This past game, the Browns decided to start Johnny Manziel and bench Brian Hoyer. Hoyer has been struggling the past few weeks after playing above what he's probably capable of consistently playing. This will mark the 21st starting quarterback for the Browns since the Browns came back to Cleveland in 1999. Here's the full list in case you wanted to know:
1. Tim Couch
2. Ty Detmer
3. Doug Pederson
4. Spergon Wynn
5. Kelly Holcomb
6. Jeff Garcia
7. Luke McCown
8. Trent Dilfer
9. Charlie Frye
10. Derek Anderson
11. Brady Quinn
12. Ken Dorsey
13. Bruce Gradkowski
14. Colt McCoy
15. Jake Delhomme
16. Seneca Wallace
17. Brandon Weeden
18. Thad Lewis
19. Jason Campbell
20. Brian Hoyer
21. Johnny Manziel
The bad news is that next year, we'll need to make room for #22. Maybe LeBron will come in as #23.
This past game against the Bengals was a bad game. It all doesn't go on Manziel's shoulders. Most of it was bad play on the field. Between receivers dropping balls and linemen getting pushed around, it would've been a tough day for almost anyone. Some of it was injuries. Before the game, Dansby, Williams, and Barnidge were all out and during the game, Gilbert and Haden left. Some of it was the Bengals wanting to pound on Johnny Manziel. See all the money signs made? A lot of it was Johnny Manziel.
I've already written a piece on Johnny Manziel and how he's not a great NFL quarterback. He wasn't even a great college quarterback. So instead of re-hashing all that, I'll just comment on what I saw today.
Running
This is one of the biggest misnomers in the NFL: running QB's don't work. You can make the argument that they will in the future, but right now they don't. What is translating to the NFL from college are quarterbacks who can also run. Andrew Luck, Russell Wilson, and Aaron Rodgers are your examples. What isn't translating? Running quarterbacks who sometimes choose to throw. Vince Young, Michael Vick, RG3, Tim Tebow, Colin Kaepernick, and Cam Newton. And now Johnny Manziel.
As Luck and Wilson show, you have to be able to throw the ball first. Manziel looks down his first read and then looks to scramble, sometimes to throw it again but often just to run. As he found out today, D-linemen and LB's are fast. This isn't college, despite him playing in the SEC. Michael Sam was the SEC defensive player of the year. He can't even get tryouts with NFL teams now. He is fairly mobile, but he's too small and too slow to pull off the plays he did in college. The NFL game is simply faster.
Improvisation
This is the most overrated aspect of Manziel from his A&M days. In college, when a play broke down (which he looked to have happen because then he could run) he almost always looked to run. When he did choose to improvise, he had two first-round NFL linemen to protect him in Jake Matthews and Luke Joeckel. He also had arguably the best WR in college football in Mike Evans.
What I saw from his improvisation skills was that the play would break down, his linemen would continue to give him some time, and he would toss it up, usually to Mike Evans who could just go up and get it over shorter, less athletic corners and linebackers. He has Josh Gordon who's a very good receiver, but he can't do that in the NFL. Even Megatron doesn't get all those catches despite being nearly a foot taller than whoever guards him. Others around Manziel made him look better than he was in terms of creating on the fly.
Accuracy Problems
This was very evident against the Bengals. Manziel is just not an accurate quarterback. Even when throwing to Josh Gordon, a huge target, he threw it too high or behind him. He had a critical throw that he put behind Andrew Hawkins. He was lucky that the throw he put behind Travis Benjamin that got picked off ended up coming back due to an off-sides penalty on the Bengals defense.
Part of the reason his accuracy is low is his arm strength. It's not so much an issue in the NFC South, but in the AFC North, it gets really cold. You need a strong arm in divisions like this. Take a look at all the QB's in the two coldest divisions, the AFC and NFC North: Big Ben, Joe Flacco, Jay Cutler, Aaron Rodgers, Matthew Stafford. You need a big arm to cut through that coldness. Manziel doesn't have it. Neither does Dalton.
Bad Judgement
This is the biggest deal-breaker for me. Same can be said for Jameis Winston. Manziel just shows bad judgement, on and off the field. He did in high school, he did in college, and he's doing it now in the NFL. Sorry. That's a trend to me, and I don't want my starting QB to have a trend of bad decisions. From the off-field antics and trouble with the law to the on-field decisions he makes. He threw a pass to Travis Benjamin that got picked off that even average quarterbacks don't dare to throw. He didn't make second, third, and fourth reads in college and he doesn't now.
