Browns Played This Season Perfectly; Now It's Time for the Johnny Manziel Era

Diposkan oleh silent aja 6:40 AM Post a Comment

Pumping, juking, running, diving, scoring. This was how it was always supposed to be. The fleet-footed rookie in the No. 2 jersey resurrecting the hopes of Cleveland Browns fans everywhere.

From the moment the Browns selected quarterback Johnny Manziel with the 22nd overall pick of the 2014 draft, the countdown to the start of the Johnny Manziel Era in Cleveland was one of the biggest stories in football. For the first time in forever, Cleveland was the center of the NFL universe.

Mark Duncan/Associated Press

After an inconclusive preseason where Manziel failed to separate himself from veteran holdover Brian Hoyer, Browns head coach Mike Pettine made the surprising call to keep the raw, electrifying rookie on the bench.

It was the right move for Manziel, as I wrote at the time, and it turned out to be the right move for the Browns.

Hoyer piloted the Browns to a surprising 7-4 start, keeping them in the hunt in the cutthroat AFC North. Hoyer had an almost-magical knack for digging the Browns into a hole and throwing his way back out of it. Never was this clearer than in his miserable three-interception Week 12 performance against the Atlanta Falcons, which he erased with a six-play, 61-yard drive to set up a game-winning field goal.

But last-second comebacks aren't good enough for a playoff contender against sub-.500 teams like Atlanta.

Hoyer's inability to put together four quality quarters was going to cost the Browns sooner or later, and one week later proved to be sooner. On the road Sunday against the 6-5 Buffalo Bills, the Browns slowly fell hopelessly behind.

Down 20-3 in the fourth quarter against a fellow AFC wild-card contender, Mike Pettine saw the Browns' dream season evaporating before his eyes. With 12:01 left in the Browns' 12th game of the season, Pettine realized the time had come for Manziel.

On Manziel's first possession, he showed every tool that made him a first-round draft pick. He ran for extra yards, he threw for a first down off boot action, he connected with three different receivers for three first downs and he pulled off the highlight-reel touchdown scramble that will go down in history as his first-ever score:

No matter how Manziel's career progresses from here, that display of awareness, foot speed, open-field moves and moxie will be replayed for decades to come. Whether he's the next Peyton Manning or the next Ryan Leaf, nobody will ever be able to separate Manziel from that 10-yard dash.

Of course, Browns fans hope the way his second drive ended will be buried by the sands of time.

Manziel, not ready for a 3rd-and-6 shotgun snap, ended up chasing a bobbling ball around the turf, fleeing from a pack of Bills defenders and barely getting off a panicked desperation heave. Initially ruled a fumble and a touchdown for Buffalo, it was exactly the kind of rookie snafu the Browns tried to avoid by going with Hoyer for the start of the season.

Credit must go to Pettine, a rookie himself, and the rest of the Browns organization. With practically every NFL-watching eyeball glued to Manziel during their training camp and preseason, and every reason to give the fans the franchise savior for which they've waited so long, they named Hoyer the starter.

Once Pettine made the right call, he kept making the right call by giving Hoyer time to make plays, make mistakes and prove he was the right guy to lead the Browns to the playoffs. Hoyer, despite most of the world looking at him as a placeholder with a short leash, played with confidence and aggression and got the Browns wins.

Now that Pettine's seen enough and given Hoyer the hook, he has to extend that same grace to Manziel.

Now sitting at 7-5 in a packed AFC, the Browns have no margin for error...and Manziel is going to make errors. He's an unpolished rookie working with the first team for the first time. Pettine, and Browns fans, can't start calling for Hoyer every time Manziel fumbles, or throws a pick or sails one out of bounds.

Even if the Manziel-led Browns fall short of the postseason thanks to Manziel's growing pains, they weren't going to get there with Hoyer's mistakes.

Now, and for the forseeable future, the Browns are firmly in the Manziel Era. If the Manziel Era is going to coincide with the Pettine Era, the Browns have to ride his ups and downs for the rest of this season.