The story going into last night’s preseason game between the Cleveland Browns and Washington Redskins was the ongoing battle between Brian Hoyer and Johnny Manziel for the Browns starting quarterback spot.
Afterwards, the talk was about Manziel, but not in a good way. In the third quarter, Manziel flipped off the Redskins bench and was caught by the national TV cameras. Manziel would acknowledge how stupid of a mistake he made after the game via ESPN:
I felt like I did a good job of holding my composure throughout the night, and you have a lapse of judgment and slip up […] I should have been smarter. The cameras were solidly on me. I need to be smarter about that
On the plus side, this incident is covering up the dreadful play of both Manziel and Hoyer last night. Manziel completed seven of 16 passes for 65 yards and a touchdown pass to running back Dion Lewis.
Hoyer was even worse, completing two of six passes for a mere 16 yards. But all anyone was talking about after the game was Manziel’s hand gestures.
Green Bay Packers writer Aaron Nagler also pointed out that Manziel is likely to face a fine because of this incident:
AJ Hawk was fined $10,000 for flipping off his OWN bench. Johnny can expect to be a tad lighter in the wallet.
— Aaron Nagler (@AaronNagler) August 19, 2014
Manziel still has a chance to win the starting job, but the immature moments are exactly what people worry about with him. At some point he is going to have to learn to keep himself in check.
