They're adding the latest name to that homemade-edited jersey with all the Cleveland Browns quarterbacks since the team was reconstituted into this hollow ramshackle version of the franchise in 1999. Johnny Manziel took the field Sunday in Buffalo for his first real NFL action, and there's no turning back now.
There’s no going back for the Browns and Johnny Manziel
At long last, Johnny Football gets his first real action in the NFL. For the Browns, there’s no going back to Brian Hoyer in the final quarter of the season.
After the game, Mike Pettine said he would wait until Wednesday to name the starter for a critical Week 14 game against the Indianapolis Colts. But three more nights of sleep should not change the course set Sunday in Buffalo, and Manziel will make his first NFL start next week in front of the home crowd in Cleveland.
Despite the team's (by Browns standards) successful season so far, Hoyer was never going to be the long-term solution in Cleveland. He was a career backup who finally got a shot to start in his hometown, where his No. 1 fan, Mike Lombardi, held personnel power. With only the abominable Brandon Weeden and a ruined Jason Campbell in his way, it was reasonable to at least give him a chance. And Hoyer performed fine in three games in 2013, and well enough this season.
In a league overflowing with terrible quarterback play and with a franchise that’s had almost exclusively that for 25 years, Hoyer slotted into some sort of above-average backup purgatory in 14 starts. There were stretches of near-brilliance, especially against rivals Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. But there have also been plenty of throws, drives, quarters and games that were very Brownsy and looked similar to the slack offense under so many Cleveland quarterbacks of the past two decades.
The Browns’ moderately successful record and Hoyer being a native Clevelander made for an easy story, and most national media outlets obliged. But the narrative of the hometown career backup holding off the Heisman-winning first-round pick eroded because, well, Hoyer hasn’t been good.
With Hoyer taking almost every snap, the Browns came to Buffalo three games over .500. But it's been shaky for more than a month. A 20-of-50 passing performance against the Houston Texans and zero-touchdown, three-interception showing against the Atlanta Falcons amplified the calls for Manziel, and Sunday's start in Buffalo hastened the change. There were also repeated miscommunications with Josh Gordon, the team's best player, who was playing in just his second game of the season and was supposed to give the offense a huge boost for a final stretch run.
Hoyer -- who completed 54 percent of his passes, threw five touchdowns and nine interceptions in his last six games -- was “shocked” at the benching as the Browns went without a touchdown in three-plus quarters against a Buffalo team that was 2 of 15 on third down.
#Browns Hoyer said he was shocked by being yanked. "This is my team. I've always felt that way. We'll see what happens."
— Scott Petrak ct (@ScottPetrak) November 30, 2014 Hoyer's contract with the Browns does not run past this season. He's probably as good a solution as Andy Dalton, but he wasn't going to get that commitment or contract in Cleveland. Because he's from the community and because of the Browns' winning record -- a rarity this late in the year -- Hoyer will maintain a strong contingent of loyalist support. But his play since mid-October and Sunday's performance led to a change to the first-round pick who had sat on the bench all year. A fourth-quarter interception into triple coverage almost required the move to Manziel.
In this dark, embarrassing era of Browns football, it's always the worst in December.
The Browns hold no tiebreakers in a clustered AFC and probably aren’t going to the playoffs. Manziel could fail spectacularly, especially behind an injured offensive line that looked like one of the best in the league in September. The high point may be that first touchdown drive and scramble into the end zone. Two icy December games on Lake Erie are not an ideal place to start an NFL career at quarterback. But it’s time to move on.
In this dark, embarrassing era of Browns football, it’s always the worst in December. The games are so cold and so completely irrelevant. Home games are sparsely attended, and sometimes a division rival’s fans occupy just as many seats in a mostly-empty stadium at the end of games. The draft analysis and next-coach candidates take up all the oxygen in any Browns conversation. With Hoyer flatlining, why not try out Johnny, who is the only possible long-term solution at quarterback on the team? If nothing else, it will be interesting and fun to watch.
Despite a 7-4 start to the season, only the most delusional Browns fans thought the team could be among the best in the league with Hoyer as quarterback. They weren’t going to a Super Bowl and probably not beyond the first round of the playoffs. That ceiling may not change with Manziel, but we might as well have some fun and take a look over the final four games of the season.
★★★
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