Thursday, Aug. 27 (PM) — When it comes to injuries in the NFL, less is more.

That is, a player is almost always hurt worse than what a team announces. If a player is said to have “just tweaked his knee” — if it’s supposedly “no big deal and he shouldn’t be out long” — then you can just about bet that he is slated for surgery first thing tomorrow morning.

Head coaches don’t want to supply injury information, viewing it as giving opponents a competitive advantage. You can capture them, threaten them and torture them, and they’re not going to tell you the truth.

That’s understandable. In fact, if you were a head coach, then you’d do the same thing.

As such, when you hear Browns head coach Mike Pettine trying to play down the severity of the soreness in Johnny Manziel’s throwing elbow, while at the same time announcing that the back-up quarterback has been shut down for the second time in training camp and will miss Saturday night’s preseason road game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, you can’t help but to get nervous and believe that something is up.

What, exactly, is up is not clear — not yet, at least. But it doesn’t sound good, or look good. A quarterback with a sore arm is like a chef with food allergies — that is, he’s useless.

So the regular season hasn’t even started yet — there are still two preseason games remaining, for goodness sakes — and already two Browns quarterbacks are out with injuries. Connor Shaw was lost for the season two weeks ago.

Hmmmmm. Where have we seen all this before?

Indeed, this is like the movie, “Groundhog Day.” Only this time, no one in Northeast Ohio is laughing.

Maybe this “health issue” really is nothing to worry about and Manziel will be back sooner rather than later, ready to go. Certainly, there’s always that possibility.

But don’t bet on it.

And even if Manziel does come back, how healthy will he be? Will the problem linger? Will it affect his arm strength? Can he make all the throws? Will he ever be 100 percent again, at least this year?

If you think the Browns are going to be truthful about any or all of that, then you’re dreaming. No team is going to be honest concerning such delicate matters. It’s the quarterback we’re talking about here, not the long snapper or the holder on kicks. As we’ve said before in this space and we’ll keep saying, any news about the quarterbacks is big news since it’s the most important position in team sports.

Remember a couple of weeks ago when people were commenting about what a quiet camp it’s been for the Browns?

Not anymore. And perhaps not again this season.

That’s exactly what the Browns didn’t need.