It Doesn’t Have to Be Hoyer vs. Manziel

With everyone quick to judge how a first round draft pick’s career will go after six quarters of action, the debate has resumed about who the Browns’ quarterback should be going into the off-season.

Many fans are back on the Brian Hoyer bandwagon, and of course, they cite his 9-6 record as a starting quarterback, which gives no indication of how he played in those games. Heck, Tim Tebow and Christian Ponder have led teams to the playoffs, and no one is thinking about either being an NFL starting signal caller anytime soon.

We believe that if Hoyer was from Lenexa, Kansas, there wouldn’t be a big clamor for him to be the starting quarterback. Why? Because he was one of the least efficient passers in the NFL this season, ranking 31st in the league, just ahead of Josh McCown and Blake Bortles.

Hoyer also had the second lowest completion percentage among qualifiers in 2014 ahead of only Drew Stanton, completing only 55.3% of his throws.

The point here is that Hoyer only looks good in comparison to the job Manziel did in his two starts, and quite frankly, you have to assume, the former Heisman Trophy winner will get better with his first NFL experience under his belt.

It is doubtful that at Hoyer’s age, he is currently 29 years old, he is going to get much better.

So, why settle for mediocrity at the most important position on the field.

There isn’t a glut of passers who can be free agents this off-season, so if Hoyer leaves via free agency, where do the Browns turn for competition for Manziel, who thus far hasn’t shown anything to suggest he can be a solid NFL quarterback?

However, there are four who caught our eye as guys who could come here and compete for the starting job with the Browns.

Jake Locker is a former first round draft pick who has battled injuries throughout his three years in the league. He is 27 years old with a lifetime 57.5% completion rate and 27 touchdown throws against 22 interceptions. He is mobile, which accounts for some of his injuries, and gave Cleveland fits earlier this season when they faced the Titans.

He would be our first choice.

Mark Sanchez will be mentioned as well, but he is very similar to Hoyer in that he has accuracy issues (56.3%) and is prone to critical turnovers, having thrown 80 interceptions lifetime vs. 82 TD throws.

Here are a couple of longshots.

Matt Moore has started a game since 2011 with the Dolphins, but he could be worth a look. He’s 30 years old, has a lifetime 58.9% completion percentage and has thrown 33 TD passes against 28 picks in his career. You would think he’d be interested in coming to Cleveland for a chance to start.

Case Keenum was signed by Houston off the Rams’ practice squad at the end of the season, and might be worth a look. His accuracy isn’t great (55.2%), but he did win two games down the stretch for the Texans and could develop into a serviceable type of player.

The point is the Browns’ front office shouldn’t be married to the notion that Hoyer is the only alternative to Manziel, and we don’t think they are. Perhaps Cleveland can catch lightning in a bottle with a guy like Locker, and if healthy can be an upgrade over Hoyer.

No matter where one guy is from or the other guy is immature, the Browns need to get better at quarterback. The veteran they have now doesn’t allow for much improvement.

Browns Play Hard for Coach in Finale

With all the pre-game talk about parties, suspensions, and inactives, the Cleveland Browns still had to play one more football game before the season ended.

And for those who think Mike Pettine lost his football team, you were proven wrong today, as the Browns played hard, but still came up short in a 20-10 loss to the Baltimore Ravens.

Using an ultra conservative offense because they were forced to play rookie Connor Shaw, and a tough hard-nosed defense, the Browns were tied at halftime at three, and actually took a 10-3 lead with 3:29 left in the third quarter on Terrance West’s short run.

But the defense couldn’t hold the lead once again, and once the Ravens took the lead, there was very curious play calling and Baltimore won going away and received a playoff spot when Kansas City beat San Diego.

All in all, the defense only allowed 20 points, but the problem was they allowed 17 in the final quarter.

Yes, they are depleted by injuries, but remember in three of the last four games, Cleveland had a late advantage only to see the defense give up the game winning points.

They should take accountability for that.

It seemed that once the Browns took the lead, the defensive strategy became conservative, meaning they didn’t go after Joe Flacco they way they did earlier.

Without the pressure, Flacco got hot hitting 8 of 9 throws down the stretch, including a 53-yard shot to Torrey Smith, which set the Ravens up to take the lead.

