{"id":15012,"date":"2015-09-24T08:05:02","date_gmt":"2015-09-24T15:05:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/manziel-calls-switch-back-to-mccown-disappointing\/"},"modified":"2015-09-24T08:05:02","modified_gmt":"2015-09-24T15:05:02","slug":"manziel-calls-switch-back-to-mccown-disappointing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/news\/manziel-calls-switch-back-to-mccown-disappointing\/","title":{"rendered":"Manziel calls’ switch back to McCown ‘disappointing’"},"content":{"rendered":"

BEREA, Ohio<\/strong> \u2014 Johnny Manziel stood by waiting for Josh McCown to finish his interview session before it was his turn to address the Browns\u2019 decision to change quarterbacks.<\/p>\n

Manziel won\u2019t make his second straight start on Sunday, and his return to a backup role behind McCown stung deeply.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s on hold again.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s obviously disappointing,\u201d Manziel said Wednesday. \u201cI\u2019m not going to sit here and say that I love the decision.\u201d<\/p>\n

McCown was cleared from the NFL\u2019s concussion protocol Wednesday after missing one game and will start this week against Oakland, moving back ahead of Manziel, who threw two touchdown passes and led the Browns to a 28-14 win over Tennessee.<\/p>\n

Browns coach Mike Pettine considered several factors before deciding to go back to McCown, who was injured while trying to dive into the end zone on Cleveland\u2019s opening drive this season.<\/p>\n

But in weighing his options, Pettine reverted to the plan the team mapped out when McCown signed as a free agent in March.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s done everything we\u2019ve asked of him in the offseason and so far this year,\u201d Pettine said. \u201cHe\u2019d earned the right to be our starting quarterback. We feel that he gives us the best opportunity to win on Sunday. That was truly the basis for the decision. There\u2019s a lot of exterior factors, but for coaches it\u2019s very bottom line.\u201d<\/p>\n

A strong argument can be made for both quarterbacks, but the Browns (1-1) feel the 36-year-old McCown is the better option \u2014 now. He has experience, deep knowledge of Cleveland\u2019s offense, the respect of his teammates and he performed well during a 17-play, 90-yard drive that unfortunately ended with him launching himself into the air and taking a helmet-to-helmet blow.<\/p>\n

Manziel showed more progress and promise in his first career win. He energized his teammates and a very vocal segment of Browns fans who believe it\u2019s time to see if the 22-year-old can become the long-term answer for a franchise missing a franchise quarterback.<\/p>\n

Pettine recognizes there\u2019s growing support for Manziel. But in a league where success is measured on the scoreboard, he\u2019s making the move he believes best serves the Browns.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was a positive thing for us, our second quarterback went in and played well,\u201d Pettine said. \u201cBut there was a reason we started the season with Josh as the 1 and Johnny as the 2. That was our plan, and at this point we\u2019re not seeing a reason to deviate from it.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Sunday\u2019s win, Manziel connected with wide receiver Travis Benjamin on 50- and 60-yard touchdowns, showing the big-play ability that made him a college star. And while he\u2019ll have to wait to play again, Manziel, who went 0-2 as a starter last season, gained more confidence.<\/p>\n

\u201cI respect Coach Pett, and that\u2019s the guy that makes the calls for this team,\u201d Manziel said. \u201cI\u2019m going to be a team player and do what I need to do from here on out and be ready if my number\u2019s called. I felt like I went out and did some good things. Our team needed a win, and I was the next guy up. We got the win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite his struggles as a rookie and a stint in rehab, Manziel said the Browns still have him trending toward being their full-time starter \u2014 one day.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom everything that I\u2019ve heard, whether our GM, our owner, that\u2019s still the case,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

McCown has empathy for Manziel. During 12 years as a pro, McCown has experienced the highs and lows of his position and understands Manziel\u2019s disappointment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been on both sides,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve been the guy in front with a first-rounder waiting in the wings and people waiting on that guy to play and wanting that guy to play.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then, I\u2019ve been in situations where I\u2019ve been the guy everybody wants to play. As a competitor, we wouldn\u2019t be in our situations if he didn\u2019t want to play, so he wouldn\u2019t be here. I appreciate that.\u201d<\/p>\n

McCown was close to returning last week, but failed his baseline test and had to sit. He feels fortunate the league has guidelines in place to protect players because there was a time when he might have said, \u201cLet\u2019s go. Forget about the tests and everything else, let\u2019s do it?\u201d<\/p>\n

As for the play on which he got hurt, McCown said if he could do it over differently, he would.<\/p>\n

However, his competitive nature has kept him in the league, helped him endure being traded, released and benched. It\u2019s no different when he sees the end zone.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think part of why I\u2019m still around is because I don\u2019t give up easily,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and http:\/\/twitter.com\/AP_NFL<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BEREA, Ohio \u2014 Johnny Manziel stood by waiting for Josh McCown to finish his interview session before it was his turn to address the Browns\u2019 decision to change quarterbacks. Manziel won\u2019t make his second straight start on Sunday, and his return to a backup role behind McCown stung deeply. He\u2019s on hold again. \u201cIt\u2019s obviously […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-15012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15012"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15012\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15012"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=15012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}