Saturday night the Cleveland Browns and the Detroit Lions took the field for their preseason openers against one another inside Ford Field in Detroit, and there was no doubt coming into this one that all eyes were on the NFL debut of Johnny Manziel. And as the Lions edged out the Browns 13-12 in this one, Manziel definitely turned a few peoples’ heads.
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Between the second and third quarters, Manziel played in four series, and his numbers were more than respectable for his NFL debut. On the night, Manziel finished 7-of-11 passing for 63 yards, although that stat should probably be a little better, seeing as Browns receivers dropped two passes that Manziel put right in their hands.
But one thing that everyone wanted to see was whether or not Manziel would be able to use his legs like he did at the college level; and well, he can.
Johnny Football finished the night with six carries for a total of 27 yards, including two rushes in which he picked up a first down to keep a drive alive, like the one seen above.
As for his main competition, Brian Hoyer, he finished his night 6-of-14 for 92 yards. Neither really separated themselves from the other.
But despite the good news for the Browns in this one, there was of course some bad news. That bad news being that they coughed this game up.
Clinging to a 12-6 lead, the Browns defense gave up a Kellen Moore 21-yard touchdown pass to Corey Fuller with just 1:05 left to go in the game. That gave the Lions the lead and the eventual win.
Next up for the Browns will be a trip to Washington next Monday night for a national television date with the Redskins, a game in which Manziel will make his first start.
Detroit will be traveling to Oakland this Friday night to take on the Raiders.