After Baltimore took a 13-10 lead, offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan’s play calling got strange. With the running game being effective all day (West had 94 yards on 18 attempts), Shaw became the mad bomber, throwing consecutive deep balls to WR Travis Benjamin, both which fell incomplete.

Baltimore got the ball back, scored again, and the game was basically over.

Several people have mentioned Shanahan as a head coaching candidate this off-season, but as with Washington coach Jay Gruden, if his last name was different, no one would be interested in him, at least at this point in his career.

Shaw performed okay considering he was undrafted, hitting 14 of 28 throws for 177 yards, but also showed his lack of arm strength, and why he is not a serious contender for a starting job next summer.

With Brian Hoyer a free agent, and Manziel showing little in his six quarters of play, the Browns will again have questions at this most critical position. We will say it again, when the Browns get competent play at QB, they are a good football team. Not superstar play, just a solid performance.

One of the trademarks of the Cleveland defense all season was getting turnovers, but they couldn’t get one today, and had they got one, it could have turned the game (no pun intended) for the Browns. They forced Flacco into some poor throws early and even forced a fumble (Paul Kruger), but didn’t get the big play.

After the game, owner Jimmy Haslam made the announcement that Pettine and GM Ray Farmer will be back next season, which is the correct course of action.

Yes, some people will point to the five straight losses to end the year, but Cleveland had chances to win four of those late in the games, overall, there was progress. The seven wins is the most since 2007.

The Browns identity got a way from them a little bit and the injuries didn’t help. That’s not an excuse, but the facts.

The offense needs a strong running game and Alex Mack’s broken leg killed the success the Browns were having, and the run defense took a hit when Phil Taylor got hurt.

Next year, with another draft building more depth, these issues can be addressed.

Jumping from 4-12 to 7-9 in nice. Next year, the playoffs will be expected.

Maybe James’ Best Leadership Would Be Backing Blatt

The way basketball fans in this area talk about the Cleveland Cavaliers, you would think their record is below .500 or something like that.

In reality, the Cavs are 18-11 with a little over one-third of the season being played, in firm grasp of a playoff spot (they are seven games ahead of the current ninth seed), and no doubt will get better as the season plays on.

Once again, if you look at the teams who have the best record in each conference currently, Toronto and Atlanta in the Eastern Conference, and Golden State and Portland in the West, you find teams that basically are the same as last season.

Certainly, none of those teams made the changes the wine and gold did over the off-season.

And for those fans who have been critical of coach David Blatt, his area of expertise coming into the season was offense, and the Cavs have the fourth most efficient offense in the NBA right now, behind just the Raptors, Mavericks, and Clippers.

Clearly, the offense isn’t the problem, despite reports from the national media (read: ESPN).

On the defensive end, that’s another story. They rank 21st in the league in efficiency on that end of the floor (just ahead of Dallas, by the way), although they are right in the middle of the pack in points allowed (14th).

Because the Cavs have LeBron James back and brought in Kevin Love as well, there is no doubt extra media attention on everything the team does.

That includes last night when Love didn’t play in the fourth quarter in the win over Orlando, because the five who were out there were playing well. Blatt did the same thing less than a week ago, when Dion Waiters sat out the entire second half because Mike Miller and Matthew Dellavedova were playing well.

The next game, Waiters received his normal minutes.

One thing that hurts Blatt is that James hasn’t made many supportive comments about the head coach, and really, has never made any comments backing any of his coaches over the years, outside of phrases like “he’s the coach”.

Over the years, superstar players have been linked to their coaches. Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant with Phil Jackson, Tim Duncan with Gregg Popovich, Magic Johnson with Pat Riley, and even Bill Russell with Red Auerbach.

James never has had that relationship, that the coach has the best things in mind for both LeBron and the franchise in total.

It might be time for that now.

When the Cavs struggle this season, it’s because they seem to drift off into bad habits. In the Christmas Day loss to Miami, the wine and gold tied up the game and then spent the last ten minutes playing a lot of one-on-one style, and at one point missed nine shots in a row.

This is the opportunity for the team’s best player to say the Cavs need to do what Blatt wants them to do: share the ball and make an effort on the defensive end.

