Els, I agree with a lot of this post. I am a line first guy too, without the OL, there can be no success on O, and the D starts with pressure and gap control up front. The QB position is not just about talent, the QB has to be the leader of the team. They can be the A-hole leader like P. Manning, Pip Rivers or Brady, they can be the enthusiastic leader like Rogers or Stafford, they can be an emotional leader like Brees....... or they can be whiny little douche bags like Cutler. But regardless, they have to work.... HARD. You can clearly hear by JMs statements that he is doing things differently now that he is the guy. I think right away that he is admitting that he was being a whiny little douche bag and half arsing it in practice, and not putting in the work. Brian Hoyer is not nearly as physically gifted as Manzeil, but he is a leader. He puts in the hours and he commands respect. If Manzeil can stop the jackassery and earn those paychecks you will see the team come around. I know there are guys here that will defend his lifestyle by saying that it's a free country and that as long as he produces on the field they don't care what he does on it, but I honestly think they are wrong. It does matter. The story will always be the swan and the $20 rolled up in the Vegas bathroom. It will be about the bar scenes he creates. Those are the questions his teammates and coaches will be asked. As long as he acts in this manner, the production won't be on the field. Even if he does pick his game up, and sustains the party life, there will always be the question that if he had just not gone out on Wednesday night, could the 3 TDs he created been 4? Would that one incomplete pass been a TD if he was in better tune with the receiver? What if.
Yes, I did mention it in a post a few weeks ago...however, I think it was the concoction of the National Pundits. Nothing ever came back from a reliable source on the subject. This is my take, the scouting department had Manziel at either 1 or 2 on their QB wish list. We will never know what they thought or Bortles because he was taken before our first pick went on the board. We also know that Dowell Loggains, the QBs coach, LOVED Manziel and was pushing for him all along. He has publicly admitted as much. That alone is enough to not push this as a decision made by the owner, imho. If there was dissension in the room and Haslem simply made the call, then that would have been one thing, but Loggains man crush says otherwise. As for the call to the field to put him in, and subsequently starting him last week...It just doesn't add up. HOYER is the reason Manziel went in the game and then became the starter. It's pretty a pretty simple deduction. When you become a detriment to the team, you must be replaced. EVEN IF the coaching staff didn't see what they wanted from Manziel in practice, they had to make this move in hopes that it jump starts Manziel into working his arse off to become better. Whiny little bitch or not, Manziel has a stronger skill set and once he develops, he will be a better option than Hoyer. Hoyer never was the future of this franchise, not saying Manziel is, but Hoyer is what he is and that isn't going to change. It was time to get the rookie ready for the responsibility of changing the face of this franchise. If he doesn't develop over the offseason, which I will be shocked because of those around him like LeBron telling him what he needs to be a successful business man, then we will have to make adjustments either by getting yet another veteran journeyman to hold down the fort or drafting another project to hang our hopes on. It wouldn't shock me to see this team draft someone like Conner Cook if he makes it into the 2nd round. He is more of a traditional pocket passer that they can teach to run a system efficiently, while not depending on totally. If they miss on him, possibly a Brett Hundley in the 2nd or Sean Mannion in the 3rd. BUT, my money is on Manziel taking control of this offense in the off season and them getting someone like Hoyer to back him up going into 2015. Build the team around Manziel and go from there. Again, I agree they never really thought Hoyer was the future, but I do think they were protecting a young Manziel as long as possible to get him ready...THEN they made the mistake of completely changing the offense to accentuate Manziel's strengths. In the end, this messed up the game plan because they didn't just have to get Manziel up to speed, but the entire offense by changing so much of the scheme. No one was on the same page, not the line, not the receivers, not the RBs and certainly not Manziel. I think we see steady improvement over the next two weeks, as we would from any early year team and the strides are made in this off season. Haha, I know you love your lines Els, and believe it or not, I am in your corner in this upcoming draft. I have already started some draft prep and am excited about a few prospects in the early rounds...I am very happy to have those two first round draft picks this year. Don't give up on Manziel after one game... Go Browns!!
