{"id":8415,"date":"2015-11-05T09:05:19","date_gmt":"2015-11-05T17:05:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/browns-manziel-to-start-for-injured-mccown-against-unbeaten-bengals\/"},"modified":"2015-11-05T09:05:19","modified_gmt":"2015-11-05T17:05:19","slug":"browns-manziel-to-start-for-injured-mccown-against-unbeaten-bengals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/news\/browns-manziel-to-start-for-injured-mccown-against-unbeaten-bengals\/","title":{"rendered":"Browns’ Manziel to start for injured McCown against unbeaten Bengals"},"content":{"rendered":"

CLEVELAND<\/strong> \u2014 Welcome to The Jungle, Johnny.<\/p>\n

With starting quarterback Josh McCown unable to play because of a painful rib injury, Johnny Manziel will start Thursday night against the Cincinnati Bengals, who treated him so rudely as a rookie on the road last year and now get him on their home turf.<\/p>\n

In his first NFL start last season, Manziel was chased, sacked, intercepted and taunted by the Bengals in a 30-0 embarrassment.<\/p>\n

Now, Manziel\u2019s facing one of the league\u2019s four remaining unbeaten teams on short notice.<\/p>\n

McCown was unable to practice Tuesday night because of his ribs \u2014 and sore shoulder \u2014 and Browns coach Mike Pettine announced the decision to start Manziel on Wednesday before the team left for Cincinnati.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the short week we realized that Josh just wasn\u2019t going to be able to get to the point where he could go,\u201d Pettine said. \u201cJohnny has worked hard to prepare himself. He is excited about his opportunity and we are all looking forward to the challenge we face in a good Bengals football team.\u201d<\/p>\n

McCown played through severe pain in the second half Sunday in a 34-20 loss to Arizona. The 36-year-old quarterback said Tuesday he was having difficulty breathing and sleeping because his ribs were so sore. If he\u2019s not able to play at all, the Browns will have third-stringer Austin Davis active to back up Manziel against the Bengals.<\/p>\n

This will be the second start this season for Manziel, who won against Tennessee in Week 2 when McCown was sidelined with a concussion sustained on the season\u2019s opening drive on Sept. 13 against the Jets. Manziel replaced McCown late in the second half the past two weeks.<\/p>\n

The 2012 Heisman Trophy winner, who is also being investigated by the NFL for a recent domestic dispute, will be able to show a prime-time TV audience his improvement since his rocky rookie season. The Browns have been pleased with Manziel\u2019s dedication and progress following a rough first year, which was followed by a lengthy stay in a rehab facility for an unspecified problem.<\/p>\n

Manziel won that lone start this season, completing 8 of 15 passes for 172 yards and two touchdowns in a 28-14 victory over the Titans. Manziel, though, fumbled twice on plays where he was under pressure.<\/p>\n

His starting debut against the Bengals in last season\u2019s home finale couldn\u2019t have gone worse. He passed for 80 yards, threw two interceptions and endured some taunts from Bengals defenders, who relished the chance to take down the hyped QB.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, that was not the first career start I would have hoped for or expected when the Bengals came to our stadium last year,\u201d Manziel said. \u201cI did learn from it and I feel much more confident in my abilities now because of the progress I feel like I\u2019ve made over this season. My experience in that game from last year should help me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pettine said Manziel has come a long way since that performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a different player,\u201d Pettine said. \u201cI just think we\u2019ve all seen it from going back to the amount of work in the spring to training camp.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the rush became live, I think that\u2019s where you saw that he made his biggest improvement with his demeanor in the pocket. That it wasn\u2019t as frenetic, that his feet were calm.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just think he has a really good understanding of what we\u2019re doing, understands the plays, what\u2019s designed for what. All the intricate details, he has a much better grasp of and it\u2019s shown when he\u2019s been out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last week, Manziel was interviewed by a league adviser about his actions in an Oct. 12 argument with his girlfriend, Colleen Crowley, who told police he hit her during their disagreement. If Manziel violated the league\u2019s personal conduct policy he could be fined or suspended.<\/p>\n

A league spokesman said in an email to the AP that Manziel\u2019s case \u201ccontinues to be under review.\u201d<\/p>\n

Manziel hasn\u2019t played enough for the Browns to know if can be their long-term solution at quarterback, but general manager Ray Farmer feels the 22-year-old can develop into a quality starter.<\/p>\n

Farmer said Manziel\u2019s off-field issue last month hasn\u2019t changed his belief.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would tell you from the interactions here in the building and the time I have spent with him and what I have seen of him here recently is definitely positive,\u201d he said. \u201cI understand where the league is and we are going to continue to listen and wait until that comes out. I think that he has matured.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Online:<\/p>\n

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

CLEVELAND \u2014 Welcome to The Jungle, Johnny. With starting quarterback Josh McCown unable to play because of a painful rib injury, Johnny Manziel will start Thursday night against the Cincinnati Bengals, who treated him so rudely as a rookie on the road last year and now get him on their home turf. In his first […]<\/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-8415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8415","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=8415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8415\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8415"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=8415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}