If LeBron says that publicly, and develops a partnership with Blatt, that will unify a team that still seems to fragment at times.

After all, Blatt is a pretty renowned coach around the globe. He’s not Mike Brown and Eric Spoelstra, guys who were around the league for a while but never had success before they had James on the roster.

He’s had success coaching the sport for a long time, maybe not at the highest professional level, but he’s got more of a track record that the others we’ve mentioned.

Developing that relationship would show the rest of the roster just who is in charge, and just may be the catalyst for a very successful season.

That might be the biggest statement LeBron James can make as the leader of this squad.

The Plan Should Be for Manziel to Succeed

It’s hard to believe that so many people have decided to give up on Johnny Manziel after a whopping six quarters of playing time. Both fans and the media, local and national, have declared the Manziel era over after just two starts.

For what its worth, we did not advocate taking the former Heisman Trophy winner with the fourth overall pick in the draft, and we were ambivalent about selecting him at #22. If there was a quarterback to be had, we wanted Jimmy Garoppolo, who New England took in the second round.

However, it is ridiculous to dismiss Manziel after such limited playing time.

It is our opinion that the Browns contributed to the slow transition for the rookie signal caller by not teaching him to be a professional quarterback from the moment he became a member of the organization.

By this we mean they kept talking about his “skill set” and the “Johnny package”. Is Manziel a good athlete? Yes. Can he move and run the football if pressured? Yes. But, to use read option plays and designed runs didn’t help his development. And that’s on the Browns.

They should have told him they were going to train him to be an NFL quarterback, meaning dropping back, reading the defense, planting your back foot, and throwing the football.

If that’s what they tried to do, and the pupil wasn’t willing to listen, then there is another problem, and that one may not be able to be fixed.

But we think the offensive coaches looked at Manziel as a toy, something to play with, instead of teaching him how to make plays in the pocket. And when Brian Hoyer’s play started to subside, they had to change signal callers, and the rookie wasn’t ready.

So, how does he get ready?

That starts with Manziel’s meeting with the coaches when the season ends. They have to find out if the rookie is ready to put the time in to be a successful NFL quarterback. If that answer is yes, then they should tell him this is the course of action following some time off. By the way, we would tell him to keep a lower profile during his time off.

Next, we would tell him after his time off, that it is time to move to Cleveland and be around the training facility as much as he can. If we wants to continue working with George Whitfield, his personal coach, that’s fine, but he should be taking the time he needs to learn his craft.

When it is time to work with the coaches again, he should be heavily involved with Kyle Shanahan and Dowell Loggains working on the things he needs to do to be the starter when the season opens next year.

If Manziel is the competitor he is reported to be, this shouldn’t be a problem for him. He should be burning to show these two starts are not indicative of his performance level.

Both parties have to change for this to work. Manziel has to start settling down and also needs to eliminate his urge to leave the pocket at the first sign of trouble.

The Browns need to stop treating their first round pick as a circus act and start educating on what needs to be done to be a winning quarterback in the NFL.

Why not try this before looking for another rookie passer in this year’s draft?

Shanahan’s Offense and Play Calling Letting Down Browns

Last week, none of the Browns showed up to play against Cincinnati. Offense, defense, and special teams were equally putrid.

Today, the defense showed up for the most part, but the offense continued its second half siesta in a 17-13 loss to Carolina dropping their record to 7-8 on the season.

Cleveland could only run 38 offensive plays last week in being shut out, and today, it wasn’t much better, running just 46 plays in losing their fourth straight and fifth in the last six contests.

Guess we won’t have to worry about Kyle Shanahan being rumored for any head coaching jobs this off-season.

Really, we should say the defense kind of showed up, because once again, Cleveland gave up 209 yards on the ground, and on the last true offensive play run by the Panthers, on a 3rd and 5 and Carolina really just trying to not turn the ball over, Jonathan Stewart ran for 30 yards to ice the win.

Third down was a killer on both sides of the ball, the defense allowed the Panthers to convert 9 of 16 plays when they could have gotten off the field, while the offense could convert just 3 of 12 situations of that type.

It’s terrible complementary football, and it has plagued the team over the last four weeks.

