Trio of Browns players reportedly furious over Manziel benching
By Thomas Moore
Sep 27, 2015; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel (2) watches the game alone on the end of the sidelines during the second half against the Oakland Raiders at FirstEnergy Stadium. The Raiders won 27-20. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
Another day, another “report” over a divide among the Cleveland Browns over the starting quarterback position.
Today is it TMZ Sports, which is reporting that three Browns “starters,” all anonymously of course, are “furious” that head coach Mike Pettine returned Josh McCown to the starter’s role following the win over Tennessee rather than stick with Johnny Manziel.
According to the story, unnamed starter No. 1 said:
"“I love both Johnny and Josh but its f**ked up when you have Johnny come in and play well and has proven to the team that he is the right person for the job. It’s frustrating to him and us when you sit a player down when he is playing well. Coach has got to understand you are messing up the chemistry and timing with players and its f**ked up.”"
Unnamed starter No. 2 said:
"“The team plays better when [Manziel] is in the game. I play better when he plays. You can’t get better unless you play. We won when he played and coach has got to trust him like he trusts Josh.”"
Finally, we have unnamed starter No. 3:
"“When Johnny in the game it puts the defense on edge. He doesn’t just sit in the pocket, he makes plays. Coach has got to make the change now.”"
It should not come as a surprise that there may be players who want to grumble, especially since the Browns are coming off a tough home loss to Oakland. And when you have 53 players in a locker room, not everyone is going to be happy all of the time.
But it would be interesting to know how the unnamed players define “playing well” in regards to Manziel. As we pointed out yesterday, in the two games that Manziel ran the offense:
- The Browns only averaged 297 yards, good for 30th in the NFL.
- The Browns averaged 19 points per game, good for 23rd in the NFL.
- The Browns only converted 44 percent of its third downs, good for 11th.
- The Browns averaged 14 first downs.
- Manziel only completed 53 percent of his passes, which puts him with Ryan Mallett and Jameis Winston at the bottom of the rankings.
- Manziel earned grades of -2.6 and -2.7 from Pro Football Focus.
We’re not sure how those numbers have “proven to the team” that Manziel is the “right person for the job.”
Do they show improvement on Manziel’s part, especially compared to his rookie season? Certainly. Do they scream out that he must be the starter? Not really.
But when it comes to the Browns and Manziel, logic and reason have no room in the discussion for many people who only want to judge Manziel on the highlights rather than the full game.