this battle if he chooses, but he had better be careful. When he gets fired at the end of the season – and make no mistake about it, he will indeed be fired at the end of the season – he will have to go find a job somewhere else. And if I were a head coach with an opening, then I would have a hard time believing Pettine is a team-first guy based on the way he continues to bungle his handling of Manziel and the quarterbacks.