Early in the game, Carolina ran the ball with ease controlling the tempo, while the Browns’ offense seemed to be bogged down by mistakes and odd play calling.

Five of Cleveland’s first six plays were passes. The Browns have been a team that has needed to run the football the entire season, and the offensive coordinator is acting like Tom Brady is at the helm.

Finally, after the Panthers scored to take a 10-3 lead late in the first half, rookie QB Johnny Manziel injured his hamstring on what appeared to be a designed run. It may be one of the weirdest play calls we’ve seen in many years.

Shanahan is doing Manziel a disservice by having him play like a college quarterback. He needs to plant his back foot and throw the ball, which he did on a throw to Andrew Hawkins for 28 yards on the Browns’ second possession.

That put Brian Hoyer in the game, and although the veteran went 7 of 13 for 134 yards, he really only made one play of consequence, an 81 yard connection to TE Jordan Cameron to put Cleveland in the lead 13-10.

However, the defense allowed a quick score, as the Panthers went 66 yards in seven plays in less than three minutes to give them a lead they would never relinquish.

Hoyer’s lack of arm strength showed up again as Travis Benjamin had his man beat by at least five yards, and the underthrown ball was picked off by Josh Norman, who subsequently fumbled the ball back to Cleveland.

All we are saying here is that Hoyer might be the best option right now, but he’s not the guy either, and the Browns need to give Manziel a chance to play in a pro style offense to see what he can do.

It seems right now like the Browns don’t even try to do the things they did offensively earlier in the campaign.

For example, where was Terrance West?

Also, finding a center can’t be this difficult. Remember when Alex Mack was a restricted free agent? The Browns signed him, but obviously didn’t pay him enough.

Why not go back to John Greco at center and Paul McQuistan at guard? Ryan Seymour and Nick McDonald are getting dominated by defenders.

So, there is one last game on the road against the Ravens, and the Browns can probably knock the Ravens out of the playoffs with a win.

Mike Pettine has talked all year about “playing like a Brown”. Next week, he should instruct his offensive coordinator to do the same.

No Matter What People Say, The Browns Have Made Progress.

The Cleveland Browns just cannot avoid drama.

They are most definitely an improved football team this season. After years and years, six in total, of four and five win seasons, the Browns will NOT lose 10 games this season for the first time since 2007.

The defense has shown tremendous improvement as the season as gone along, and the offense has some promising rookie running backs as a foundation for the future.

However, even though the brown and orange still have an opportunity for nine victories, there has been criticism of the current front office by a franchise icon, and others speculating that coach Mike Pettine may not be safe if his team loses the last two games, which would be six of the last seven overall.

Want to talk about dysfunction? Firing Pettine after the progress made this season would be the exhibit A for the prosecution.

That can be remedied by owner Jimmy Haslam taking the time to talk to the media and allay everyone’s fears by saying Pettine and GM Ray Farmer will absolutely be back next season and he looks forward to another step forward in 2015.

In a normal world, he wouldn’t have to do that because both are under contract, but after the firing of Rob Chudzinski after one year last season, and the cleaning out of the front office as well, you can understand why supporters of the coach are worried.

Haslam needs to do it and do it before this Sunday’s game at Carolina. It’s the decent and smart thing to do. Most of the fans feel Pettine has done a good job and that he and Farmer have indeed started a culture change in Berea.

The head coach switched quarterbacks last week because the guy who started the first 12 games wasn’t getting it done anymore. If there were any other circumstances, like a meddling owner, those were superseded by Hoyer’s declining play.

So, the rookie first round draft choice played poorly in his first NFL start, and now everyone is looking at needing another signal caller in the ’15 draft. To quote Aaron Rodgers and LeBron James, “relax!”

Look, we weren’t on the Manziel bandwagon as the draft approached last May, especially with the fourth overall pick. However, judging him on one game, especially against a team that reached the playoffs the past three seasons, is ridiculous.

Manziel is a competitor and that performance last Sunday probably eats at him every minute until he can get back on the field this week. If he doesn’t learn from his first start, then he’s not as smart as we think.

He has seen the speed of the game first hand and should be making adjustments. Hopefully, he has learned that it is important to play mostly from the pocket and not follow his instinct to run around if the first read isn’t open.