Despite playoffs a pipe dream, Browns final two games important for change of culture, according to coach Mike Pettine. BEREA, Ohio?When Mike Pettine became the Browns head coach in January he set out to change the culture in Berea. Despite missing out on the playoffs once again, the Browns are 7-9 and have a chance to turn things around before the end of the season. If the Browns can finish 8-8 or 9-7, it would do wonders for the Browns going into the off-season according to Pettine. ?I think that?s critical,? Pettine said. ?Just momentum in the offseason is critical. I?ve said it before that the NFL, like most sports, it is what have you done lately. How we started the year, a lot of people won?t remember that. We?ll be remembered by our last game, our last performance or our last month or our last two months. I think that is important as you move forward. ?As far as the culture change part of it, that?s something consciously and subconsciously, we?ve been working on doing here since the end of January a year ago, just to come in and implement a system,? he said. ?When you have the culture of losing that?s been here when it?s been only four or five wins a year going back however many years, that?s a difficult thing to overcome because it?s a mentality. When you get stuck in a rut like we?re in now it?s easy to fall back into an old habit. ?That?s what I?ve been saying,? Pettine continued. ?We need to fight our way out of it. We were close against Indy and have lost some tight games, but as I said after the Pittsburgh game in the opener, pass-fail. Right now, we?ve gotten ourselves in a mode where we?ve been failing more than we should.? Rookie Johnny Manziel wants to do his part in trying to change the culture. ?Sure, I mean it?s a culture that...we, obviously throughout this year, have won more games than we have in the recent past,? Manziel said. ?Obviously, it?s not up to our standards and up to what we wanted to accomplish going into this year, but it is progress. It is a step forward. ?Even though we have a couple of games left, we want to continue to build on this record and make something out of this year,? he said. ?This whole team has worked extremely hard through OTAs, through training camp, through the season to put us in a position to come out with a better record than we?ve had in the past. I feel we owe it to ourselves to come out these last two weeks and try and get these wins to boost our record and really show...we?ve obviously worked really hard to get these wins, and we want to continue and try improve on those and get more with the two left that we have on our schedule.? However, with two games on the road against teams fighting for a playoff spot, winning one or two games before the season is out will be challenging. If the Browns finish 7-9, they would have lost six of their final seven games, including the final five. Pettine was asked if the Browns would?ve accomplished anything in 2014 if that were to happen. ?I won?t say it would have been lost,? he said. ?I think in the short term ? and I hate dealing in hypotheticals saying that things aren?t going to go well in the next two weeks ? we?ve accomplished a lot. We?ll be very proud of what we?ve accomplished, and we?re going to work our butts off to finish on a positive note. ?To me, it would just be human nature not to feel great about it, but I think as time went on and we look back the feelings would be different. As I stressed to the players, we?re in the moment now, and our sole focus is Carolina.? Notebook Haden Out?: The Browns pre-practice injury report listed DB Joe Haden (shoulder), TE Gary Barnidge (ribs), LB Karlos Dansby (knee), DB Tashaun Gipson (knee), WR Marlon Moore (hamstring), DB Robert Nelson (hamstring), DB K?Waun Williams (hamstring), LB Jabaal Sheard (foot) and OL Joe Thomas (rest). ?Joe, we?ll know later in the week,? Pettine said. ?He truly is ?day-to-day.? ?If he does anything it might be just some conditioning on the side,? he said. ?I don?t know if he?ll take any reps (Wednesday).? Haden was on the stationary bike during the open part of practice. Nelson and Barnidge returned to practice, while Haden, Moore and Williams were on the bike. ?Barnidge will work (Wednesday) but no contact,? Pettine said. ?We won?t know until the end of the week how he feels running around from a comfort level.? Pettine was asked about Dansby, who?s missed the last four games with a knee injury. We?ll have a much better sense of where he is after (Wednesday and Thursday).? Gip still at top: DB Tashaun Gipson still is tied for the NFL lead with six interceptions, despite missing the last three games with a knee injury suffered against the Falcons. Gipson is tied with the Lions? Glover Quin, who also has six interceptions. Two weeks ago, Gipson said he hoped to return to play the Panthers this week. However, he did not practice Wednesday. Pettine said he wasn?t sure where Gipson was at physically. ?(With) Gip, I?m not real positive about (his status).? theOBR.com Recommended Stories
Bernie is right. Organizationally this franchise is the poster child for how "not to build a winner". Change. Change. Change. So, the best thing they can do to finish the year and over the off season, is "do not change". Review the personnel, decide where we made mistakes, correct them and keep focussing forward. Review why we went into 4 games unprepared to play. What does our head coach do well, what does he need to improve on. The same for the assistants and coordinators. Review ctitically / learn / and correct. Sure players need to be upgraded in spots. Prioritize, plan, and execute the plan. Commit to each other and commit to see it through. Admit your shortcomings, work on them, create benchmarks for progress, and go pursue them. We are fans and even while we "know intellectually" that we have to build to get to the place we want to be, we still react each week, and focus on the smaller things, like who's the QB, why did they make that call, how'd