Like Pac back in ’96, all eyes were on Johnny Manziel tonight as he took the field for the Cleveland Browns against the Washington Redskins in a preseason Monday Night matchup on ESPN. Forget for a moment that this game really doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things; this game meant everything to Manziel and incumbent Brian Hoyer as they continued their battle for the team’s starting quarterback job.
If you didn’t see the game, don’t even bother pulling it up on your DVR. Neither played well. In fact, neither player looked better than average at any point during the evening, and that’s putting it nicely (Manziel did “throw a touchdown” to Dion Lewis on a shovel pass in traffic from eight yards out, but Dion did ALL the work).
Head coach Mike Pettine said at the start of camp he wanted to have a Week 1 starter named by the third preseason game, but the most memorable moment from the Browns preseason QB competition was Johnny Football saluting the Washington sideline. Needless to say, it’s hard to imagine Pettine pulling the trigger on a decision in the next few days.
Still, the most likely scenario for Manziel officially taking the reigns in Cleveland is after their bye week in Week 4. Hoyer starts the first three games — at Pittsburgh, vs New Orleans and vs Baltimore (something no rookie QB should be subjected to) — and the Browns could easily finish that stretch 1-2 at best. Johnny then gets the nod and has two full weeks to prep for the Tennessee Titans in Week 5. The next eight games, the Browns face six teams that picked in the top 10 in last April’s draft. This is prime real estate for a young signal-caller looking to get is footing in the National Football League.
On a related note, Manziel’s jersey is the highest selling in the NFL right now, yet he still faces tons of criticism from fans an analysts alike. In the wake of the political and racial unrest in Ferguson, MO, it’s difficult to turn on your television or sign into your social media site of choice without receiving a vivid reminder of the undying prejudice in this country. We’ve often seen this bleed into sports too, particularly at the quarterback position. Black quarterbacks, who more often than not happen to be mobile, frequently face a stigma with regards to their approach to the game. Black athletes who are not choir boys off the field also seem to face an avalanche of criticism.
Johnny Manziel isn’t Black, but he is a mobile quarterback and is still dealing with his fair share of maturity issues. The vast majority of criticism he’s faced is well-deserved, and quite frankly, it’s refreshing for fans and media to not completely succumb to Manziel-Mania. He’s been knocked for his size and durability, leaving the pocket too soon without first going through his progressions, and his transgressions not related to football. Each of those things were also once said about a duel-threat phenom named Michael Vick.
We have no way of knowing how Johnny Manziel would be received if he were Black, but if there’s any double-standard at work, fans and media have mastered subterfuge within this realm. For better or worse, Manziel brings an enormous amount of attention to himself, for which he’s forced to deal with the condemnation that accompanies it every single day from fans of all races and ethnicities.
And honestly, that’s pretty cool.