Those are the things we should see against the Panthers on Sunday.

The best thing about Manziel’s day last week was that we will never have to go through his first NFL start again. Let’s allow him to play a few games before condemning him to the island of misfit passers, which includes several Cleveland quarterbacks who have played here since 1999.

We understand the NFL is a week to week sport and each game gets analyzed way too much. However, this organization has made progress overall in 2014, even if they lose the last two games.

Let’s remember that before we press any panic buttons.

Right Now, Tribe Counting on Good Things to Happen for Contention

Roughly two years ago, around this time, the Cleveland Indians announced the signing of free agent Nick Swisher to a four-year contract.

We bring this up, because it’s the last time the Tribe front office did anything off the field to excite its fan base.

There is no question the Indians are in a tough situation. They have assembled a solid young core of talent that is under control for the next three to four seasons.

They have the reigning Cy Young Award winner in the American League in Corey Kluber and another player in Michael Brantley that finished in the top three in the AL MVP voting.

They have one of the top catchers in the game in Yan Gomes, and a host of good, young arms, albeit without extensive track records in the starting rotation.

However, the face of the franchise is probably their manager, Terry Francona.

GM Chris Antonetti has made one move this off-season, getting left-handed slugger Brandon Moss from Oakland for a minor league second baseman, but that move gives Francona a glut at 1B, RF, and DH with Moss, David Murphy, Carlos Santana, and Swisher, not to mention Ryan Raburn.

The Indians made the wild card game in ’13, and went to the final weekend of the 2014 season with a chance to repeat a post-season appearance. So, they most definitely have to be considered a contender.

That’s why this would be as good a chance as any to take a shot and “go for it”, like many teams have this winter.

The franchise has needed another solid bat, particularly one from the right side for several years, and they could use another reliable veteran starter to go with the kids they’ve assembled. However, the ownership’s glass ceiling of an $85 million payroll ties the hands of the front office.

Instead, the management talks about how the Tigers likely won’t be as good as they were this season, and the Royals look like they will lose James Shields, so the Tribe is in the mix.

It seems their primary plan to win is other teams not being as good.

Within their own division, the Tigers have a better hitting lineup on paper with Miguel Cabrera, Victor Martinez, and Yoenis Cespedes in the middle of the batting order, and Chicago has two top starters in Chris Sale and Jeff Samardzija. Not to mention the Royals are the defending American League champions.

The Indians are hoping Jason Kipnis has a rebound season, Lonnie Chisenhall hits in the second half like he did in the first half, and Michael Bourn and Swisher can stay healthy.

They also need seasons similar to last season from Brantley, Gomes, and Kluber.

That’s a lot of wishin’ and hopin’.

While defenders of the ownership will claim attendance has to improve for the team to spend, we are here to tell you there is a large core of baseball fans in the area who want the front office to show they are all in, much like the White Sox have shown their ticket buyers.

Imagine if the Indians traded for Samardzija or signed Melky Cabrera as a free agent. The former would have formed a great one-two punch with Kluber at the top of the rotation, while the latter would have been a great fit in RF, a switch-hitter with a high average and some pop.

Yes, we know the White Sox play in one of the top media markets in the country, but Seattle isn’t and they signed a player who hit 40 homers a year ago.

We are excited about the Indians because they are a solid team, but they need a boost to make them a favorite for a division title, and to interest the fans in the area.

They still have two months until spring training starts, so there is still time for trades, but right now the Indians seem content to do what they normally do.

Fair or not, they need to do something to compete with the Browns and Cavaliers for the ticket money and headlines in the media.

Manziel Not Good, But Several People Let Him Down

It turns out that Johnny Manziel is just like any other rookie quarterback who has entered the NFL in the recent future and is not named Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck.

That is to say there is a learning curve and struggles early for most QBs in the NFL coming right out of college.

However, coach Mike Pettine gave the right answer after the game when asked who would be his starter at the position next week at Carolina when he gave Manziel’s name as the answer.

After all, there can’t be another first start for the former Heisman Trophy winner. It should be only up hill from here if he has the talent to be successful in the National Football League.

