Keep the “money” signs in your pocket and the Johnny Football mania in check. As Johnny Manziel himself said after his first victory as an NFL quarterback, it’s one game.
A good game, to be sure. Manziel was much improved Sunday from his two starts as an ill-prepared, overly hyped rookie, hitting Travis Benjamin for a 60-yard touchdown on his first pass of the game and then finding him again for a 50-yard score that sealed a 28-14 win with a little less than three minutes left.
But just as it would be silly to dismiss Marcus Mariota as another Heisman bust after his horrible afternoon, it’s too early to declare Manziel the answer to all of Cleveland’s problems.
“There’s no reason to really be too high about it, too low about it,” Manziel said. “I think there was some things I could have done better.”
If you’ve paid attention to the NFL for even a second over the past two seasons, you know all about Manziel’s struggles. The 2012 Heisman Trophy winner was expected to be a savior when he was drafted by the Cleveland Browns, whose search for a franchise quarterback is as old as the franchise itself. Well, this version of it, anyway.
And Manziel was only too happy to play along, flashing his trademark “Money” sign and believing the success he had at Texas A&M would carry over to the NFL. It didn’t. Not even close.
Following a rookie season that was marked by both unimpressive performances on the field and stories of partying on it, he spent 10 weeks in rehab. The Manziel who emerged promised to be more mature, more responsible — more professional.
Put to the test — on the field, at least — for the first time, Manziel mostly delivered. Yes, he fumbled twice — Cleveland recovered both — and his patience in the pocket got shorter the longer the game went on.
But that last touchdown, that doesn’t happen last season.
The Tennessee Titans had pared a 21-0 lead to a touchdown early in the fourth quarter, and the Browns were facing third-and-6 from midfield. With the Titans bringing pressure, the old Manziel would have taken off running, content to get the first down and keep the clock ticking.
Instead, Manziel moved around to buy himself some time, all the while keeping his eyes downfield until he spotted the wide-open Benjamin. It wasn’t the prettiest of passes, Manziel’s non-plant leg whipping wildly from the force of the throw across the width of the field.
But it was a completion. More importantly, it was a touchdown that sealed the victory, the first Manziel has engineered since the Aggies beat Duke in the Chick-fil-A Bowl back in December 2013.
“He kept his eyes down field,” Titans safety Michael Griffin said. “Some quarterbacks look to run when they’re good with their feet. … Last year, that’s something we might have expected that, for him to run.”
That may seem like a minor thing. But if Manziel wants to avoid becoming the latest college star who couldn’t make the transition from the spread offense in college to the NFL — hello, Tim Tebow — he’s got to be willing and able to make his reads instead of just taking off running.
“Certainly wasn’t the way the play was designed,” Browns head coach Mike Pettine said, drawing laughter.
“We want him to play within structure and make a read, but when a play breaks down, that is what he brings. The ability to escape,” Pettine said later. “I thought he had the chance to just run there. One of the signs of maturity there, too, was that he kept his eyes down field. He used that as an opportunity. ‘I’m not just going to get X number of yards and slide. I am going to keep my eyes down the field and make a play.’
“We saw the result.”
Manziel is the first to say he’s not a finished product, and Pettine won’t even commit to who will start once Josh McCown returns from a concussion. But progress is better than what the Browns got from Manziel last year.
“I’ve come a long way from that point on Jan. 17,” Manziel said, referring to the time before he entered rehab. “To be sitting here today and just have an ultimate turnaround from what it was in the first two starts I had last year, personally it feels awesome.”
For one game, that’s enough.
