Johnny Manziel is set to start tonight for the Browns on Thursday Night Football, which will make a large segment of Browns fans, and football fans in general, happy. The Browns have been a surprisingly tough out most weeks, but they do not have the look of a title contender.
Many have called for Manziel to be the starter. Some believe he earned it in relief of Josh McCown in Week 2 when he led the Browns to their first win of the season. Others think the value of finding out whether he can become the Browns’ quarterback of the future is worth the risk of losing games now, when they don’t have a realistic chance to contend.
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There’s a third group of people very excited for Manziel to start, however – the Bengals defense. Cincinnati has forced 12 turnovers this season, good for 10th best in the NFL, and Manziel is very turnover-prone. He’s only been picked off once in 2015, but he has fumbled the ball four times. Last year, in limited action, Manziel was picked off twice and fumbled once in five appearances (two starts). Manziel also has shown a tendency to hold the ball excessively; he has been sacked five times despite making only one start this year, and was sacked four times in 2014.
The Bengals also occupy a dark place in Manziel’s mind. Manziel faced Cincinnati in his first career start, and they truly gave him the business. The Bengals picked Manziel off twice, sacked him three times, and shellacked the Browns 30-0.
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Browns coach Mike Pettine thinks there’s a big difference in Manziel from last season until now.
"He's got some stuff to be cleaned up, but if you'd asked me this a year ago, I would've been like, 'It's a great mystery; I have no idea where this guy is gonna be.' And if I were to handicap it, I'd maybe be at 50-50 with this guy, and that'd be generous. This year, I'm a lot more confident that if you surround him with the right people, he can be successful,” Pettine told NFL.com.
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