Still, even in his dismal performance, and being 10 of 18 for 80 yards with two interceptions in a 30-0 defeat is indeed dismal, there are several people who let the rookie down. And in saying that, we realize both picks were plays that worked in college for Johnny Football, but don’t work for John Professional.

Kyle Shanahan. We wanted to see Manziel run the offense that worked for Cleveland the first eight weeks of the season, meaning the attack Brian Hoyer ran, but with a quarterback with a stronger arm and more mobility.

Instead we got some elements of the read-option, an offense that really hasn’t work since Robert Griffin III’s rookie season.

On the Browns’ first possession, they faced a third and 2, and it looked like the play call was for Manziel to fake a throw and then run up the middle. He was stopped short, and after the Bengals ate up seven minutes on their initial possession, they got the ball back after three plays.

Why not have Manziel rollout with the option of a short, safe throw?

Then, there was no attempt by Shanahan to establish the running game which was so effective against Cincinnati the first time the two teams met either.

After that initial series, eight of the next 11 plays run by Cleveland were passing plays. So much for easing your rookie signal caller in.

It looks like the offensive coordinator got caught looking at Texas A & M game films from the last two seasons instead of what the Browns did well in their first 13 contests.

Receivers. It wasn’t the finest performance by the Cleveland receiving corps either, particularly Andrew Hawkins, who dropped a throw that could’ve kept the Browns on the field on their second possession.

After moving out of the pocket, Manziel threw a strike to Hawkins for a first down that was dropped after the wide out was hit by Reggie Nelson. Yes, it was a big hit, but we’ve seen Hawkins take bigger hits and hold on. The drop forced another punt, forcing the defense back on the field.

Walt Anderson. Yes, today’s referee was a culprit as well. Apparently, Mr. Anderson likes being on television, calling nine penalties on Cleveland. While some were deserved, two on the Bengals first drive aided them to a 7-0 lead.

The first was Barkevious Mingo’s roughing the passer call on a third down throw. Yes, technically, Mingo’s helmet hit Andy Dalton’s, but the outside linebacker didn’t lead with his headgear. Instead of forcing an early punt, Cincinnati kept possession.

The second call, a horse collar tackle on Justin Gilbert against Giovani Bernard didn’t give the Bengals a first down, but it was still terrible because Bernard didn’t go down as a result of the so-called illegal move.

Also, the illegal man downfield against Ryan Seymour on a screen pass to Jordan Cameron was also a reach.

In a 30-0 loss, pointing to the officials seems a little tacky, but could the game have been different if Cleveland forces a punt early? We’ll never know.

The Defense. The Cleveland problem stopping the run reared its ugly head again today, as they allowed 244 rushing yards. We don’t know the success rate of teams that allow over 200 yards on the ground in an NFL game, but it probably isn’t high.

Manziel didn’t play well in his debut, and the shutout loss today put the Browns out of the playoffs again barring some sort of miracle. However, we should see progress next week.

That’s a reason to stay interested in this football team.

Manziel’s Role Model Should Be Wilson

So, it’s now official. Johnny Manziel will make his first start of the season this Sunday at First Energy Stadium against the Cincinnati Bengals.

Mike Pettine is 100% correct in saying the rookie currently gives his football team a better chance to win this week and for the final two games of the season. The Cleveland offense under Brian Hoyer had become stagnant, and wasn’t able to take advantage of the turnovers and great field position the defense had given them.

It is refreshing to hear Manziel say that he will not be the player he was at Texas A & M, because he can’t be. This is the NFL, and hopefully the former Heisman Trophy winner will change his style to adapt to the bigger and faster athletes in professional football.

Here’s hoping that Johnny Football emulates in style the Super Bowl winning quarterback of a year ago, Russell Wilson.

Wilson is around the same size as Manziel and he also has the ability to be mobile. However, the Seahawks don’t run a lot of read option plays for Wilson, probably because they want him to stay healthy and limit the hits on him.

We know that offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan coached Robert Griffin III during his first two years in the league and Griffin ran the football a lot. We hope that Shanahan has observed that style of offense doesn’t really work in today’s NFL.

We would like to see Manziel make most of his plays from the pocket, but with the added dimension of being able to move out of the pocket if the protection breaks down. Certainly, the new quarterback has better arm strength, so the offense may be able to take some shots down the field.

