Can Johnny Manziel Heat Up Steelers And Browns Rivalry?

[Shawn]

What concerns me is that word out of Browns camp is Manziel has had a steep learning curve learning to play under a pro style under center O. From a knowledge of the O, Manziel isn't ready. He doesn't yet know the O. If that is the case, and he still looks good...what happens when he does know the O...does get used to playing under center. Personally, if I was Cleveland I would avoid the temptation of playing him too soon. The Steelers will fold him like a pretzel if he hesitates. I could see Shazier or Timmons putting the big hurt on him.

[Sugar]

What concerns me is that word out of Browns camp is Manziel has had a steep learning curve learning to play under a pro style under center O. From a knowledge of the O, Manziel isn't ready. He doesn't yet know the O. If that is the case, and he still looks good...what happens when he does know the O...does get used to playing under center. Personally, if I was Cleveland I would avoid the temptation of playing him too soon. The Steelers will fold him like a pretzel if he hesitates. I could see Shazier or Timmons putting the big hurt on him.

It wouldn't be the first time the Browns have ruined an otherwise promising QB.

[NorthCoast]

What concerns me is that word out of Browns camp is Manziel has had a steep learning curve learning to play under a pro style under center O. From a knowledge of the O, Manziel isn't ready. He doesn't yet know the O. If that is the case, and he still looks good...what happens when he does know the O...does get used to playing under center. Personally, if I was Cleveland I would avoid the temptation of playing him too soon. The Steelers will fold him like a pretzel if he hesitates. I could see Shazier or Timmons putting the big hurt on him.

The Browns are stuck between a rock and a hard place. The moment they have a 2-game losing streak, there will be screams for "JF". They simply won't be able to keep him on the bench. Then it will be up to him to whether he can stay on the field.

[hawaiiansteel]

Boomer Esiason: If Manziel starts vs. Steelers he'll get his 'ass kicked'

By Ryan Wilson | CBSSports.com
August 19, 2014



Boomer Esiason isn't particularly high on Johnny Manziel.

Brace yourself, because we're in for a lot of Johnny Manziel. After an uninspiring effort against the Redskins Monday night, the Browns' quarterback situation is as murky as ever, but that isn't the story after Johnny Football gave the Redskins' bench the finger late in the third quarter.



Honestly, we don't care but plenty of people do, including former NFL quarterback Boomer Esiason, who works on CBS' NFL pregame show and also hosts a radio show on WFAN in New York.

“I'm telling you right now, he is not even remotely close to being ready,” Esiason said at the top of Tuesday's show. “If he opened as the starting quarterback in Pittsburgh in Week 1, he would get his ass kicked. And his ass would be driven into the ground. Because I'm telling you, other teams hate this guy. Hate him.”

But this is about more than Manziel's middle finger. It's about, well, everything, from the partying, to the trouble at Texas A&M to the entitled attitude, to this text Manziel sent the Browns on draft night: “I want to wreck this league together.”

Esiason was predictably unimpressed.

"Yeah, OK. You're gonna get wrecked, son,” he said. “You know, the NFL is about as unforgiving a place as there is on God's green earth. It is a men's place. It is for people that have a very, very strong constitution. Whether or not you can handle it is going to be determined by your maturity level. And right now, this kid is a baby.”

No word on how Esiason feels about former Browns punter Chris Gardocki.



[URL]http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/eye-on-football/24667689/boomer-esiason-if-manziel-starts-vs-steelers-hell-get-his-ass-kicked[/URL]

[hawaiiansteel]

[DukieBoy]

Johnny Fingerball

[hawaiiansteel]

Browns should have made Manziel the starter from Day One

Posted by Mike Florio on August 19, 2014



In an effort to not create a monster, the Browns may have made a mess.

Two years ago, Washington immediately installed quarterback Robert Griffin III as the team’s starter. And Griffin, who instantly rose to superstardom in D.C., ended up being not quite as coachable as former offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan may have wanted.

With Shanahan now in Cleveland and the Browns taking the biggest celebrity quarterback in this year’s draft, the Browns may have consciously opted to do the opposite, humbling Johnny Manziel in the hopes that, as he earns the job, he’ll learn to listen to an offensive coordinator with a reputation for wanting the offense to be run the way he wants it. Indeed, Coach Mike Pettine hinted at a desire to avoid Manziel Mania when defending in June the team’s decision not to install Manziel immediately as the starter.

“When people criticize how we handled it, what’s the alternative?” Pettine told USA Today at the time. “Would it have been more prudent for us the night we drafted him to name him the starter? And have him come in here and let the media have access to him every day and have a huge press conference for him? Handle him that way?”

Time has shown that it doesn’t matter whether Manziel is the starter or merely competing for the job. Media interest attaches naturally to his name, especially with the quarterback decision nudging toward a regular-season decision that hardly will be final.

And if the Browns opted to use a quarterback competition to humble Manziel, the splitting of first-team reps during practice and regular-season games has made it harder for Manziel or Brian Hoyer to be as prepared as the starter would be if the starter had been named right out of the gates.

Surely, it would have been Manziel. Otherwise, the Browns wouldn’t have traded up from No. 26 to No. 22 to add a quarterback. They would have opted to ride with Hoyer and use the pick on someone who could help the team at another position.

By trading up for Manziel, the Browns made their choice. By not following through with it, the Browns have made it harder for Manziel to be ready for the job that they’d hoped to hand him as of Week One. Now, they may have to go with an equally unprepared Brian Hoyer and hope he doesn’t play so well that it becomes impossible to use Manziel at any point in 2014, or to start 2015.

Browns fans know that dynamic all too well from seven years ago, when Derek Anderson made it impossible to use Brady Quinn in 2007, setting the stage for a controversy in 2008 from which the team still hasn’t fully recovered.

[URL]http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/08/19/browns-should-have-made-manziel-the-starter-from-day-one/[/URL]

[Shawn]

I would take the opposite approach. I would have stated from the get go that this is a red shirt year for Manziel. The system is not a good one for Manziel's natural skills so he needs time to adjust and learn. I wouldn't want getting Shazier trucking him to end his confidence. Shoot, even he knows he isn't ready.

[Ghost]

Photo: @benstonum/Twitter

[fezziwig]

Question: How jacked will everyone be if we would actually lose this opener against the Browns ? Anything can happen....

[K Train]

That would seriously bring me down

[Ghost]

The Steelers losing to the Browns week one would dwarf the loss to Tennessee to open the season in 2013 or getting killed by Denver in 2012. I'll be honest, I'd be in a foul mood for a good bit with a loss.

[fezziwig]

You know how poorly Tomlin has his teams prepared for the openers. Lebeau gives rookie qb's no respect. To me, it wouldn't shock me at all to lose the Browns... Especially if Tomlin has his unleash hell playbook being used.

[fezziwig]

oops, I meant to include. I really don't see us losing but, if history serves us correct.... This is not a sure win.

[legend of polamalu]

I have never seen a rookie QB come out and say "I don't think I was ready for the starting job"

I truly believe this guy will be out of the league in a few years.