Welcome to another Sunday morning Cleveland Browns edition of ‘As the World Turns.’ It seems like week after week the Browns always have a story break just hours before kickoff, and today’s news from CBS Sports’ Jason La Canfora sheds light on the Browns current QB situation.
La Canfora writes what people all over Cleveland seem to be already thinking – those in the Browns organization, minus head coach Mike Pettine, want to make the change – for good – to QB Johnny Manziel.
Here’s a portion of La Canfora’s story this morning on the situation of how Pettine’s stubborn ways of not going to Manziel could get him canned at the end of what’s turned out to be another lost season for the Browns.
There is sweeping support for Johnny Manziel to take over as starter for the Cleveland Browns throughout various segments of the organization, to the point where the refusal by coach Mike Pettine to make the change may only hasten the coach’s own demise. Manziel, while hardly spectacular, has performed well, by and large, in two spot starts filling in for injured veteran Josh McCown. But Pettine would not commit to going with the youngster in Week 10 and continues to display an unyielding loyalty to the veteran at a time when many within the franchise, from ownership on down, are more than ready to see what Manziel can do on a more extended basis.
The Browns are once again mired in what appears to be a lost season, with major changes in football operations and coaching likely looming again. It is no secret within the organization that owner Jimmy Haslem, a major proponent of drafting the talented but troubled Manziel in 2014, would like to get a good look at the quarterback now rather than continue to move forward with McCown, who has played well and is highly respected but who is not a part of the team’s long-term future.
Sticking with McCown at this point might not quite be akin to a coaching mutiny, and Pettine certainly has the ability to start players as he sees fit per his contract, but to disregard a sentiment this sweeping would serve to only further divide a building that has long suffered from issues between personnel and coaching and would call Pettine’s decision-making further into question internally if not externally.
None of this should really be a shock, as you can just tell in the coaches body language week after week when chatting about the QB situation that Manziel is not his guy, and Josh McCown is – even when McCown is clearly not 100 percent.
It looks as if Manziel will be under center today when the Browns take on the Steelers at Heinz Field, and who knows, maybe if the second-year QB can pull off an upset he’ll stay the starter.
Then again, he led the Browns to a win in week two over the Titans, only to have the job given back to McCown the following week – a loss at home to the upstart Raiders.
It will, as always, be interesting to see how things turn out in this latest saga, one that I’m sure the Browns would rather avoid in another season of disappointment.
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