As CBS college football analyst and former Browns’ QB Gary Danielson said earlier this year, Manziel needs to realize there are 4000 yards in the pocket, and maybe 500 yards running the ball.

Some quarterbacks struggle with making the conversion from college to playing inside the tackles in the NFL. Griffin III is the most current example, but Michael Vick has had the same issues over his years in the league.

On the other hand, Donovan McNabb came into the league with the reputation of being a running quarterback, but quickly learned the lesson that playing from the pocket is what wins in the NFL.

Think about it. The great passers currently in the NFL are pocket passers: Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers, Ben Roethlisburger. The latter two can use their legs to extend plays, but they run the ball out of necessity, not generally from designed plays.

That’s the way to go if Manziel wants to have a long, successful career in the league.

As for this Sunday, if JFF can make some plays with his legs to revitalize what has become a moribund attack, then fine. The team needs to win this Sunday to keep their slim playoff hopes alive.

Also, here’s hoping that Shanahan gives him some safe throws early in the game to ease him into his first start. Although, it would be fun to see the rookie drop back on his first play from scrimmage and look deep for Josh Gordon, just to show Cincinnati the Browns now have the ability to stretch the field.

There is no question that Manziel brings a buzz to the “Battle of Ohio”. But to have extended success in the NFL and have the chance to become the franchise quarterback for the Browns, he will need to make an adjustment in the style of play he used in college.

It may not be exciting for the Manzealots, but it’s the smart way to go.

Tribe Gathers A Moss

We have advocated for a long time that the Cleveland Indians have strengths in their organization and needed to use some depth in those areas to acquire pieces the ballclub needs.

Those strengths are in the middle infield and bullpen depth.

Yesterday, they did exactly that, trading minor league 2B Joe Wendle to the Oakland A’s for 1B/OF/DH Brandon Moss.

Wendle is a solid prospect, but let’s face it, he stuck behind Jason Kipnis and Jose Ramirez with the big club, so future playing time in Cleveland has to be considered bleak.

Dealing from strength is the chief reason we like this trade from the Indians’ standpoint.

The other is Moss’s power. Remember the end of August to the middle of September when the only Indian who could hit a home run was Carlos Santana? Moss should take care of that, having hit 76 home runs over the last three seasons.

The newest Indian should enjoy not playing in Oakland’s pitching friendly park. He hit .265 with 13 homers in 272 at bats away from the bay last season, posting an outstanding 831 OPS in 2014.

He is also reported to be a great clubhouse presence, which manager Terry Francona likes to have. We don’t think the front office would bring in a player who would be a problem in the locker room.

He does strike out a lot, whiffing 153 times last season.

That’s just one of the reasons for concern. Moss hit just .173 with 4 dingers in the second half of the season a year ago, battling a bad hip which he had surgery on in the off-season. In fact, it has been reported he will not be ready for spring training.

He also is a left-handed batter, adding yet another to the collection that GM Chris Antonetti is putting together. There is no question the Indians need a solid right-handed bat, and they may still be looking for one, but with Michael Brantley, Kipnis, Lonnie Chisenhall, and Michael Bourn, the Tribe is vulnerable to southpaw pitchers.

You also have to wonder about the ramifications for the rest of the roster with this move. Moss is primarily a 1B and a DH, he’s not particularly a good outfielder defensively, and the Tribe seems to have Carlos Santana and Nick Swisher currently manning those spots.

The Cleveland defense was shaky last season, so putting Moss and his surgically repaired hip in RF doesn’t really address that area. You have to wonder if Antonetti’s next move is dealing Swisher, if that is possible.

The only way we can see that happening is if the Indians are willing to eat some of his large contract, something the current front office has been loathe to do. We would do it because, let’s say you pay half of the $15 million owed each of the next two years, you would then have $7.5 million to spend elsewhere.

If we were Antonetti, we would still be looking for a right-handed hitter and another innings eater for the rotation. The Tribe still has the bullpen depth and some young back of the rotation arms to dangle.

With the White Sox making a splash in trades and free agency, Antonetti can’t stand pat with the current roster. He still needs to improve the club. We are skeptical, but here’s hoping another decent move is coming for the Cleveland Indians.