we let that guy get open, etc..... Not that those elements aren't important, but they are the result of the "whole". I think that's what Bernie was getting at. Taking that shot at this regime is a little unfair, in so far as Haslem is a new owner, and accepted the league's choice of front office initially and "corrected" that after his first year. The proof of his understanding of comittment comes this off season. Does he choose to change yet again, or does he sit with his team of management and coaching, and figure out how "that group" moves forward together. Pettine has been pretty "level", and for the most part I like that, but the fact that his team came out flat in so many games worries me. I think he needs to figure out what role he played or didn't play in allowing that to happen, and fix it. Learn, and grow. Presonnel wise, this team failed to secure a kicker who could be relied upon, ignored the fact that their "star" WR needed to be replaced. They did get personnel at RB, that I believe will be solid and maybe even better. They did pick up a really good O lineman, but still need another. They got some pretty good coverage guys, and that now appears to be a team strength, while the D line may or may not be OK, given the injuries there. QB. Now this is where we all hold opinions on one guy or another, but honestly with the way our line performed post Mack, could we have expected success from any QB, short of BMBR (BradyManningBreesRogers)? If our line play had continued the way it performed through those first 6 weeks, how many more rushing yards would we have, how many more first downs, how many more decisive throws would we have seen? Not relieving any QB for his mistakes, just looking at the team overall, and aknowledging that our drop off probably had less to do with the QB play than the conditions the QB, WR, RB played in after Mack went down. Now Mack getting injured wasn't necessarily predictable, but neither can we accept such a drop off agian, so have a plan B that will still allow the team to function. I hope Haslem takes what Bernie said, and gets the main point: Stability breeds success / Change breeds failure. I hate the idea of losing. Who doesn't? But with all the dissapointment that has come from the last 4 weeks, let us not lose focus on the "long view". Forget the QB thing, for a minute, and look at the team. Are we moving in the right direction. Do we have a team that can offer a QB the chance to succeed?
I agree here Irish. When I saw the offense in that bogus college pistol formation crap I realized that the coaches changed the offensive scheme and NOBODY was able to get on the same page. The coaches set him up to fail and should have stuck with the regular offense they?ve been using all year and let manziel run it. He showed in the bills game he could do it. Like I said last week Manziel needs to run the offense from the pocket. I still believe that the final two games of the season are must win games. Not in the sense that the Browns can/will make the post season. It is more about starting that winning tradition now and gaining momentum going into 2015. Not giving up on the kid? yet. As for all the BS coming from the talking heads and pundits about the constant change in the organization. While there are kernels of truth in what they say, do remember that this is only year 2 for the owner and year one for the current staff from GM on down. The Browns did nearly double their win total for the over the past several years, were on the verge of making the playoffs. Yes, I am disappointed in how the last 5 games have gone and feel that the Browns could/should have won 2-3 of them. There have been flashes of improvement throughout the season; they just need to be more consistent week to week. This is a relatively young team that has an opportunity to make the jump to the next level.
So I just read that 9 Browns are Pro-Bowl vote leaders. 2 are the left side of the line in JT and Bitonio. Mack would be right there too if healthy. To me that signals a great strength going forward for the Brownies. That also tells me that they are close to a great all around line and I say complete the corp this year by drafting or signing a RT! I want that tackle with one of our top 2 rd picks. Tackles as we know wont last if worth a hill of beans. He did find Bitonio in the 2nd but that was early and he was moved to guard. I say here, here great freaking pick Farmer! Now complete the line this off season and get our other bookend at RT! Also remember Thomas is not going to be here forever. A true LT goes quick in the draft and I don't want to pick in the top 3-5 again to get one. So I hope the guy they get can one day move over to LT. On to other draft talk. Many early draft mocks have us taking a tackle and WR with our 1st rd picks. By now many of you know,lol that I am not a Josh Gordon fan. He is not a guy I want in the trenches with me. This has nothing to do with talent. Obviously this guy is a talented freak. But he knows it and that's bad. He is lazy! Mentally and Physically! Not my type of football player. To me he does have the most value! We would get a 1st/2nd rd pick for him with that year left on his contract. Gordon is not a team player as I mentioned before. It doesn't matter if your building something, doing surgery or playing a team sport you have to be a team player. He is not that. I think that's why the guy from sports nation said that and I agree. This off season I would take flyers on Gordon and then I would draft a WR in the 1st rd. I may even bring in another WR through free agency. How much do we have to spend anyway? I know that Austin and Rubin would knock off around $11/$12 million if not resigned. I have to now look at our FA and see who is really worth keeping moving forward. But anyway with those 1st rd picks I want a RT and WR. Those to me are our biggest needs. But here tonight I'm going to get more into this now that we are out of the playoff picture. GO BROWNS!!!!
