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The Johnny Manziel Watch is Officially Over for Cleveland Browns

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By @cdrottar19

Ron Schwane-USA TODAY Sports

Ron Schwane-USA TODAY Sports

Yesterday, during the Cleveland Browns’ loss to the Baltimore Ravens, national media darling Johnny Manziel made his second regular season appearance. Brought in at first for a meaningless handoff, the rookie quarterback then took part in a trick play in which he pretended to argue with coaches on the sidelines, only to cut downfield for a long reception which completely fooled Baltimore.

However, the play was called back thanks to Cleveland lining up inappropriately. As neat as it would’ve been to see the Browns cash in on such a surprise play, I can’t help but think about what this week was supposed to be for Manziel.

Remember, he wasn’t supposed to be a two-to-three play gimmick by now. Coming into Cleveland’s bye, this was what many predicted would be the official start of the Johnny Era in Cleveland. The Browns, expected to be a miserable 0-3 by now, were supposed to be using this bye week as a chance to get Manziel prepped and ready for his debut.

For those who figured this would be the case, my advice would be to take in those little Manziel trick plays as much as you can. You might as well hold off on displaying his trademark money sign celebration because, simply put, these cameos are all you’re going to see from the headline-stealing rookie for a while. Brian Hoyer, he who was seen almost unanimously as a temporary placeholder for the Browns, who was supposed to be out of the picture by now, is keeping the former Texas A&M stud on the bench.

Sorry, Manziel fans, but it’s official: Hoyer has put an end to Johnny Watch 2014.

Has the longtime backup led the Browns to a winning record as they head into their bye week? He sure hasn’t. At 1-2, Cleveland has shown flashes of potential, but has still blown enough opportunities to put itself in last place. However, as upsetting as it may be for Browns fans to see their team below .500 once again, try and find me one reason as to why Hoyer is even remotely to blame for this record. Go ahead, I’ll wait. While I’m waiting, allow me to point out a few things about the guy who was supposed to be benched by now.

Let’s see, there’s the 716 yards Hoyer has thrown for in three games, which puts him at 12th in the league in this stat. His 97.5 quarterback rating is good for top ten in the NFL, better than Nick Foles, Aaron Rodgers and Colin Kaepernick. Oh, and he hasn’t thrown a pick since his Cleveland debut last season. The Ravens defense came into yesterday’s game having only allowed one touchdown in two games. How did Hoyer react to being faced with such a daunting task? He led three touchdown drives.

We may not know a lot about the Browns right now, but if there’s one concrete fact we’ve learned to this point, it’s that Cleveland appears to be all set at quarterback. It’s stunning really, as nobody could’ve predicted this. Hoyer was due to be supplanted by now. He wasn’t why the media crowd at Browns training camp nearly tripled. He wasn’t the one who got all the attention this summer.

As the season opened, everyone was just watching to see when and how badly Hoyer screwed up. Had he thrown a pick in the first game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Twitter would’ve been set ablaze. Manziel wouldn’t have done that, they’d say. Heck, at halftime of said game, with the Browns down 27-3, there were already calls for the rookie, even though Hoyer hadn’t really made any crucial mistakes. However, Manziel stayed on the sideline, and Hoyer led a furious comeback which fell just a hair too short.

A couple weeks later, those calls for Manziel have died down substantially, and for good reason. During the offseason, you could try and make a decent argument for the Browns to start the rookie. Today, such an argument would be absolutely ludicrous. What could you say to defend any sort of claim involving the idea of benching Hoyer?

The thing is, I completely understand why people were banging the drum for Manziel over the summer. This is Cleveland we’re talking about, where the backup quarterback is almost always the most popular player on the team. You think fans were dying to see Ty Detmer lead the team in 1999 with top draft pick Tim Couch waiting in the wings? It wasn’t Derek Anderson who was getting chants as the Browns bumbled their way through the first half of the 2008 season. The crowd instead was chanting “Brady, Brady” back then, hoping the team would eventually start Brady Quinn. Take all of the hype a backup gets in this city, then ramp it up to 100 when it involves someone like Manziel. He brings swagger, attitude and the potential for plenty of highlight reels. However, he’s going to have to bring all of this some other time.

Multiple teams who took a quarterback early in this year’s draft are starting to buckle under the demand to put their rookies in. Derek Carr started the season for the Oakland Raiders. Blake Bortles is officially starting for the Jacksonville Jaguars, and Teddy Bridgewater is now taking the field for the Minnesota Vikings, who just like the Browns, are 1-2. Manziel is about ten times more nationally recognizable than all of them combined, but despite this, Johnny Football is still Johnny Clipboard in Cleveland.

However, it’s not because the coaching staff is being stubborn, sticking with an experienced vet despite significant struggles. No, it’s because Hoyer, who was supposed to be an afterthought at this point of the year, is exceeding expectations for the Browns. Even the most diehard Manziel fans have to be OK with this. He’s not getting thrown to the wolves way earlier than necessary, and is also getting a great opportunity to sit back and learn the ins and outs of the NFL.

Thanks to the way Hoyer has played, he has plenty of good things to take in. Bottom line: you can disarm the Manziel alarms for now. Unless Hoyer gets hurt, the rookie won’t be more than a trick play for the time being.

Casey Drottar is a Columnist for www.Rantsports.com. Follow him on Twitter @CDrottar19 or “Like” him on Facebook

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