I hope that I'm wrong about Manziel, I really do. I'm tired of perpetually looking for our franchise quarterback. It's the most important position in football which means if I only have one hard-working, grinding, intelligent, good decision-making player on my team, it has to be at QB. Look at which QB's are in the playoffs in the AFC as of right now: Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Andrew Luck, Andy Dalton who's a good regular-season QB, Big Ben, Joe Flacco, and Phillip Rivers is the first one out. The best seven quarterbacks are in the playoffs or are first out. This is the most important in football so I need my franchise QB to be better than what Johnny Manziel has shown. Hopefully we can find that guy by next season.
Running
This is one of the biggest misnomers in the NFL: running QB's don't work. You can make the argument that they will in the future, but right now they don't. What is translating to the NFL from college are quarterbacks who can also run. Andrew Luck, Russell Wilson, and Aaron Rodgers are your examples. What isn't translating? Running quarterbacks who sometimes choose to throw. Vince Young, Michael Vick, RG3, Tim Tebow, Colin Kaepernick, and Cam Newton. And now Johnny Manziel.
As Luck and Wilson show, you have to be able to throw the ball first. Manziel looks down his first read and then looks to scramble, sometimes to throw it again but often just to run. As he found out today, D-linemen and LB's are fast. This isn't college, despite him playing in the SEC. Michael Sam was the SEC defensive player of the year. He can't even get tryouts with NFL teams now. He is fairly mobile, but he's too small and too slow to pull off the plays he did in college. The NFL game is simply faster.
Improvisation
This is the most overrated aspect of Manziel from his A&M days. In college, when a play broke down (which he looked to have happen because then he could run) he almost always looked to run. When he did choose to improvise, he had two first-round NFL linemen to protect him in Jake Matthews and Luke Joeckel. He also had arguably the best WR in college football in Mike Evans.
What I saw from his improvisation skills was that the play would break down, his linemen would continue to give him some time, and he would toss it up, usually to Mike Evans who could just go up and get it over shorter, less athletic corners and linebackers. He has Josh Gordon who's a very good receiver, but he can't do that in the NFL. Even Megatron doesn't get all those catches despite being nearly a foot taller than whoever guards him. Others around Manziel made him look better than he was in terms of creating on the fly.
Accuracy Problems
This was very evident against the Bengals. Manziel is just not an accurate quarterback. Even when throwing to Josh Gordon, a huge target, he threw it too high or behind him. He had a critical throw that he put behind Andrew Hawkins. He was lucky that the throw he put behind Travis Benjamin that got picked off ended up coming back due to an off-sides penalty on the Bengals defense.
Part of the reason his accuracy is low is his arm strength. It's not so much an issue in the NFC South, but in the AFC North, it gets really cold. You need a strong arm in divisions like this. Take a look at all the QB's in the two coldest divisions, the AFC and NFC North: Big Ben, Joe Flacco, Jay Cutler, Aaron Rodgers, Matthew Stafford. You need a big arm to cut through that coldness. Manziel doesn't have it. Neither does Dalton.
Bad Judgement
This is the biggest deal-breaker for me. Same can be said for Jameis Winston. Manziel just shows bad judgement, on and off the field. He did in high school, he did in college, and he's doing it now in the NFL. Sorry. That's a trend to me, and I don't want my starting QB to have a trend of bad decisions. From the off-field antics and trouble with the law to the on-field decisions he makes. He threw a pass to Travis Benjamin that got picked off that even average quarterbacks don't dare to throw. He didn't make second, third, and fourth reads in college and he doesn't now.
I hope that I'm wrong about Manziel, I really do. I'm tired of perpetually looking for our franchise quarterback. It's the most important position in football which means if I only have one hard-working, grinding, intelligent, good decision-making player on my team, it has to be at QB. Look at which QB's are in the playoffs in the AFC as of right now: Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Andrew Luck, Andy Dalton who's a good regular-season QB, Big Ben, Joe Flacco, and Phillip Rivers is the first one out. The best seven quarterbacks are in the playoffs or are first out. This is the most important in football so I need my franchise QB to be better than what Johnny Manziel has shown. Hopefully we can find that guy by next season.
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