El's, You keep saying that Gordon is worth a 1 or a 2 in a trade. I completely disagree. I do not think we would get better than a 4 for him, and that would be a stretch. What team would give up a 1 or a 2 for a guy that is one wrong move away from banishment?
If that's all we can get then C ya! C is for CANCER! This team will never be a winner with him! We are not a winner now with him. We are worse! But I guess we could win maybe every 3/4 game when he decides to play! Then what are we going to do when he becomes a free agent after next year? Lose him for nothing? Why would he stay here? He's going to get paid no matter where he goes. He'll also get paid more by going into free agency. But in true Browns fashion lets just wait until he either bolts or starts hitting the blunt again. lol!
Linebacker needs four more sacks to break Reggie Camp's record BEREA, Ohio?Paul Kruger has had the type of year the Browns imagined when they signed him to a large unrestricted free agent contract in 2013. Kruger picked up his team-leading 10th sack last week against the Bengals and is just four shy of the Browns franchise record of 14 set by Reggie Camp in the 1980?s. ?We?re hoping to get him 14-plus,? Defensive coordinator Jim O?Neil said. ?That way, he can break the franchise record.? Kruger had 4.5 sacks in his first year with the Browns after coming from the Ravens where he had eight sacks in the regular season with Baltimore and concluded with two sacks in the Super Bowl after the season. O?Neil was asked what the difference was playing in his system versus last year?s defensive scheme under Ray Horton. ?I can?t speak about last year because I wasn?t here, but I think Paul has done a really nice job,? O?Neil said. ?We?ve obviously changed a lot technique-wise from what he?s been used to, our system compared to previous systems that he might have played in. I think (assistant linebackers coach) Brian Fleury has done a great job with him. ?I think Paul bought into the fact that we have to stop the run early, get teams behind the sticks and that?s going to allow me to go rush the passer,? O?Neil said. ?That?s obviously the best thing he?s done, and I?m happy for him. I?m happy he got double-digit sacks.? Notebook Hoyer, Thomas Honored: OL Joe Thomas and QB Brian Hoyer each have earned awards from the local chapter of the Pro Football Writers of America (PFWA) for the 2014 season. Thomas was a unanimous selection for the PFWA Player of the Year and Hoyer was named the PFWA Dino Lucarelli ?Good Guy Award? winner. The pair will be honored at the 35th annual Akron Browns Backers banquet in May at the Tangier Restaurant. ?From an NFL player standpoint and beyond, he?s the total package,? Pettine said. ?You know you have a special player when one of your best players is one of your best examples, as well. ?It?s not surprise to me that (the media) saw that, as well.? Thomas has started all 126 career games at tackle and has not missed an offensive snap since being selected by the Browns with the third overall pick in the 2007 draft. His stretch of 7,810 consecutive offensive snaps is the longest active streak in the league. Thomas has been voted to the Pro Bowl in each of his first seven NFL seasons and trails only Hall of Famers Jim Brown (nine) and Lou Groza (nine) for the most among Browns players. After scoring four rushing touchdowns in 2013, Thomas helped open holes for the Browns to score 16 this year, tied for the third-most in the NFL this season and the most by the club since 1987. Thomas is the first offensive lineman to earn the award since its inception in 2001. The ?Good Guy Award? is given annually to a player for his cooperation with the media and for the way the player carries himself in the community and with his teammates. Hoyer was one of nine players and one coach (Head Coach Mike Pettine) nominated by the local media for the award. Hoyer started the first 13 games of the season and led the Browns to a 7?6 record, the club?s best start to a season since 2007. Hoyer engineered four fourth-quarter game-winning drives and threw for 3,192 yards, the 11th highest total in Browns history. Hartley Ready: K Garrett Hartley hopes he gets on to the field this week. The Browns newest kicker didn?t even get a chance to play in his first game because the Browns were shut out and punter Spencer Lanning handled the kickoff duties. ?I just feel blessed to have another opportunity,? Hartley said. ?I plan on making the most of it.? Pettine said despite Cundiff?s troubles, the reason the move was made because Cundiff was unable to kick against the Bengals. ?Well, this week we don?t feel that bad,? Pettine said. ?