I don’t want to get too far ahead of things, but Johnny Manziel is having himself quite a nice little game against the Bengals on Thursday night.
Johnny Manziel was fine
He had a great first half, but was a non-factor in the second half as the Bengals ran away with it.
Mark Zerof-USA TODAY Sports
UPDATE: I got too far ahead of myself. The Bengals didn’t have any problems pinning Manziel in during the second half. He couldn’t get out of the pocket and nothing else about Cleveland’s offense worked much either. They had four consecutive three-and-outs in the second half until they finally got a first down with less than four minutes left. It was bad, the Browns are still terrible.
Cincinnati has the league’s second-best red zone defense, allowing teams to convert just under 44 percent of their appearances inside the 20. That didn’t stop the Browns and Manziel. Mr. Football engineered a 10-play, 92-yard drive to end the first half with a sweet touchdown pass to Duke Johnson.
The Bengals defense has worked hard to keep Manziel in the pocket, but he occasionally finds his way out for a throw, like this 12-yarder to Johnson. Pressure hasn’t worked much.
Johnny Manziel: 6-of-11 for 91 yards and a touchdown when under duress in the first half. 11 of his 18 pass attempts have come under duress.
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) November 6, 2015
That was the longest touchdown drive of his career so far.
More than anything, he looks calm and aware of his surroundings, not rattled by a defense that’s pretty good at rattling quarterbacks. If he can keep it up through the second half, well, then he’ll have a decent game under his belt ... and that’s a positive for the Browns, who need more positives.
Manziel is 11-for-18 passing with 128 yards and a touchdown. He’s got a 101.2 rating for the first half.
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