The Johnny Manziel Era Begins in Cleveland
It’s Johnny Manziel’s time to shine, as the Cleveland Browns officially named him the starter
In our win now, start now, you have three games to prove it or you’re a bust in the modern NFL, it seems like an eternity that Johnny Manziel has languished on the bench, toiling away while Brian Hoyer leads the Cleveland Browns out of the dungeon and into the light of respectability. After a series of poor showings, however, Brian Hoyer has reached his ceiling as an NFL starter, and it’s time to see what the rookie can do. The Johnny Manziel Era begins now in Cleveland.
It really had to happen. It seems that the Cleveland Browns braintrust had every intention of following the Philip Rivers/Aaron Rodgers model – sit the talented young buck for three years behind an established starter, avoiding the temptation to throw the rookie into the pressure cooker too soon. Especially given Manziel’s propensity for making questionable decisions off the field, this seemed like a wise move. Brian Hoyer proved not to be the next Drew Brees or Brett Favre.
To be honest, Hoyer held out as long as he possibly could, but he made this move inevitable with his play over the past month and a half. His early season quality play came against a below average schedule – only 2 of Cleveland’s 7 wins have come against teams with winning records. As the schedule has gotten tougher, the Browns have started losing – 3 of their past 4, in fact. It’s telling that in the past 4 games, 3 of the opponents had winning records. In that same stretch, Hoyer has two games with an under 50% completion rate, and his highest completion rate is 60%. For the season, his passer rating is 76.4.
In his past 4 games, he hasn’t exceeded a QB rating of 62. During the Browns’ 6-3 start, Hoyer completed 58% of his passes with 10 TDs and only 4 interceptions, and had a rating of 90.4. Since then, the Browns have gone 1-3, and Hoyer has a completion rate of 49%, with 8 INTs. Most damning, however, is the complete inability to make plays when it matters most. Over his past 5 games, Hoyer has 1 TD pass. One. That’s not going to get it done in today’s NFL.
It’s worth noting that Josh Gordon returned from suspension 3 weeks ago, and while he’s put up some good numbers, the offense has struggled to find a rhythm. In those three games, Gordon has had 17 receptions for 210 yards – but those 17 receptions have come on 36 targets. That’s a catch rate under 50%. His average is 12.4 yards per catch, with a long of 24. While much of that is attributable to Gordon and his dedication to completing routes, Hoyer is clearly unable to maximize Gordon’s playmaking ability.
Enter Johnny Manziel, who was drafted specifically for his playmaking ability. He has three games to get live fire experience – just enough to gain confidence without hitting a midseason rookie wall. Even with a simplified game plan, the rookie will open up the playbook a bit. The hope is that the run game will see a boost, as defenses have to account for Manziel’s legs as well as his arm.
Look for lots of rollouts and screen passes that will spread out defenses, opening up play action options. Of course, it will also help if Manziel can complete passes on schedule. Hoyer hit his ceiling in part by being “wild in the strike zone” – getting passes in the vicinity of the receiver, but in a tough spot to make a catch. Manziel’s real value will come if he can prove to be a more accurate passer. One of his underrated qualities while at Texas A&M was his accuracy – an eye-popping 69.9% completion rate in 2013. If he can place his passes on the hands of his receivers, that will be an enormous upgrade for the Browns.
Of course, no discussion of Manziel is complete without talking about his off-field scrutiny, which may be a bigger factor in why it’s taken 14 games for him to get the start. Just a couple of weeks ago, he was involved in an incident at a late night party where a member of his posse struck a man seeking a hug from Manziel (?!). And just last week, there was this:
"Johnny Manziel, who turned 22 yesterday, arrived at the stadium shortly before 11 am for a 1 pm kickoff against the Colts. When Manziel arrived at the facilities, starting quarterback Brian Hoyer was already warming up, says Fox Sports broadcaster Pam Oliver: “[Manziel] wasn’t late. It’s just his custom [not to show up early], the team tells me.”"
Even with all of that, even knowing all the stuff that got reported from his days at A&M, the Browns drafted Manziel for a reason – he’s a playmaker. The time has come to trust him to fulfill that role and breathe life into a moribund offense. Time will tell how well he’s able to handle the pressure – on and off the field – of being a starting quarterback in the NFL. Buckle up, the hype machine is about to kick into high gear.