(Hartley?s) played in (the Panthers) stadium more than any of our guys have with his history in New Orleans. There was nothing below the surface will Billy. He was injured in practice and unable to kick. ?That?s plain and simple,? Pettine said. ?He went down to the stadium to do some work, and was actually having a great day kicking and injured his knee. It stiffened up on him the next day, and we didn?t feel, he didn?t feel that he would be able to kick. That?s a position where you obviously have to?that?s not one that can be a game-time decision. It was a situation where we needed to make a move and we did.? Hartley didn?t even get in his first game with the Browns because the Browns were shut out and P Spencer Lanning kicked off to start the game. Pettine said that he wasn?t sure if Lanning or Hartley would handle the kickoff duties. ?Spencer has done it before, and he did a good job of it in the game,? Pettine said. ?Unfortunately, we only got the one opportunity to kick off, but I think he put it maybe five deep and decent hang-time. We?ll see. That might be based on who feels better in warm-ups because I think they?re probably very similar with depth and hang-time.? Hartley, 28, hasn?t kicked in an NFL game since being released on Dec. 17, 2013 from the Saints. In his career, he is 82-of?101 in field goal attempts and 176-of?177 on PATs for a career total of 422 points. Hartley admitted he was unsure when he would get a chance to kick in the NFL again. ?Obviously, some doubt creeps into your mind, but I knew I would get another shot at some point, so I had to be ready when it happened.? Meanwhile, Hartley has been doing a lot of hunting and filming ?Southern Chaos? as a co-host on the Sportsman channel. ?The way things happened with the Browns will obviously make for a neat storyline on the TV show,? he said. ?Unfortunately, we didn?t get a chance to kick in the game and show what we can do, but I?m sure that will happen this week. He said his agent called to give him the good news while he was deer hunting and had to finish the hunt before he talked with him. ?I got a nice buck, too, so it was a great day all around.? Cundiff was just 22-of?29 on the season on field goal attempts for a percentage of .759, which is second to last in the AFC. He had missed at least one field goal in each of the past five games before being released. Hawkins Missing: WR Andrew Hawkins was not on the field during open session due to illness. DB Joe Haden (shoulder), DB Tashaun Gipson (knee), LB Karlos Dansby (knee) and DB K?Waun Williams (hamstring) didn?t practice, while TE Gary Barnidge (ribs), DB Robert Nelson (hamstring) and LB Jabaal Sheard (foot) were limited. WR Marlon Moore (knee) returned to practice, while Haden and Williams were on the stationary bikes. theOBR.com Recommended Stories
Well since it doesn't look like our Brownies are going to make the playoffs this year I started my off season prep work. The 1st thing I did was look at all the UFA,RFA and ERFA on this team. So here here's what I came up with. UFA 1. Ahtyba Rubin DT 28 8.2m 2. Miles Austin WR 30 2m 3. Jabaal Sheard OLB 25 1.7m 4. Jordan Cameron TE 26 1.6m 5. Buster Skrine CB 25 1.5m 6. Brian Hoyer QB 29 1.25m Those are some of the big name UFA that are eating up the most money. The keepers in this group to me are Sheard,Skrine and Cameron. Rubin, Austin and Hoyer to me can walk. Like Cameron if we could resign Austin for less than his 2m then I say bring him back. But instead of that I would rather draft/sign another WR. Age, speed and $ are the reasons why. By not resigning Rubin,Austin and Hoyer that would free up $11.5 million alone. Other UFA 1. Johnson Bademosi 24 S 600k 2.Tashaun Gipson 24 S 600k 3. Marlon Moore 27 WR 750k 4. Andrew McDonald 26 OL 400k These are the other UFA that I would resign. Bademosi & Gipson are PB guys. Moore & McDonald are good depth. ERFA & RFA 1. Craig Robertson 26 ILB 600k 2. Spencer Lanning 26 K 500k 3. Ryan Seymour 24 G 320k RFA 1. Ishmaaily Kitchen 26 DT 600k Robertson has been playing his arse off, Lanning I believe is a PB so I hope to keep those players out of that group. Just by letting go the players I mentioned we would clear up over 12m dollars. I would then let every other UFA walk. That would clear up over $14 million of dead weight on this team. I don't know yet what the cap is yet but there is some dead weight on this team. But to me RT, WR,OLB & K are my biggest wants in FA & draft. Mingo is not the pass rusher that H&H thought he was. We need one on the opposite side of Krueger. Rubin makes why to much money for his none production. With Taylor already there I want a more athletic DT.
