A day after Cleveland was “devastated” by the news of Lebron James breaking protocol by putting his commoner arm around her royal princess Kate Middleton’s shoulder, the people of Northern Ohio can begin recovering from their shame and come out of hiding. This afternoon, Fox Sports’ Jay Glazer reported that Johnny Manziel will start for the Browns Sunday in their AFC North game against arch-rival Cincinnati.
Breaking: Johnny Manziel and Brian Hoyer have been informed that Manziel will in fact be the starter this week. #Scoopage
— Jay Glazer (@JayGlazer) diciembre 9, 2014
ESPN’s Chris Mortensen first reported the possibility during a halftime segment of Monday Night’s Packers-Falcons game.
Manziel replaces starter Brian Hoyer, who was the architect of his own destruction. After opening the season 6-3, the Browns have lost three of their last four and Hoyer is a big reason why. Hoyer has orchestrated all of one touchdown drive in his last 29 offensive series. Though the game was already decided, Manziel scored the team’s only other offensive TD in that span, scoring on a 10-yard run in the fourth quarter against the Bills.
Manziel, the former Heisman Trophy winner from Texas A&M, was the No. 22 pick in the 2014 NFL draft. He is the only first round quarterback from that draft to not make a start this season. Hoyer was heading for a historically bad QB campaign, with a 43.5 quarterback rating, a 55.4 completion percentage and an 11/12 TD to interception ratio.
With three games to go the Browns’ playoff hopes seem slim and starting Manziel may pacify a fanbase that has already invested in a record number of No. 2 Browns jerseys.
Johnny Football and the Browns will host a struggling Bengals team fighting for its own playoff life after a 42-21 drubbing by the Steelers. At his Monday press conference, Bengals coach Marvin Lewis referred to Manziel as a “midget,” saying, “You gotta go defend the offense. You don’t defend the player, particularly a midget.”
Lewis has since apologized for the remark. He’ll find out Sunday if Manziel forgave him.
