Dawg Pound Daily
FanSided

Searching for perspective on Johnny Manziel

By Thomas Moore

facebooktwitterreddit

Sep 20, 2015; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel (2) throws a pass during the third quarter against the Tennessee Titans at FirstEnergy Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports

It was quite the day for Johnny Manziel and the Cleveland Browns on Sunday against the Tennessee Titans.

A pair of long touchdown passes to wide receiver Travis Benjamin, no turnovers (not that he didn’t try) and just enough big plays to send a fan base desperate for something to cheer about home happy.

If you only saw the highlights from the game you would think that, at the very least, the Browns are now playoff bound with Manziel under center. Maybe even more than that if you are still feeling particularly heady after the win.

But it is the plays that happened between the highlights that are the true story of Sunday’s game.

“The coaches are doing a good job of creating plays that give him good opportunities for what he does well.” – Paul Kruger on Johnny Manziel

Because what occurred between Manziel’s first pass – a 60-yard touchdown to Benjamin – and his final pass – a 50-yard touchdown to Benjamin – reveals that Manziel is still very much a work in progress.

After leading the Browns to a second touchdown in the first quarter, the next eight offensive drives produced 63 total yards of offense as the Manziel-led offense went three-and-out on five of those drives. (By comparison, in Chicago’s game against Arizona on Sunday, Jimmy Clausen replaced an injured Jay Cutler and managed 59 yards of offense on his first eight drives. Think about that for a moment, Browns fans.)

It wasn’t just yesterday, either.

Against the Jets, Manziel hit a long touchdown pass to Benjamin on his first offensive series then went off the rails. Over the final eight drives of that game, the offense gained only 136 yards and the longest drive was just 32 yards.

In addition, Manziel has thrown for 354 yards in his two games, but when you take away the big plays to Benjamin in goes down to just. All the yards count, of course, but unless Benjamin is suddenly transforming into Josh Gordon (in a good way), the passing game is going to need to find something else that works.

“He was very interactive with the plan and again, there’s some inconsistency there but he made enough plays for us to win.” – Mike Pettine on Johnny Manziel

Now, no team is going to score every time, but when the longest of those 16 drives between the two games only gains 51 yards well, if you are following along you should be able to see the problem.

And unless you are going to guarantee that the Browns will face a rookie quarterback each week and come away with seven sacks, then we really have a problem.

Manziel has shown improvement, it would be foolish to argue otherwise, a fact that head coach Mike Pettine acknowledged after Sunday’s win.

“Johnny is definitely arrow-up right now,’’ Pettine told Sports Illustrated‘s Peter King. “He has been very interactive with the coaches, very involved, and those are the things we like. He’s been different, very different, in a positive way. On the other hand, you talk to some of the veterans, Joe Thomas and Brian Hartline, and they’re big fans of Josh too, as a player and a leader.’’

If Manziel had been that attentive during his rookie season, then we could be having a real conversation about him taking over as the starting quarterback. As it is, he’s taking things more seriously, which is a great sign, but is still not enough if you look past the highlight reesl.

“It’s sweet. I’ve come a long way from that point on January 17. To be sitting here today and just having the ultimate turnaround from what it was the first two starts I had last year, personally, it feels awesome.” – Johnny Manziel

There is also the fact that the offense is limited when Manziel is on the field. Our Twitter timeline was filled on Sunday with complaints about the “predictable” play calling of offensive coordinator John DeFilippo

Pettine explained that the play calling reflected the nature of the Browns holding a 21-point lead. But we were left wondering how much of play calls are a factor of Manziel’s limitations, rather than DeFilippo not knowing what he is doing?

We thought about that again while reading Andy Benoit’s article at Monday Morning Quarterback, which deals with the flaws in Manziel’s game – some of which may not be fixable.

As Beniot points out:

"But while Manziel is showing progress in the mental department, there are still his physical limitations to consider. Unlike circumstantial limitations, these can’t be overcome with experience and practice. In fact, there’s almost nothing you can do about them. Take Manziel’s arm strength, for example. It’s lacking. While a tweak in mechanics might help a little—he has a bad tendency to lock his front leg when he drives the ball, which curtails power—nothing can change the fact that Manziel’s arm is attached to a 6-foot, 207-pound body that’s not naturally strong."

"Which brings us to the more glaring issue: size. Thanks to Russell Wilson’s success, it has become politically incorrect to classify a quarterback’s small stature as an insurmountable limitation. (If you do, you’re picking on the little guy for simply being little.) Unfortunately, this high-minded assertion holds no water. The NFL is the ultimate meritocracy; it is too competitive. That competitiveness means the league’s 32 top decision-makers can’t afford to waste time building up an underdog. And without question, Manziel’s lack of size makes him an underdog."

"What was apparent Sunday, and what was even more apparent in Week 1 against the Jets, is that there are instances when Manziel, who plays low to the ground instead of up on his toes like Drew Brees, literally can’t see downfield from the pocket. This is another reason why it’s smarter to defend him with coverage concepts instead of blitzes. Just think about the implications here: The quarterback can’t see. As a play-caller, how are you supposed to proceed?"

The good news is that the more time DeFilippo spends with Manziel – and the more work that Manziel puts in – the better he will be able to build a game plan around Manziel’s talents.

More from Dawg Pound Daily

The flip side to that, of course, is that opposing defenses will start to get a handle on what Manziel can and – more importantly can’t – do and start to take those things away. As much fun as 50-yard touchdown passes are, the Browns are not going to be able to rely on those on a weekly basis.

And when those touchdown passes don’t come floating out of the sky, we’ve all seen what the outcome is and it’s not pleasant.

Luckily, Pettine and the coaching staff are going to filter out all the noise and make the decision that is best for the Browns.

“My concern is what is on the inside of the building. I have no control on what is on the outside. If that exists on the outside there is not much I can do about it,” Pettine said on Monday. “I said earlier, our task as a coaching staff is to put together a plan and formulate our personnel to give us the best chance to win on the upcoming Sunday.”

Manziel has come a long way from the time he took the field at FirstEnergy Stadium as the starting quarterback last season against Cincinnati. That much was evident on Sunday against the Titans.

But just as evident is the fact that he still has a long way to go, in terms of consistency, before the Browns can have a serious discussion about turning the offense over to him full time.

Manziel took another big step against the Titans.

But he is still not ready to take the biggest step of all into the starting lineup.

Next: Browns run defense still a major liability

Home/Browns News