With Right Tackle being my #1 priority this off season here are some FA in this years class. Name Team A SAL. 1. Orlando Franklin DEN. 26 1.4 can play RG also. 2. King Dunlap Philly 28 2.4 3. Derek Newton HOU. 27 1.5 4. Jeremy Parnell DAL. 28 1.9 5. Marshall Newhouse CIN. 26 800k 6. * Ryan Bulaga GB 25 4m This is wishful thinking but he is the best out of the group. Most of these players are cap friendly, young, good and come from winning teams. That's the tri-fecta for me as far as FA go! The #2 position I want after we address the line is WR. I only have 3 that I really want out of the UFA group. 1. Randell Cobb GB 24 1.1m GB has a lot of good players that are FA. Bulaga will get franchised that means Cobb is free to walk. On top of that if Gordon walks/smokes dope we have a true #1 to replace him. If not our WR's become 1 of the best in the league setting Johnny up for success! 2. Torrey Smith Balt. 25 1.1 Same goes with Smith as Cobb. Plus you are taking from Balt. 3. Cecil Short Jags 26 1.5 All 3 would make our WR corp unreal with Gordon & Hawkins. If Gordon leaves Cobb or Smith could be your #1. Short is almost there himself but there WR corp is getting crowded now! Setting Johnny up to succeed. Next on my wishlist is OLB. Mingo is not who we thought he was. But we need an OLB opposite of Krueger to attack the QB and help stop the run. 1.* Justin Houston KC 25 1.6 This is the man, this is who I want. Animal! 2. K.J. Wright SEA. 25 1.6 3. Geno Hayes JAGS. 27 1.8 These are the cats I would want. Head & Shoulders above everyone else is Houston. I WANT THIS GUY! These players will not break the bank. 90% of them come from winning teams which brings in winning attitudes. That's a huge thing around here. But these are my top 3 positions. If we addressed these positions in FA then these are the guy's I want! Next I will address Veteran QB, TE, D-LINE and K! Those are going to be or could be our next positions of need. GO BROWNS!
Els, some good info..however, there is already a free agency thread that would give you some info. For example it is looking like the Browns will have between $38-40M in cap space in 2015.. Head on over to the free agency thread so we can keep all of this info together. The lounge gets crowded and we will lose some of this info in the jumble.
The Morning Kickoff ? Real dude: I will say this about Johnny Manziel: That Texas boy can sure take a hit. Or a hundred. Wallace Gilberry? Geno Atkins? Carlos Dunlap? No sweat with dem Bengals. I?m talking about Merril Hoge and Brian Billick. Geez, even Pam Oliver. Pam Oliver? One inauspicious game into his NFL career and it?s open season on Manziel. Anybody with a microphone, Twitter account or blog has skewered Johnny Football like Nick Saban never could at Alabama. ?Very humbling,? Manziel said. He was speaking of the game, a 30-0 shutout loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. But he could have been speaking of the personal attacks that came in the wake of his first game. Hoge, a notorious Manziel hater, saved his most vitriolic stuff for the person responsible for grading Manziel a first-round pick. He said that person should be fired. Billick, the former Ravens coach-turned-NFL analyst wrote, ?I would be happy with Manziel showing enough respect for the game -- and his teammates -- to not make the silly, self-serving ?money? sign with his fingers after he scores a touchdown.? Oliver, who worked the Fox Sports? broadcast of the game as the sideline reporter, said on a talk show that Manziel was shunned by his teammates during pre-game introductions. Apparently, Oliver mistook the 5-11 ?-inch Manziel for Joe Thomas, because she said Manziel was the last to go through the flames of the tunnel (Thomas went last). ESPNCleveland?s Casey Kulas recorded video that showed Manziel getting routine low-fives and handshakes from teammates, contradicting Oliver?s observation. ?It just seems ridiculous,? Manziel said of the inference that his teammates shunned him before his first NFL start. Truth is, everybody in the Browns? locker room ? far as I can tell ? genuinely likes Manziel. ?Johnny is a real impressive guy,? offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan said. ?I don?t think everybody knows really what Johnny is about. Johnny is very humble. Johnny is a real dude.? Picking up the pieces: One miserable debut ? the worst, really, of any Browns quarterback taken in the first round of the draft ? and Manziel has emerged as a sympathetic figure. ?I felt bad for him because I know he had a lot of pressure on him, and anytime someone has that pressure on them, they want to go out and perform,? Shanahan said. ?He