When do the Browns Turn to Johnny Manziel?

Even following their blowout loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday, the Cleveland Browns find themselves in a decent position in the AFC North. They have upcoming games against Oakland Raiders and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. These are two games that Cleveland should be able to win going away with decent quarterback play.

The issue here is that Cleveland has not had decent quarterback play with Brian Hoyer under center over the past two games. He’s completed just 24-of-58 passes for 432 yards with one touchdown and one interception during this cold streak. That came on the heels of Hoyer completing well over 60 percent of his passes with six touchdowns and one interception in his first four games.

You can look at Hoyer’s issues getting the ball to his receivers on the outside. With an exception of Andrew Hawkins’ five-reception, 112-yard performance on Sunday, Browns receivers have tallied 10 receptions on 23 targets over the past two games. They have also dropped a combined five passes during that span after putting three passes on the ground in the first five games combined.

With that said, the larger issue here has been accuracy issues on Hoyer’s part. He also seemed to rush some passes throughout the game. As a combination, these two issues can upset the consistency of a passing game on offense.

Now that Hoyer isn’t playing great football, there has been some talk that Cleveland will turn to Johnny Manziel, In fact, head coach Mike Pettine indicated that the team briefly thought about closing out Sunday’s loss with the rookie under center (via Cleveland.com).

It was discussed briefly, but it was a situation where we still wanted to…at least try to end the game with Brian on a positive note.

Pettine also refused to rule out Manziel seeing some action against a winless Raiders team this upcoming week. But those would be packages specific to what Manziel can do based on his athleticism. Cleveland won’t throw the rookie out there for full possession or create a two-quarterback system.

But at what point does Cleveland decide to go with the lower floor, higher ceiling Manziel? That’s the big question surrounding the team right now.

At 3-3, Cleveland remains just one game behind the Baltimore Ravens in the loss column and has two rather easy games coming up on the schedule. While it would have loved to take a 4-2 record into the Raiders game, this isn’t necessarily a bad situation for the team to be in right now.

The issue with deciding Manziel should be under center is that short of Cleveland changing its offense, the young quarterback would not be in position to succeed. He needs to be utilized in a manner that his athletic ability is present on the field. That’s simply not the case under Cleveland’s current offensive scheme, which seems better suited for Hoyer.

Then you have the issue of sitting a veteran in lieu of a rookie on a team that still has playoff aspirations. That wouldn’t necessarily sit well with some of the veterans in the locker room.

In reality, the only point that Cleveland should make a move to start Manziel would be when the team is completely out of the playoff race later in the season. That likely won’t come any time soon with the upcoming schedule Cleveland possesses.

It all goes hand in hand. If Hoyer plays like he did in the first four games over the next six outings, the Browns will be in a position to earn a playoff spot. They also wouldn’t bench Hoyer at that point. If Hoyer and the Browns struggle heading into December and are out of the playoff race, Manziel will see some starts. Until then, this is Hoyer’s team and any real discussion suggesting otherwise is way too premature.

Photo: USA Today