Time has arrived for Johnny Manziel to repay Browns trust in him
By Thomas Moore
The Cleveland Browns have had quarterback Johnny Manziel’s back so far. Now it is time for Manziel to repay the team’s trust.
Cleveland Browns head coach Mike Pettine and offensive coordinator John DeFilippo both had a very clear message for quarterback Johnny Manziel on Thursday.
They have his back, but Manziel needs to start taking his career seriously before it is too late.
“It is tremendously important, not only for on the field but I think your teammates need to see you doing the right thing as well (off the field),” DeFilippo said on Thursday. “That is part of the position. It is a lifestyle. I have talked about that a bunch. Playing quarterback in this league is a lifestyle. You need to eat, sleep and breathe football.
“We have made strides in that department. I don’t want to say we are there all the way, but I think we could all agree in this room that we have made strides in that department with the young man and he will continue to get better.”
“We want to make sure that all of our players are grounded or in good shape as people first, players second.” – Head coach Mike Pettine
DeFilippo’s comments echoed what Pettine said earlier in the day.
“I think he’s shown on the field that he can be (the quarterback), but we always talk in terms of long-term sustained success and that’s what you want to strive for,” Pettine said. “If things aren’t right off the field, that’s very difficult to have that level of consistency, especially when you’re in a position of leadership.
“(Johnny) is a guy that has an NFL skillset and he’s very talented. If you spend some time with him, he’s a likeable guy. You root for him, but there are problems there. We’ll talk as we’re headed to the offseason about getting addressed to make sure that, I said this before, we want to make sure that all of our players are grounded or in good shape as people first, players second. I don’t think you can be as effective as you can be as a player if things aren’t right off the field and he’s a good example of that.”
It has been evident all season that Pettine, DeFilippo and quarterbacks coach Kevin O’Connell have wanted Manziel to succeed as a person as much as a player. For some reason that has rubbed some fans the wrong way because they only care about seeing Manziel “balling on the field” on Sundays.
And if his behavior off the field short circuits his career? Oh well, those same “fans” will just move on to the next player.
Even with the daily routine of the regular season it has been a rough 17 weeks for Manziel – both on and off the field.
“Playing quarterback in this league is a lifestyle. You need to eat, sleep and breathe football.” – Offensive coordinator John DeFilippo
He had a well-publicized domestic incident with his girlfriend and lost out on another opportunity to take hold of the starting quarterback role when videos revealed a bye week of partying.
On the field it was a mixed bag for a quarterback who has only appeared in 14 games in two years because he can’t get out of his own way.
Manziel appeared in nine games this season, making six starts and playing all but the opening series of the season-opening game against the New York Jets.
Against the Tennessee Titans and San Francisco 49ers, teams with a combined record of 7-23, Manziel completed 63 percent of his passes for 442 yards, three touchdowns and one interception.
Against the Jets, Cincinnati Bengals, Pittsburgh Steelers, Seattle Seahawks and Kansas City Chiefs, Manziel completed 56 percent of his passes for 1,019 yards, four touchdowns and four interceptions.
All told, Manziel completed just 57.4 percent of his passes (ranking him 33rd in a 32-team league) and posted a quarterback rating of 79.4 (ranking him 31st).
Through it all the coaching staff kept helping him in his attempts to improve on the field and pushed him to improve off the field.
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“I think that he has shown the progress that he can do it,” DeFilippo said. “There is a lot of room for improvement. If he takes the same approach to this offseason as he did this past offseason, and we see the improvements and he takes that next step, I think there is a good chance that that will come to fruition.”
The next big test for Manziel comes after the final whistle on Sunday calls the regular season to an end. With no practices, meetings of games until after the NFL Draft, it will be up to Manziel to find the proper balance and structure in his life because the Browns can’t be there for him they way they are during the season.
“I don’t think we can really mandate (what he does), but there can be strong suggestions as far as how he handles it,” Pettine said of Manziel. “You have to be able to send them off with a plan and check in every so often. When the desire is there to want to get it changed and want to be better, hopefully, you’ll have a good result.”
The Browns have had Manziel’s back during the turbulent start to his career.
Now it is time for Manziel to start repaying the team for that trust.