definitely didn?t play his best, but I don?t think we helped him either. I think Johnny can do better, but in order to give him an opportunity to do better, we?ve got to do better all around.? The guy who apparently mouthed ?I could make that throw? during one of Brian Hoyer?s worst misfires couldn?t hit Lake Erie from the deck of the Steamship William G. Mather. He was late with throws and wobbly with throws, which happens when you throw with one foot off the ground, as he did often. ?I think it?s just ? and what I told myself throughout the week is when you see something and your eyes see it, trust it,? Manziel said. ?Whenever you trust it, then go out and let it fly. That?s what I did all week in practice. I felt like I was decisive in everything I did, and I threw the ball extremely well with a lot of juice on it. Then, when it came out on Sunday, sometimes I just second-guessed myself a couple times, and that?s when I got myself in trouble.? Shanahan said the mechanical flaws in Manziel?s throwing were partly because of his dual threat skill set. ?I think playing the position is all about balance and being in the pocket and having your base under you and being balanced so you can make throws and really twerk your body and get your base under you,? Shanahan said. ?Sometimes when you?re caught in between running and throwing, you lose that balance. That happens with guys who can make plays with their legs, so it?s not just Johnny. It?s anybody who?s mobile like that. ?That?s why you try to find, as a player and as a coach, that fine line between, ?Hey, you?re going to be a passer here, but once you become a runner, become a runner.? It?s hard to do both. When you try to do both, usually the accuracy and the velocity of your throws are inconsistent.? Manziel?s enthusiam to run was dashed by Cincinnati?s ?wide nine? alignment on the defensive line. The Bengals made sure Manziel couldn?t scamper around the edges of the defense. ?He wasn?t discouraged from running,? Shanahan said. ?I think Johnny wants to run. He enjoys that stuff. They weren?t going to let him. I think that was pretty obvious early. Johnny?s got no problem running. He wants to make plays any way he can. When it?s there he?ll take it, but people know he can run, also. It?s not always there.? No worries?: Shanahan has two more games this season to prove to the Browns that Manziel can be the franchise quarterback that Jimmy Haslam, er, Ray Farmer thought he was when he spent first- and third-round picks on him in the 2014 draft. ?I feel the same about Johnny as I always have. Johnny is a playmaker,? Shanahan said. ?He?s done that throughout his career. Nobody can argue with that at all. ?Johnny is going to have some growing pains. He?s played a type of football that he?s not going to be able to down in and down out in the NFL, but you still want him to do it at times. He did it at times. You know he?s going to have some bad plays from his lack of experience, and we hope to manage those and not put him in those situations as much. When he does have some of those bad plays you hope he comes back and makes one of his great plays that not many people can do. ?We overcompensate for it, and the more reps he gets the better. The more game experience he gets the better. That was a tough one to learn from, but I think he?ll get better from it because I do think he?s a strong guy. I think he does have confidence. He?s been locked in this week. He?s not going in the tank. He realizes he needs to continue to improve, and I think Johnny will continue to improve because that?s the type of a person he is. He won?t shut it down.? Critics of Manziel, of which there are a zillion, wanted to see him humbled in the NFL. Now that that?s out of the way, let?s see him play a couple more games before writing him off.
Well, one of my favorite holiday traditions is coming to an end tonight. My Dad would tape this every year and we would watch this every Christmas Eve, but David Letterman is retiring. Every year Dave has Jay Thomas on to tell his Lone Ranger story and throw footballs at the meatball topping the Christmas tree on stage. If you haven't heard the story or watched Dave and Jay trying to knock the meatball off, it's hilarious. I highly recommend seeing it. I'll be thinking of my Dad tonight as I watch it live and we'll watch it again when we see my Mom in Cleveland for Christmas. This one's for my Dad...... *SORRY* [video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dy-iNIjfyB8[/video] Dave has also had Darlene Love on every year since 1986 singing this song: [video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJwPM8UWwGk[/video]
