Johnny Manziel earned his first victory as an NFL starting quarterback Sunday, throwing two touchdown passes in the Browns’ 28-14 win over the Titans at Cleveland.
Manziel filled up the highlight reel with a 60-yard touchdown pass to Travis Benjamin on his first throw, then sealed the win with a 50-yarder to Benjamin with three minutes left in the game.
They did it again! Johnny Manziel deeeep to Travis Benjamin for SIX. #TENvsCLE http://t.co/0uHTNopDuL
— NFL (@NFL) September 20, 2015
Browns coach Mike Pettine isn’t quite ready to name Manziel the starter, however, according to Pro Football Talk. Josh McCown, who opened the season as the Browns’ starter, is still in the league’s concussion protocol. Pettine said he won’t make a decision between Manziel and McCown until he has to.
Looking past the “wow” moments of Manziel’s performance Sunday, he put up some pedestrian numbers. He completed eight of 15 passes for 172 yards with no interceptions. After replacing McCown in Week 1, he completed 13 of 24 with a touchdown and an interception.
Never been fan of losing job due to injury, but because of investment, Manziel should have been starter anyway. Name him for the season now.
— Brian Billick (@CoachBillick) September 20, 2015
As long as Manziel isn’t tripping over his shoelaces, he should be the starter. That’s why the Browns used the 22nd pick on him last year. It’s possible that Pettine wants to wait as long as he can before anointing Manziel the starter so that Manziel remains humble and keeps working at his craft. Perhaps Pettine doesn’t want that big-man-on-campus ego to resurface.
Sooner or later, the Browns will sink or swim with Manziel as their starting quarterback and find out whether or not they need to invest yet another first-round pick on a quarterback in the near future.