Johnny Manziel took up pretty much where he left off as the Browns traveled to Detroit to play the Lions in their preseason opener on Saturday evening. He looked a lot like… well, Johnny Manziel. Let’s face it, there is only one Johnny Football, and his quirky playing style was immediately recognizable from the moment he took the field.
No young player in recent memory has polarized the football community so much as Johnny Manziel. Down in college station they named him Johnny Football, in his freshman year. Now, that could be a hard handle to live up to but, so far, it looks like Manziel will get it done in the NFL. And that’s a good thing. Football needs its heroes and its antiheroes.
Much has been made in the press recently about Manziel’s off field antics. He is 22 years old and just signed a multimillion dollar contract with a professional football team, give him a break. The kid can’t even go to the bathroom without ending up in someone’s twitter report. To Manziel’s credit, he didn’t fold under the pressure, but defended his right to have a good time off the field. Hooray for him.
However, in light of all the publicity, the Browns coaching staff had to play it cool and start Brian Hoyer in the first game of the year. No problem, Hoyer is a good quarterback. But he threw a pick in the second quarter and the crowed got what they came out to see. With 7:32 left in the second quarter, Johnny Manziel, in his familiar number 2 jersey, took to the field to make his NFL debut.
Johnny completed his first professional pass for six yards but the Browns went three and out and had to punt it away. When it was all over the Cleveland Browns had lost to the Lions on a late field goal, but Johnny Manziel had put completed 7 of 11 passes for 63 yards and rushed for an additional 27, not bad for his first time playing with the big boys.
On Sunday morning the internet reported that Manziel was now the Browns top quarterback, oh, really? and would be starting when Cleveland next takes the field against the Washington Redskins on August 18th. Cleveland finished 4-12 last year and has been in search of a franchise QB for quite awhile, so the move to Manziel makes good sense for both the franchise and their flashy young quarterback of the future.
