No news Tuesday is great news for Johnny Manziel.
Johnny Manziel's middle-finger gesture puts his hopes of starting the season opener in jeopardy?
NFL.com reported that Cleveland Browns head coach Mike Pettine said the team would not be announcing a starting quarterback as he had originally hoped before the start of preseason games.
Manziel, the rookie and first-round draft choice, is battling veteran Brian Hoyer for the job. Neither had overwhelming statistics Monday night during the Browns' 24-23 loss to the Washington Redskins.
Hoyer was 2 of 6 for 16 yards, while Manziel finished 7 for 16 for 65 yards and a touchdown. He suffered three sacks to Hoyer's one, and he also made one more gesture than Hoyer - extending the middle finger toward the Redskins bench after some Washington players taunted him. That caused a furor with the national media.
Browns encouraged with Johnny Manziel's progress, despite his incidents on and off the field
But Manziel's gesture to the Washington Redskins bench apparently did not hinder his chances of becoming the season-opening starting quarterback for the Browns.
"In ideal circumstances, we could have named one," Pettine said on a conference call, as reported by NFL.com. "If we do have to wait until after the next game, so be it. We want to get the decision right. That might be the risk/reward of it -- if we want to make sure that we are diligent with it and do the right thing. I don't want to rush it and make it for the sake of making it and then you're risking the chemistry and cohesion if you have the wrong guy there."
Showing that he allowed the Redskins to get inside his head exposed the immaturity with which Manziel still is dealing. So the fact that the Browns were unable to pull the trigger on naming Hoyer as the Game 1 starter not only shows the promise the franchise believes Manziel to have but also the lack of faith in Hoyer as the long-term solution.
The Browns would've been crazy to name Manziel the starter after his antics Monday night. But in failing to name Hoyer as the starter, the Browns may eventually have said the same thing.
"It is tough to evaluate (Hoyer and Manziel)," Pettine explained, "when the performance around them is not what it needs to be."
The Browns have had plenty of time - and plenty of examples - concerning Manziel's immaturity, and yet he's still in the mix to become the starter.
That has to be a great sign for Manziel.
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